Job search behavior during the senior year

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine job search related behaviors of participants and non-participants of the 1995 Career Services Junior Meetings at Ball State University. The project also provides a portrait of the job-search behaviors of seniors at Ball State University.A sample of 344 seniors at Ball State University during the academic year of 1995-1996 was surveyed during March, obtained on 12 of the 26 variables from the Career Services Candidate Data Base. For the remaining 14 variables a survey instrument was used to obtain the data. One hundred eighty-three (183) usable responses were received for a useable response rate of 53.2%.Over 50.0% of the students were registered with Career Services and of those who were registered, 70.9% had registered at least six months before their graduation. Two percent of those surveyed had attended a Career Services workshop and 11.0% had attended a Job Search Seminar. Twenty three percent had been advised on the telephone by someone in Career Services, 6.1% had been advised during drop-in advising, 1.2% had been advised during individual advising, and 0.9% had been advised during a practice interview. Over 55% of sample had conducted an informational interview with someone employed in their chosen profession. Nearly 38% had attended Career Information Day in the Fall of 1995, 11.6% had attended the Summer Job Fair in the Spring of 1996, and 16.9% had participated in On-Campus Interviewing.Seventy-seven percent of the respondents had used the Career Resource Center more than once, 20.8% used the career or job-search resources in Bracken Library, and 14.8% accessed Career Services' home page on the World Wide Web. Over 72% of the sample had work experience related to their career choice since they had been in college.Over 55% of the respondants had interviewed at least once for professional employment related to their career choice and 27.9% had interviewed three or more times. Slightly more than 28% had received an offer for professional employment and 18.6% had accepted an offer for professional employment. Nearly 83% had identified a major influence that affected their career choice with a teacher/professor (11.9%), interest in the field (11.9%), family member (10.3%), and availability of employment (7.6%) being the top four items identified.