Flexible hours are still the most sought after benefit for college students and recent grads according to the results of a survey released by JOBTRAK.COM. Flexible hours was the hands-down winner with 42% of the respondents choosing it as their number one employment incentive. This is up from 35% last year at this time. Stock options fell to 9% of the respondents choosing it as their number one incentive. This is down from 19% last year.
More than 1,000 college students and recent graduates responded to the question in both January 2000 and 2001, Which benefit do you desire most? Following are the findings:
Benefit January 2001 January 2000
Flexible Hours 42% 35%
Stock options 9% 19%
More vacation time 15% 13%
Ability to telecommute 6% 13%
Better health plan 13% 12%
Large signing bonus 12% 9%
University career centers are seeing the change as well. No longer do students value monetary benefits, it is free time that is important to them. said Richard White, career center director at Rutgers University. After watching their parents' generation sacrifice time for their careers, the current generation has decided that they would rather have free time to spend with their friends and family.
Ken Ramberg, co-founder of JOBTRAK.COM commented, With the erosion of the stock market in the first part of the year, more and more students
are giving pause to stock options as an incentive to join an organization. Being able to balance their work and personal lives is of utmost importance to today's college students, and as the demand for new graduates remains strong, they are still able to choose between companies and select the firm which offers them the best work environment.
One jobseeker said, I would love to work on my own time schedule, even if it is 4pm-3am.
www.jobtrak.com
Flexible hours sought - 04/2001
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