Moore, S; Needham, A; Spillane, J P and Bradley, J G (2023) More than the money: Factors perceived as important by undergraduates and early-career graduates regarding the attractiveness of employment opportunities in the Irish construction sector. In: Tutesigensi, A and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 39th Annual ARCOM Conference, 4-6 September 2023, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
Abstract
The Irish construction sector is seeing massive growth, with 167,300 people employed in the sector in Q2 2022 compared to 127,300 in the same period in 2021. This pilot study investigates factors that influence graduates' choice of employer, whether these factors mature over time and the talent acquisition strategies of construction companies. A mixed-methods approach is taken, with data gathered from 20 semi-structured interviews and 53 questionnaire surveys. While there is evidence in the literature indicating factors such as skills, attributes and characteristics influencing employer's view of graduates' employability, this work takes the alternate viewpoint in terms of identifying the factors that influence graduates' choice of employer in the Irish construction sector. Findings indicate various factors such as salary, social considerations, career development, challenge and responsibility are involved. There is a difference between factors that undergraduates see as attractive before their industrial placement compared to afterwards. The findings indicate how Irish construction companies could structure their offerings to attract graduates into the construction sector to ensure their place as successful organisations constructing the future.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | talent attraction; recruitment; retention; undergraduate perspectives; early career perspectives construction sector careers |
| Index terms: | placement, interview, retention, employability, employment, strategy, survey, acquisition, construction company, career, undergraduate, evidence, questionnaire, construction sector, recruitment |
| Subjects: | business, organization, data collection methods, evaluation and assessment methods, curriculum development, professional development, management, human resources and leadership, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Information Management, Research Practice, Education, Human Resources |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here