NACE Research: The Oldest Young Generation— A Report from the 2008 NACE Graduating Student Survey
by Edwin L. Koc
from the May 2008 NACE Journal
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What are students coming out of college and entering the work force today looking for from employers? What are they seeking in terms of the “fringe” benefits connected with the job?
Conventionally, we would expect individuals in their early twenties with limited family responsibilities to concentrate their attention on finding a job that promises to kick off their career, one where they could showcase the skills and abilities that they developed in college, and where they could continue their personal development and add to the skills they already have. In addition, because many have not settled into a committed relationship, it would be reasonable for them to prefer an employer that provides the opportunity for a more expanded social life. In terms of “fringe” benefits, an employer that stresses flexibility in work hours and work location (telecommuting) would be desirable. Or, even an employer that provides for company-sponsored social activities. These would be the attributes of “work-life balance” associated with the young that has become a mantra for characterizing Generation “Y”—the Millennial generation. However, conventional wisdom is not always accurate.
The 2008 NACE Graduating Student Survey asked students throughout the United States a series of questions concerning their interest in pursuing a job after graduation, the manner in which they went about searching for a job, and what attributes they considered to be the most important in choosing a job. More than 19,000 students from all 50 states and the District of Columbia responded to the survey. Their responses to the questions dealing with job/employer attributes and potential employee benefits paint an interesting picture of what the current population of college recruits wants from employment and from the employer.
The survey asked respondents to rate 15 separate job attributes in terms of how important it is in selecting a job or employer, and then asked them to rank each attribute against all the others in level of importance. The ranking was considered a critical element in evaluating student responses because many respondents will frequently provide the same rating to a number of traits, making it difficult to fully evaluate which is really more important than another. By forcing a ranking of these attributes, the survey was looking to truly distinguish which job attributes were uppermost in the minds of college recruits when they were in the midst of their job search. Figure 1 presents the rankings of the 15 attributes from seniors intent on pursuing employment after graduation. The first thing one notices in these rankings is how relatively low the rankings are for attributes one would traditionally associate with young workers. Attributes associated with personal growth such as the opportunity for personal development and the opportunity for self-expression and creativity are ranked sixth and ninth, respectively. In addition, the social qualities of the company, which conventional wisdom would suggest are important considerations for young workers, also received relatively low rankings. The presence of friendly coworkers is ranked fairly high at fourth place, but a casual atmosphere, a diverse work force, and the company’s activity in the community are all ranked so low as to be considered of little importance to this group of potential recruits.
The fact that “company takes an active role in the community” finishes 13th out of 15 in terms of importance is especially interesting because so much has been made of this generation’s community consciousness. So much so that a number of individuals involved in college recruiting have suggested that an employer may want to emphasize the firm’s contribution to the community as a way to distinguish it from competitors in pursuit of targeted recruits.
What replaces personal growth and social action at the top in the consideration of today’s students? They want the job and/or employer to provide them with a measure of financial security. Finishing second on the list of attributes in order of importance is the job security offered by the company; right behind in third place is the quality of the insurance package offered by the employer. Both attributes strike right at the heart of financial safety the job can provide to the student/recruit. Even the attribute that finishes at the top of the list—the opportunity for advancement provided by the company— can be interpreted as a security concern. These students are looking for a long-term relationship with the employer one that can provide them with fundamental financial security (good insurance package), one that they can trust to be there tomorrow as well as today (job security), and one where they have room to grow without jeopardizing their financial safety net (opportunity for advancement).
The fact that financial security is the hallmark characteristic of this year’s graduating college seniors is frankly surprising. Most of the students in this generation come from families that would generally be viewed as relatively well-off. In addition, unlike previous generations, many members of this group are not first-generation college students. Most have parents who also went to college and who after college found themselves part of the nation’s professional class, a group that is generally far less susceptible to the vagaries of the employment market than members of the blue-collar working class. In addition, this group of students has never experienced a negative job market. Generally entering college in September 2004, the class has seen an increased demand for the students that preceded them in every year they have been in college.1 Even in this year where the general economic picture for the United States is bleak, the demand for college graduates from the nation’s employers is still growing. The NACE Job Outlook 2008 Spring Update finds an 8 percent increase in expected new college hires over the number that found jobs in 2007.2 Yet the attitude toward what is important in a job or an employer seems more reflective of the generation of college students who entered the work force in the late 1940s, early 1950s—a generation that had experienced true economic hardship in the Great Depression and many of whom had to endure the dangers of World War II and the Korean conflict. That generation sought security in the lifetime tenure provided by oligarchic corporations that controlled the economic landscape that could afford to underwrite the medical and retirement concerns of their employees. Why, after coming out of such different circumstances, does this group of graduates hold this overarching concern with security? Three reasons come to mind.
