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You've just earned your degree, and you're ready to pound the pavement (or the online job boards) and get your first job as a  

college grad

 . The question is, what are you looking for in a job?

If you're anything like the 19,000 students nationwide who responded to the 2008 National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Graduating Student Survey, your top concern is financial security.

College seniors ranked 15 separate job attributes in terms of their importance in selecting a job or employer. The top three attributes, in rank order, were: company provides the opportunity for advancement; company offers job security; and company has a good insurance package.

What happened to attributes associated with personal growth, such as the opportunity for personal development and the opportunity for self-expression and creativity? Those were ranked sixth and ninth, respectively. The social qualities of the company received relatively low rankings as well: a casual atmosphere, a diverse workforce, and the company's activity in the community were ranked 11th, 12th, and 13th, respectively.

Clearly, financial security is uppermost in the minds of new college grads. But why? The U.S. economy may be in a downturn, but the demand for college grads has not waned. According to NACE Job Outlook reports from the past four years, this graduating class has seen an increased demand for the students that preceded them in every year they have been in college. This year, the NACE Job Outlook 2008 Spring Update found an 8 percent increase in expected new college hires over the number that found jobs in 2007.

Part of the way you look at work may be influenced by your gender. According to NACE, 57 percent of college students are female, and there is a difference in how men and women rank key job and employer attributes. Interestingly, female college grads seem to be more concerned with financial security, particularly employer benefits packages, than male college grads are. Both men and women rank job security and the opportunity for advancement high, but men appear to be more concerned with status and prestige in the workplace. They place much greater emphasis on the size of the starting salary and the opportunity for personal development than women do.

Now it's your turn to make your way into the job market. Which priorities top your list?



Robyn Tellefsen is a frequent contributor to The CollegeBound Network. Learn more about finding a school that's right for you.

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