Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2014, 60(8):376-387 | DOI: 10.17221/136/2013-AGRICECON
Factors influencing employment for tertiary education graduates at the selected universitiesOriginal Paper
- Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
The graduates of tertiary education level are one of the risk groups in the economically active age, who have a significant problem to find a job in the labour market. The research has been focused on defining the key factors influencing the creation of competitive advantages of the tertiary education graduates entering labour market as well as to identify the effectiveness of these factors in the process of entering the tertiary education graduates in the labour market. The methods of analysis were used in the processing of a survey of graduates from three universities of the Czech Republic, namely: the Masaryk University Czech Republic, the Mendel University in Brno, and the Brno University of Technology, at all levels of the higher education degree (Bachelor, Master, PhD) completed by the respondents graduating no earlier than two years ago. The data were collected through an online questionnaire, published in the February and March 2013 on the server http://rela.mendelu.cz, at the number of 150 returned filled questionnaires. Based on the analysis of secondary sources, there were for the research purposes defined five key factors influencing the efficiency of entering the labour market. These factors are the analysis of the current labour market situation and the rational preference of specialization, the active search and participating in programs and the internships focused on gaining the practical experience, the acquisition of professional skills, the use of institutional support and professional assistance and the factor of the building and use of networking.
Keywords: competitive advantage, graduates of tertiary education level, factors of success, labour market, unemployment
Published: August 31, 2014 Show citation
References
- Andrews J., Hogson H. (2008): Graduate employability, 'soft skills' versus 'hard' business knowledge: A European study. Higher Education in Europe, 33: 411-422.
Go to original source...
- Azevedo A., Apfelthalerb G., Hurst D. (2012): Competency development in business graduates: An industry-driven approach for examining the alignment of undergraduate business education with industry requirements. The International Journal of Management Education, 10: 12-28
Go to original source...
- Bardhan A.D., Hicks D., Jaffee D.M. (2013): How responsive is higher education? The linkages between higher education and the labor market. Applied Economics (online), 45: 1239-1256.
Go to original source...
- Becker G.S. (1962): Irrational behavior and economic theory. Journal of Political Economy, 70: 1-13.
Go to original source...
- Becker G.S. (1993): Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education. University of Chicago Press, Chicago; ISBN 9780226041209.
Go to original source...
- Briscoe J.P., Hall D.T. (2006): The interplay of boundaryless and protean careers: Combinations and implications. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69: 4-18.
Go to original source...
- Brown P., Lauder H., Ashton D. (2010): The Global Auction: The Broken Promises of Education, Jobs and Rewards. Oxford University Press, New York; ISBN 9780199731688.
Go to original source...
- Camerer C.F., Loewenstein G., Rabin M. (2004): Advances in Behavioral Economics. Princeton University Press, Princeton; ISBN 0691-11681-4.
Go to original source...
- Cardoso A.R. (2007): Jobs for young university graduates. Economics Letters, 94: 271-277.
Go to original source...
- De Koning J. (2007): The Evaluation of Active Labour Market Policies: Measures, Public Private Partnerships and Benchmarking. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, Northampton; ISBN 978-184-5428-464.
Go to original source...
- De Vos A., Soens N. (2008): Protean attitude and career success: The mediating role of self-management. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73: 449-456.
Go to original source...
- DeLong D. (2013): Graduate to a Great Job: Make Your College Degree Pay off in Today's. Longstone Press, Norfolk; ISBN 10: 0988868601.
- Eggert W., Krieger T., Meier V. (2010): Education, unemployment and migration. Journal of Public Economics, 94: 354-362.
Go to original source...
- Euroskop (2013): Kořeny a průběh krize eurozóny (online). Available at https://www.euroskop.cz/9026/sekce/koreny-a-prubeh-krize-eurozony/ (accessed 2013-02-12).
- Evropská unie (2011): Evropská strategie zaměstnanosti - snaha o zlepšení zaměstnanosti v Evropě. (European Employment Strategy - the Efforts to improve Employment in Europe.) Luxembourg; ISBN 978-92-79-17860-3.
- Feldman D.C. (1996): The nature, antecedents and consequences of underemployment. Journal of Management, 22: 385-407.
Go to original source...
- Gül H., Gül S.S., Kaya E., Alican A. (2010): Main trends in the world of higher education, internationalization and institutional autonomy. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9: 1878-1884.
Go to original source...
- Heid B., Larch M. (2012): Migration, trade and unemployment. Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, 6: 1-40; http://dx.doi.org/10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2012-4
Go to original source...
- Hoye G.V., Saks A.M. (2008): Job search as goal-directed behaviour: Objectives and methods. Journal of Vocational Behaviour; 73: 358-367; doi 10.1016/j.jvb.2008.07.003
Go to original source...
- Kahn L.B. (2010): The long-term labor market consequences of graduating from college in a bad economy. Labour Economics, 17: 303-316.
Go to original source...