First, examine the responses to another question, the list of employee benefits that an employer may offer that they most prefer to be included in the employer’s benefit package. Figure 2 details the list in the order they were ranked as desired by the respondents. At the top of this list are three benefits that more than 50 percent of students listed in their top five benefits, all the rest fall significantly short of that goal. Medical insurance, steady salary increases, and a plan for retirement fit the picture of a group concerned about their financial security that was developed by the job/employer attribute preference ranking. Furthermore, putting those issues at the top of the list suggests a reason for why this group is so concerned by financial security matters.
Medical insurance and social security are the chief domestic issues in today’s political debate. For more than a decade the desirability of expanding healthcare in the United States and the ever-increasing cost burden to business has been a prominent feature on the evening news shows. Additionally, the tenuous nature of the social security system was a prominent topic in the early portion of President Bush’s second term—a time when many of these students were reaching some level of political consciousness. That these two issues should be of such universal concern to a group of twenty-year olds just entering the job market may be a consequence of the nation’s preeminent concern with these issues.
A second reason may relate to the gender of the students. Today’s college student body is far more female than in previous generations3 and there is a difference in how men and women rank key job/employer attributes. Women are bottom-line more concerned with security, particularly the financial safety net represented by the employer’s benefits package, than are men. (See Figure 3.)
While both groups rank job security and the opportunity for advancement high, males appear to be more concerned with the prestige and developmental elements connected with the workplace. They place much greater emphasis on the size of the starting salary and the opportunity for personal development than do women. The concern over the insurance package is well down in the rankings for men. Security still matters for this generation of male college students, but in men that characteristic is somewhat muted by a desire for prestige and personal growth in the job.
The stronger sentiment for security among female graduates may also be related to a third possible factor—the influence of parents in the job search. Much has been made of the “overbearing” influence of this generation’s parents in the lives of their children. Dubbed “helicopter parents,” they have been accused of being a constant presence in the lives of their children— directing their activities; interceding on their behalf with teachers, coaches, and so on; even interjecting directly in negotiating with potential employers. Much of this is probably overblown; however, the 2008 Graduating Student Survey does indicate that parents are an important influence in the job searches conducted by their children.
Overall, of those respondents who are seniors and planning to enter the work force after graduation, 70 percent said they would review a job offer with a parent before deciding whether to accept or reject the offer.
This parental influence is even stronger with female students. As Figure 4 shows, women graduates are more likely to rely on their parents’ input than are men, although a significant majority of men will also be using parental input when reviewing job offers.
Parental input may be the significant factor in determining the outlook students have on what is important in a job and what needs to be included in a compensation package. Unlike their children, the parents are likely to have been exposed to the vicissitudes of the job market. Many may have been forced to switch jobs, incurring the economic uncertainty that such change often brings. Even more likely, the parents of these seniors have seen employers forced to cut back on healthcare benefits or shift premium costs onto their employees as the overall cost of healthcare has become burdensome and a competitive disadvantage in a global market. Consequently, it would come as no surprise that these parents would stress the need for economic security as the key element in any job offer.
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The chief result of this stress on financial security as the key component in evaluating job prospects may be frustration, both on the part of the employer and the recruit. Taken altogether, the desire to find an employer who can guarantee a job with steady salary increases and solid medical and retirement safety nets points to finding a company like the General Motors of the 1950s; an employer that does not exist in the competitive global economy of the 21st century. For the student/ recruit that means that the core job attributes that he or she is seeking in an employer will remain essentially unfulfilled. For the employer seeking to build a satisfied and productive work force it means facing the reality that there may never be a fully committed work force because the employer may never be in the position to fulfill that work force’s fundamental needs.
Endnotes
1 See the NACE Job Outlook reports for 2004 through 2008.
2. NACE Job Outlook 2008 Spring Update Bethlehem PA: National Association of Colleges and Employers. March 2008.
3. Fifty-seven percent of college students are female.
Copyright Notice: This article originally appeared in the May 2008 issue of NACE’s Journal. NACE members have the permission of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, copyright holder, to download and photocopy this article for internal purposes only. Photocopies must include this copyright notice. Those who do not hold membership, or who wish to use the article for other purposes, should contact Claudia Allen, callen@naceweb.org, 800/544-5272, ext. 129. Electronic reproduction of this article is prohibited.
