The class of 2021 has a low level of confidence in finding a job after graduation. This level in the country is lower than the average and differs from one university to another, shows the Employer Branding & Graduates Career Aspiration Survey carried out among graduate students of Moldovan universities during December 2020 – March 2021 with the assistance of AmCham Moldova. According to the authors, this conclusion is extremely important for the higher education system as employability is one of the lines of action of the Bologna Process that, among others, reflects the relevance of the programs of study to the labor market, IPN reports, quoting a press release of AmCham Moldova.
The aim of the survey was to understand the psychological profiles of graduating students of Moldova and to provide insights for employers to develop jobs that the future of Moldova’s workforce desire. The scientifically developed nature of this study will also allow new psychological insights to be known.
“By this survey, we managed to bring to Moldova the best international academic knowledge so as to reveal a new level of studies and practices in the field of human resources and higher education in the Republic of Moldova. This initiative should be continued in the future so as to extend the available database and to formulate conclusions that will help not only the employers and universities, but also decision makers and initiators of reforms and state policies,” said MBA student Iolanta Mura, study author.
The survey shows the salary expectations of the class of 2021 are on average at the level of 8,026 lei, while the minimum accepted salary is 4,134 lei. Among the main sources through which the future employees of the class of 2021 prefer to look for a job are: job portals; friends and mates; social media.
For the class of 2021, there is a general greater motivation and intention to develop one’s career as a professional, than as a leader or entrepreneur. This result is consistent across different demographic categorizations.
However, there is a significant gap between the motivation of graduating students to be an entrepreneur versus their intention to be an entrepreneur. They have a smaller intention than motivation to start a business after they graduate. This gap appears to be compensated by a greater intention to grow their career as a technical professional or seeking to grow to become a leader within organizations.
Female respondents are found to expect a lower salary and are more willing to accept a lower salary for their first job after they graduate.
Female respondents are found to have higher levels of promotion focus than males. Promotion focused is one of two fundamental motivational traits. Higher levels of promotion focus means than female respondents are more likely than male respondents to take chances and seek out opportunities in order to achieve their goals. Graduating students who are more confident in finding a job does not necessarily have better grades, and those who have better grades do not necessarily expect a higher salary.
With regards to gender, it appears that females in the class of 2021 report a higher promotion focus than males do. However, there is no difference between genders for prevention focus. And with regards to disciplines, computer science students are significantly much lower in promotion focus than economics, business, and engineering students. It is also shown that business students studying management, marketing, or logistics appear to be the least prevention focused. This means that business students are more likely to be motivated by opportunities to strive for success, than by fear of making mistakes.
In terms of appropriate supervisory behaviors for managing the class of 2021, focusing on the rewards and possibilities of success will be more useful than focusing on punishments and rules. This differential effect would likely be seen most for business graduates and least with computer science grad
The class of 2021 rated the two highest work values (aspects of work that is important to them) as extrinsic rewards (e.g., salary) and growth and developmental opportunities. These two work values are almost equally important to them, while other work values such as meaningful job design, and good social environment are not as important.
Respondents feel that working for a company with an employer that appears as honest and successful are important criteria for them when choosing their first job after graduation. Other criteria such as trendy and prestigious are less important. The gender image of a company is of the least consideration. This suggests that focusing on the image of an employer as being honest, having integrity.
Employer Branding & Graduates Career Aspiration Survey 2021 is a joint collaboration between the American Chamber of Commerce in Moldova and an MBA student from Moldova, Iolanta Mura, pursuing her studies at the American University of Central Asia. This is the first-ever cross universities study in Moldova that sought to map graduating students' broad vocational interests (career aspirations), desired job characteristics (work values), employer brand image, and innate human motivational and moral dimensions.
