Job Experiences of 2010 Rizal Technological University Businessmanagement Graduates: Core Essences

ABSTRACTTwo hundred eighty-nine 2010 business management graduates of the Rizal Technological University, a state university in the Philippines were traced and their employment experiences solicited using the social networking site, the Facebook (FB). Using the descriptive research design, the data were used to portray the traced graduates' employment profiles and capture their reflections to explore a wider array of dimensions and be able to give light on the graduate employment situation that would contribute to solving the government's education and economic problems. One hundred eighty-six or 64% of the 289 traced graduates were found to have verifiable employment data. Out of the 186, 43 or 23% were working for banking and finance-related sector and 39 or 21% were in trading and merchandising. The study showed that most of the graduates were able to start a career path by gaining entry to prestigious companies. Five themes emerged from the 16 reflections: self confidence in performing assigned tasks, positive attitude, value of experience, traits developed in school and financial considerations. The themes that emerged reflected three core essences or factors that made them stay or contributory to their being retained by their employers on the job: financial or being able to buy what they want and help the family in the daily expenses; attitude, self-confidence and skills developed in school, as contributory to their work performance and retention; and experience, the main reason for staying on the job despite physical and emotional difficulties.Keywords:reflections, graduate employment, themes, tracer studies, job experiences, nominal group interviews.INTRODUCTION:Employment statistics trend in Asia had not progressed at the same rate as tertiary education enrolment, which increased from 28.6 million in 1970 to 152.2 million in 2007 (UNESCO, 2012). Its findings anchored on the concept that employability is the result of many factors and that graduate unemployment in the Philippines has largely been attributed to structural or skills mismatch. This happens when jobseekers are not seen by employers as equipped with the needed skills. The situation affects the fresh graduates who get frustrated at not being able to land a job or whose probationary contracts not renewed for varied reasons. The implication is not just the nation's economics. Studies have shown that experiences of new entrants to the labor force have profound influence on their future social, economic and behavioural fortunes (Green, Shuttleworth&Lavery, 2005 as cited in UNESCO study 2012). Job seekers or young workers who encounter negative experiences have a higher probability of encountering further work-related disadvantages later in life, as well as social exclusion, poverty and ill-health (Baum & Mitchell, 2008, cited in UNESCO Study, 2012). Aside from graduate employability concerns, tertiary institutions of learning are pressured to cope with the demands of employers. The problem seen by Kuk and Hughes (2003) is not professional preparation from schools but what seasoned practitioners believe as the gap between what new professionals know and what they can do. This is congruent to Bridgstock's (2009) findings that technology have changed the concept of employability. She explained that generic skills required by employers cannot guarantee employment. Over and above the skills is the ability to self-manage the career-building process. It therefore becomes imperative for the academe and employers to find out the naturally occurring characteristics and perspectives of newly-hired graduates after a tracer study has been conducted to come up with samples from which associations could be determined. This endeavour could be strenuous due to dearth in literature. After all, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) had conducted only 5 nationwide graduate tracer studies in 12 years (UNESCO, 2012). …