A Research on the Difference between the Ideal Work and the Realistic one for Graduates

王亞微

【Abstract】This paper firstly introduces the current situation of the employment for graduates.The purpose of this thesis is to explore the shortcomings of the college education and what kind of preparations the students should have for the future job.

【Key words】employment for graduates?qualitative research?shortcomings of the college education?preparations

1 Introduction

In this competitive and fast developed society， the employment is a hot issue， especially for the graduates. According to a survey， there are 7 million graduates in the year of 2013， and the employment rate is about 70 percent. From the survey， more than half of the graduates can find a job after they graduate from the university. While Few research are studied on their feeling and attitude towards current jobs. The author conducts a qualitative research to study the difference between the ideal work and the realistic one for the graduates.

2 Methodology

2.1 Participants

The participants are three workers who have graduated from the university for one or two years. Yu Fei is a software engineer who is 25 years old and has graduated from Lanzhou Jiaotong University for 1 year. Li Ya is a female and now has married. She is a construction engineer who is 26 years old and has graduated from Lanzhou Jiaotong University for 2 years. Wang Wei is an ordinary worker who is in charge of the materials about the project. He is 27 years old and has graduated from a professional training college for 2 years. This paper studies the difference between the ideal work and the realistic for the graduates.

2.2 Research question

The research question is “What the difference between the ideal work and the realistic one for the graduates？”

2.3 Data collection

The author use interview （QQ charting） and reflective journals to collect data for the participants are away from the interviewer. The interview is an open-ended interview to know the participants current working features and conditions， and their attitudes toward the work. The interview is not enough to answer the question and not persuasive. The author asks the participants to write reflective journals to probe for more information.

2.4 Data analysis

The author reviewed the interview materials to know the participants current working features and conditions， and their attitudes toward the work. The author finds the three participants are dissatisfied with their current job， and there is a big gap between their ideal work and the realistic one after the graduation. Then the author further analyses the participants reflective journals and finds the problems that can cause the dissatisfaction.endprint

3 Results and discussion

The author interviews three participants. From the interview， all of them show dissatisfied attitudes towards their work. Yu Fei feels that the difference is that the competition system in the company is unfair. Li Ya thinks differences are working conditions and working features. She also thought of quitting but not decided.Wang Wei says that the salary should be more than that.

The author asks the participants to write reflective journals to probe for more information. All of them mentioned that the college education system should change a little bit. For the science students， practice is very important. Link up theory with practice！ During the four years education， they only have two-week social practice when they are sophomore. At that time， they did not realize the importance of practice， so they played， travelled， slept during the two weeks. The instructor said nothing about it！ As a science college， the instructor should arrange more social practice for students， and emphasize the importance of it.

4 Conclusion

From the interview and reflective journals， the three participants indicate that they are dissatisfied with the current work and all of them have the plan to quit. They think there are great differences between the ideal work and the realistic one.The differences are： First， the working conditions： the company offers a variety of relaxing places. Second， working features： they thought the job should be have fixed working place， other than the workers go around with the project. Third， the competitive system： it should be fair. The young should have more opportunity to show the talents.

In the reflective journals， the participants also argue that the education system should change a little bit. For science students， the instructor should emphasize the importance of social practice and offer some guidance for the future job.endprint