GRADUATION, THEN WHAT? IMMEDIATE PLANS AND PREFERRED WORK LOCATIONS AMONG FILIPINO GRADUATING STUDENTS

This research provides data on the immediate post-graduation plans and preferred place of work in a voluntary exit survey conducted in Philippine universities and colleges. A secondary quantitative descriptive analysis used the year-based eligibility criterion and latest matching full name to keep 2,136 cases out of 2,172 responses submitted. Each variable was tabulated through counts and percentages while 2,134 valid pairs were cross-tabulated. Reviewing for exams is the most prevalent post-graduation plan (1,115; 52.2%) followed by immediate job searching (506; 23.7%) and taking time off before starting work (327; 15.3%). Another town or city is the most popular location response (706; 33.1%) followed by abroad (675; 31.6%), Home Base (494; 23.1%), and another province (175; 8.2%). Abroad was the choice of 34.1% of the reviewing for exams group and 23.7% of the immediate job searching group while another town or city was chosen by 28.3% and 42.3%, respectively. The researcher’s verification of the supplemental records yielded combinations, sequencing, and alternatives that extended the one-choice categories. “Home Base” was undefined, and there were two cases in which field alignment was unresolved. These matched description sets are a point of departure for career counseling. Self-selection, broad representation, single-item measurement, and the lack of follow-up preclude any conclusions about work or migration after college.