Study on the Influencing Factors of Students’ Employment Pressure of Higher Vocational College—Taking Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College as an Example

Abstract

This paper aimed to study the influence factors of Students’ employment pressure among higher vocational college, based on the interaction theory of pressure perception. The research objectives were: 1) To explore the internal and external factors affecting the students’ employment pressure at Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College; 2) To propose countermeasures to alleviate the students’ employment pressure at Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College.

This paper adopted the qualitative research method, through the analysis of pressure cognitive interaction theory, in-depth interviews were conducted with 60 students from six different majors at Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College on six dimensions: job quality evaluation, self-knowledge and orientation, psychological expectations for employment, competitive work environment, lack of job search assistance, and contradiction between offer and demand from majors to examine the conducting research on factors influencing students’ employment pressure and the countermeasures.

The study found that: 1) Based on the pressure cognitive interaction theory, the internal factors were lower evaluation of the vocational quality and social adaptability, students’ self-knowledge and evaluation bias, tendency of career choice were too high, psychological expectations of salary and treatment of employment units were too high, the external factors were: insufficient relevance of the government’s policies in employment and entrepreneurship support, discrimination in society against the employment of higher vocational students, parents have high expectations of students’ employment, mismatch between the school’s professional curriculum and the demand of employers, and the insufficient supply of demand for employment positions due to the increase in the number of enrollment year by year, leading to the supply exceeding the demand, contradiction between talent training and market demand; 2) Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College propose the countermeasures to alleviate the employment pressure of students: At the self-level, Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College have to alleviate the employment pressure of students by improving the sense of self-efficacy, cognitive and evaluative abilities, and adjusting the preference of choosing career; at the social level, can provide employment opportunities, encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, eliminate employment discrimination, and build a fair employment environment with government policy; at the family level, establish the concept of employment with the times and give children enough psychological support to alleviate students’ employment pressure; at the school level, it is suggested to adjust the enrollment policy and professional structure, strengthen employment guidance and services, and intensify entrepreneurship education, so as to help the higher vocational students adapt to the employment pressure.

Keywords: higher vocational students, employment pressure, pressure cognitive interaction theory, factors affecting employment pressure.

Study on the Influencing Factors of Students’ Employment Pressure of Higher Vocational College—Taking Quanzhou Light Industry Vocational College as an Example

Master of Business Administration (International Program), Siam University, Bangkok, Thailand