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What Today’s College Graduates Want from Employers

June 12, 2008 — The majority (51.5%) of new graduates plan to begin looking for jobs and start their careers right away, while 31% plan to go immediately on to grad school, a survey reports. For the career minded, strong benefits packages top the employment wish list with two-thirds (66%) of recent college grads ranking comprehensive benefits packages (including, for example, health care, 401(k) program, child care, and domestic partnership benefits) as the most important factor in their search for employment.

Starting salary ranks a close second at 64% and job location rounded out the top three job considerations for the graduates surveyed with 60% saying it was it important. As the class of 2008 begins its post-collegiate journey into the workforce, the expectations these millennials have of their “ideal” employers and their view of the current job market are being heard through this survey, which Capital One Financial Corp., developed.

Today’s graduates also want to be rewarded or compensated (for example, through comp time or matching donations) for their volunteer and philanthropic activities.

“Benefits and financial rewards have always been an important factor for job seekers. Our associates and new recruits have also told us that they want an intellectually challenging environment and really value work-life balance,” said Matt Schuyler, chief human resources officer of Capital One.

Capital One’s survey also revealed a pessimistic view of the current job market, but grads said they were optimistic about their personal prospects. Nearly half of the new graduates surveyed (48%) believe that, while some jobs are available, there are not enough for all new graduates and 44.8% believe that there are fewer job opportunities than in previous years. Yet, despite these perceptions, 85% of the current graduates anticipate finding a job within the next six months.

The findings are based on a telephone survey conducted by the survey opinion research firm, Braun Research of Princeton, N.J. Braun Research was engaged to conduct 400 interviews with men and women of the class of 2008. Some had just graduated or were about to graduate, but all respondents either graduated or were planning to do so this semester. All respondents were contacted either at home or in a dorm in households or colleges or universities across the United States.Surveys were conducted by telephone from May 23, 2008 to May 26, 2008. The margin of error for the interview is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.