Abstract:

The skilled labor market is ruled by demand and supply, like any other market. Any graduate in economical engineering in the mechanical field have enough knowledge to have flexibility when covering a wide range of labor market areas with minimal effort of adaptation. The purpose of this paper is to determine which professions that graduates of this specialization are aiming for. We have conducted the research on a sample of students in the final year of economical engineering in the mechanical field and on graduates of this specialization. Data collection has been done through self-administered questionnaires. Our first objective was to discover the main reasons that led those people to join this specialization. We have discovered that, for the female respondents, the main reason was the belief that joining this specialization gives them a better chance at finding a job. For the male respondents, however, the main reason was their passion for this field of study.

Our second objective was to determine the professional experience of the respondents during university. This was achievable as many students had been employed during their last years of university. We have discovered that the majority of the respondents had at least one job during university, most of them working in the automotive industry. The third objective was to find which jobs are the most wanted by the respondents. The questionnaire-based research has revealed grate differences between men and women regarding their aspirations for future jobs. For instance, men prefer to work in production, logistics or sales, while women prefer to work in design. Even though there are a lot of studies that describe the different ways in which the two genders perceive the workplace (through their psycho-emotional structure), we believe that those differences are also born thanks to other factors during the educational process. Some pertinent examples are the gaps in the university practice program, the misconception that girls are more attentive to details than boys, the preconceived opinion of the professors that boys are better in the mechanical part of the field, which generates special efforts of female students in this direction and obviously their very good results.

Keywords:

Preferences, engineers, women, men, future.