K-Connect and Factors of College Employment

This study looked at employment among K-College students, what factors affect students’ decision to work, and how effective K-College is in finding jobs for students. 55 percent of the sample of forty-seven students said they were currently employed. Of those twenty-six students, only three said that they found their jobs through K-Connect. Further, only 51% percent of the sample actually has a profile on K-Connect. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being not useful at all and 5 being extremely useful), the majority of those students gave K-Connect a 3 for the level of usefulness. In terms of satisfaction with the website, the majority also gave it a 3.

The majority of students who reported to have a job said the main reason for employment was due to financial reasons. On the other hand, 53.57 percent of the students who are not employed listed the main factor for this to be a need to focus on school. Thirty-three of the forty-seven students in the sample had at least one job prior to entering college. Eighteen students in the sample qualify for work-study, which greatly affects the numbers in this study. The mean amount of dollars students are receiving in student loans is $3,063.36. With that in mind, the researchers sought out to see if there was a correlation between the amount of aid received in student loans and the amount of hours worked per week. To the surprise of the researchers, there was a very weak correlation, showing little sign of a relationship between the two variables.

It was interesting to break down the data by demographics. For example, the percentage of first-year students who were employed (30 percent) was lower than that of the sophomores (60 percent). However, it must be noted that more sophomores composed this sample than any other grade level. For juniors, about 57 percent were employed. Only 37.5 percent of the seniors in this sample reported to have a job. This finding was rather unexpected. In comparison with college students across America in 2004, a smaller percentage of the student body (according to the findings of the sample) are employed than on the national level of 59 percent. However, with a larger sample size, there would be a more accurate finding and representation of the population.

Overall, the majority of the sample was employed, and with so few of those students actually using K-Connect to find jobs or internships, it seems that the website is not serving its purpose to the campus. While this is only a small sample of the student population at K-College, it is still interesting to note these findings. The researchers of this study are hoping that the college will find this data to be helpful in making adjustments to K-Connect so as to better meet the needs and expectations of the students who are searching for jobs. Perhaps there is no need for the website, but one thing for certain is that there should be some change to the system so it will hopefully be put to use by the majority of students.