Abstract:

The HEIs’ employability and career services faced in recent years challenges that requires the development of additional resources that will allow them to be more effective and efficient in their functions. The link between teaching and professional practice, as well as the involvement of employers in academic activities in various ways, can play a fundamental role in the development of students' employability, and enhances the attraction and retention of the best talent, for the companies.

This study seeks to contribute to a greater understanding of students' expectations regarding employers attractiveness.

Due to the current context of social and economic instability derived from the Covid 19 pandemic context, there is greater uncertainty among students as to how to enter the labor market, and what it will be able to offer them. Knowing this Generation Z's expectations about future employers will provide important insights, either to the academic and employer contexts. Generation z has distinctive features with regard to the most valued attributes in terms of employers’ attractiveness.

It is crucial to have greater knowledge regarding students' perceptions, trying to follow their evolution along their formative path. In effect, HEIs are an important agent of anticipatory socialization in building students’ world of representations about the labor market, providing contact with future employers in various formats throughout the academic journey.

This study pretends to answer two main research objectives: firstly identifying main dimensions of attractiveness in employer branding by university students of Z generation; secondly understand if there are statistically significant differences in perceptions according to the student profile, namely: age, gender, curricular year and course of study, academic performance, and professional experience. In fact, University Students are a heterogeneous population and so can differ in a variety of ways. Recognizing variations in theses perceptions it will be able to better develop differentiated strategies in order to be more effective for the different students’ segments.

Data was collected by a self-administered questionnaire, by Google forms to a universe of student’s degree from three different Portuguese polytechnic higher education institutions. Students from courses related to management and communication were selected. The final sample was constituted by 400 students.
It was applied the employer attractiveness scale of 32 items as develop by Arachchige e Robertson (2013) to measure aspects of employer attractiveness, and concluded for their multi-dimensionality.

This study will help educational institutions and future employers to develop strategies that allow a greater alignment between students' expectations and the reality of the labor market. This is important information for the career guidance services as well as for the selection of internship locations in these institutions. Knowing the public is a fundamental tool for developing strategies and tactics that best respond to students’ interests and expectations.

Keywords:

Employer attractiveness, employer brand, internal marketing, students’ evaluation, university career services.