Attracting Generation Y applicants: organisational attributes, likelihood to apply and sex differences

Building on person-organisation fit and gender self-schema theories, we examine UK university final year students’ perception of the importance of organisational attributes and their presence in three major graduate employers. The three organisations, a management consultancy, a media corporation and an investment bank, regularly seek applicants for management trainee positions. Thirty-two repertory grid interviews identify twenty organisational attributes which are used in a survey of 862 undergraduates in their final year at 22 UK universities. The Generation Y respondents rate the organisational attributes in terms of importance and then evaluate three employers for perceived presence of these attributes and likelihood of submitting an application. Means and regression analyses reveal sex differences in both the importance of organisational attributes and the perceived extent of their presence in three organisations. In describing the ideal employer, women rate eight attributes as significantly more important than men (all related to the nature of their work and the organisational culture) and men rate only one attribute as significantly more important than women (salary). There are significant differences between the graduate mean ratings of the three organisations on nearly all of the attributes. We identify a positive correlation between the graduates’ assessments of the total attractiveness score (across the twenty attributes) and likelihood to apply in all three organisational cases. We offer implications for practice and further research