REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Graduates are an integral part to todays employment market. This study has
looked at the underlying factors that influence graduates choice of career. The first
research objective investigates if the graduates would choose to work in the pathway that
they have studied or otherwise. The second objective studies the motivating job factor
that prompts the graduates to accept job, and the third objective researches the perception
of undergraduates in working for the government.
In Philippines, education has become as integral part of life and paper chase. With the public and
private universities and university colleges producing thousands of graduates every year, the
market is becoming saturated. Of course the employers are spoilt for choice. But this is not so.
Employers do have a difficult time getting the right candidates. When they do identify and
employ the right candidates, the employees may not stay or last on the job. Why is this so?
Thousands graduate every year and yet there are thousands of vacancies left vacant. Is it because
of the perception of todays graduates or undergraduates in their choice of a career? Do they
know the type of job that they would prefer to do? What do these educated youngsters look for in
a job? Would they join a small- and medium-sized enterprise, a multinational corporation or opt
to start a business on their own? To address these issues the following research was conducted.
This research focusing on the factors influencing the choice of career of undergraduates was
conducted at a private institution of higher learning. Three objectives, that is, (1) to investigate if
the final year students would choose to work in the pathways that they graduated from or
alternative available options, (2) to find out the motivating factor that prompts them to accept a
job in an organization.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Studies had been carried out by academics to determine how certain were the undergraduates and
graduates of medical-related degree programme in deciding their choice of career (Ellin,
Parkhouse and Parkhouse, 1986; Lambert, Goldacre and Turner, 2003; Goldacre, Turner, Fazel
and Lambert, 2005). This research shared similar concern where it viewed the certainty of career
choice among business graduates as crucial as they had spent the duration of four years in
pursuing a major that may or may not be their choice of career when they graduate.
Literature search discovered that there had been similar research done in investigating the
underlying factors influencing Nursing graduates choice of career and if they preferred to work
for the government that job attributes are the most important factors that influence the choice of
career among undergraduates. The job attributes that are important to undergraduates in choosing
their career can be broadly categorized into three groups including the job itself, compensation or
security and the company or work environment (Moy and Lee, 2002, p.341).