What do Graduates Want? A Job That Will Make A Difference

A new nationwide study, conducted by Net Impact and the Heldrich Center, examining work life and jobs with meaning finds that 65% of university students expect to make an impact on causes and issues they care about in their future job. The study, Net Impact's Talent Report: What Workers Want in 2012, was conducted to investigate what workers want out of their jobs in the year 2012; it examined demand for impact jobs, and how the youngest generation of workers might differ from their older counterparts. The survey also set out to consider how life goals, job satisfaction, impact jobs in practice, and citizen activities rank in importance, value, and fulfillment for current and upcoming generations.

Critical findings include:

• Two thirds (65%) of workers and students said that "the potential to contribute to society" and "a job that will make the world a better place" is very important to them, with about one in four deeming this to be essential.

• The survey identified the five top job attributes that workers want from their work life: a good work/life balance, a positive work environment, good compensation, having interesting work to do, and job security.

• Just 1 in 10 students thought it is going to be "very easy" to find a job, and only another 23% said it will be "somewhat easy." Nearly half (46%) said finding a job will be "somewhat difficult," with another 13% believing that it will be "very difficult."

• Despite current employment outlooks and a lack of real-world experience, graduating students still maintain a desire to work for and with purpose, even if means a smaller paycheck. Of the students surveyed: Over half (58%) would take a 15% pay cut to "work for an organization whose values are like my own." Almost half (45%) would take a 15% pay cut to "have a job that makes a social or environmental impact on the world." Over a third (35%) would take a 15% pay cut to "work for a company committed to corporate and environmental sustainability."

A total of 1,726 respondents were surveyed in a statistically representative sample of Americans who had graduated from a four-year college and were working full time when the study was conducted between February 15 and 18, 2012.