- Kinicki A.J., Prussia G.E., McKee-Ryan F.M. (2000): A panel study of coping with involuntary job loss. Academy of Management Journal, 43: 90-100.
Go to original source...
- Knight P., Yorke M. (2008): Assessment close up: The limits of exquisite descriptions of achievement. International Journal of Educational Research, 47: 1-64.
Go to original source...
- Kogan I. (2012): Central and Eastern Europe - higher education and labour markets in transition. European Sociological Review, 28: i4.
Go to original source...
- Kotler P., Caslione J.A. (2009): Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the Age of Turbulence. Amacom, New York; ISBN-10: 0814415210, ISBN-13: 978-0814415214.
- Koucký J., Zelenka M. (2009): Postavení vysokoškoláků a uplatnění absolventů vysokých škol na pracovním trhu 2009 (online). (The Status of College Students and Application of University Graduates in the Labor Market 2009 - online.) UK, Praha. Available at http://www.strediskovzdelavacipolitiky.info/download/Absolventi%20VS%202009%20Zprava%20Jan10.pdf (accessed 2010-03-01).
- Lindley J., Machin S. (2014): Spatial changes in labour market inequality. Journal of Urban Economics, 79: 121-138.
Go to original source...
- LMC (2013):Vysoké školy online (online). (The universities online.) Available at http://www.lmc.eu/o-nas/novinky/jobscz-nasmeruje-studenty-k-spravnemu-vyberu-vysoke-skoly/ (accessed 2013-02-17).
- Marginson S. (2010): Higher education in the global knowledge economy. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2: 6962-6980.
Go to original source...
- McDonald S. (2011): What you know or who you know? Occupation-specific work experience and job matching through social networks. Social Science Research, 40: 1664-1675.
Go to original source...
- McKee-Ryan F.M., Harvey J. (2011): "I have a job, but...": A review of underemployment. Journal of Management, 37: 962-996.
Go to original source...
- Mouw T. (2006): Estimating the causal effect of social capital: A review of recent research. Annual Review of Sociology, 32: 79-102.
Go to original source...
- MPSV (2013): Absolventi škol a mladiství (online). Available at http://portal.mpsv.cz/sz/stat/abs (accessed 201002-27).
- Ng T.W.H., Feldman D.C. (2007): The school-to-work transition: A role identity perspective. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 71: 114-134.
Go to original source...
- Obukhova E., Lan G. (2013): Do job seekers benefit from contacts? A direct test with contemporaneous searches. Management Science, 59: 2204-2216.
Go to original source...
- Plümper T., Schneider Ch.J. (2007): Too much to die, too little to live: unemployment, higher education policies and university budgets in Germany. Journal of European Public Policy, 14: 631-653.
Go to original source...
- Potrafke N. (2013): Globalization and labor market institutions: International, empirical evidence. Journal of Comparative Economics, 41: 829-842.
Go to original source...
- Rulleau B., Dachary-Bernard J. (2013): Preferences, rational choices and economic valuation: Some empirical tests. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 41: 198-206.
Go to original source...
- Salas-Velasco M. (2007): The transition from higher education to employment in Europe: the analysis of the time to obtain the first job. Higher Education, 54: 333-360.
Go to original source...
- Skácelová P., Vojtěch J. (2009): Názory pracovníků úřadů práce na uplatnění absolventů škol v období ekonomické krize. (The Labour Office Staff Opinions on Application of School Graduates in the Period of economic Crisis.) Národní ústav odborného vzdělávání, Praha. Available at http://www.nuov.cz/uploads/Vzdelavani_a_TP/Nazory_pracovnikuUP2009.pdf (accessed 2013-07-1).
- Vencourová M. (2013): Uplatnění absolventů vybraných VŠ na trhu práce ČR. (The application of selected University graduates in the labor market of the Czech Republic.) [Bakalářská práce.] Mendelova univerzita v Brně, Brno.
- Werbel J., Balkin D.B. (2010): Are human resource practices linked to employee misconduct? A rational choice perspective. Human Resource Management Review, 20: 317-326.
Go to original source...
- World Bank (2002): Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education (online). Washington, D.C. Available at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/TERTIARYEDUCATION/Resources/Documents/Constructing-Knowledge-Societies/ConstructingKnowledgeSocieties.pdf (accessed 8. 1. 2013).
- Wu Ch. (2011): High graduate unemployment rate and Taiwanese undergraduate education. International Journal of Educational Development, 31: 303-310.
Go to original source...
- Yorke M., Harvey L. (2005): Graduate attributes and their development. New Directions for Institutional Research, 128: 41-58; doi 10.1002/ir.162.435/2004 Sb. Zákon ze dne 13. května 2004 o zaměstnanosti (online). Available at http://portal.mpsv.cz/sz/obecne/prav_predpisy/akt_zneni/zoz_-_1._ledna_2013.pdf (accessed 2013-02-15).
Go to original source...
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.