Critical Factors Affecting Job Offers for New MIS Graduates

Journal of Information Systems Education, Summer 2004 by Fang, Xiang, Lee, Sooun, Lee, Ted E, Huang, Wayne

ABSTRACT

Due to the sharp IT budget cuts in corporate America, the slowing economy, and the offshore outsourcing trend, job opportunities for MIS graduates have become scarcer in recent years. In addition to having good academic performance, MIS students have adopted aggressive approaches, such as MIS internships, double majors, and more technical course work, to securing employment. However, research on the critical factors affecting MIS full-time job offers has not received enough attention, and little empirical research is currently available. This study intends to explore this important issue using a survey research methodology. 742 seniors majoring in MIS were surveyed in three different US universities and 213 seniors actually participated in the survey. The critical factors identified in this study include internship experience, the nature of internship experience, double majors, the time when students declare their MIS majors, grade point average, and gender difference. The research findings in this study indicate that student GPA, networking-oriented internship, and double majors are identified as the key items influencing MIS full time job offers.

Keywords: MIS, full-time job offers, internship, double majors, gender, Grade Point Average, nature of MIS internship.

1. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW

A recent survey by the National Association of College and Employers found that 42.4 percent of employers indicated that they expect to cut college hiring (Lee, 2003). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of unemployed workers between the age of 20 and 24 is 1.4 million, up to 60 percent from four years ago. Today's graduating seniors are no longer under any delusion. A survey by job-search website Monster.com found that 61 percent of college graduating seniors expected to move in with their parents (Chen, 2003). Since the end of the dot-corn boom, unemployment among IT professional has soared, reaching a high of 6.5 in March 2003 (Chabrow, 2003). Most observers believe that outsourcing, immigration, and continued pressure to lower costs denote that white-collar workers will continue to struggle to find new employers. And these factors generally hit the software field harder than other technical fields (Costlow, 2003). MIS students are facing greater challenges in terms of finding MIS full-time job offers.

Many attempts are made by students and faculty in institutions of higher education to improve job placement of graduates. Internship experience and multiple majors have emerged as important factors that may improve the job placement of MIS students. Internships offer a mutually beneficial experience for companies and students (Pianko, 1996). Academicians, practitioners, and students themselves have widely extolled the benefits of internships, defined as structured and careerrelevant work experience obtained by students prior to graduation from an academic program (Taylor 1988). Literature (Knouse 1999; Schambach and Kephart 1997) suggests that college internships offer a variety of benefits to students, such as increasing opportunities for finding a job upon graduation, reinforcing the skills learned from courses, and gaining a better understanding of organizations and career focus.

One study (Gault, Redington, Schlager, 2000) reported that new employees with internship experience received greater entry-level compensation than non-interns, with starting salaries averaging $2,240 (9.23%) higher than non-intems. The time for interns to obtain their first positions was significantly shorter than for non-interns. However, the analysis in the study did not reveal that, for undergraduate business alumni, major area of study nor GPA was correlated with time to obtain first job, starting salary, and current salary. There was also no correlation between the above-mentioned measures and gender. Tests for interactive effects involving GPA, major, gender, and other demographic factors also failed to produce any significant results. For graduates with equal years of experience, only internship participation resulted in a significant difference in the aforementioned rewards. Graduates with business majors were the participants in this study; graduates with MIS majors were not separated out.

Empirical support for the benefits of internships is not extensive, however. Although several studies have reported that internships yield high job satisfaction and favorable employment opportunities for participants, these studies have rarely controlled for potential confounds such as the nature of the internship and fulltime job offers, and other important factors such as single versus double majors, timing of MIS major declaration, gender difference, and grade point average. Additionally, the evidence for the employment value of supplementary experience has been found only in research with limited samples (Fuller, 1991), and with limited controls on factors such as ability (Sagen, Dallam, Laverty, 2000) and major. Further research is needed to examine how these factors affect job opportunities, especially in the field of MIS. The research results can provide some insightful guidelines to MIS academia for revising MIS curriculum and can help MIS graduates in the job markets, especially in the economic downturn period.