Graduate attitude and employment: an exploratory study.

Since 1990, the government stopped guaranteeing employment for graduates. Students who graduated from Colleges and Universities had to look for jobs on the labour market on their own. Nevertheless, it has turned out to be a tough exercise, leaving others unsuccessful. Shrinkage of government owned institutions, coupled by a generally narrow based economy with slow growth rate, reduced the possibilities of graduates attaining their dreams of nice offices with lucrative salaries. There has been a general increase in the number of unemployment research in Tanzania, particularly after the change of economic system. Despite this fact little attention has been given to graduates unemployment. We may therefore have limited knowledge about causes of graduates' unemployment. This study explores the influence of graduates' attitudes, a value system, which an individual uses to choose to be either a job creator or a job seeker. The attitude formation factors that are; socialization, education, and situational factors are studied, and how these influence the employment status of an individual. Graduates' samples from five Higher learning institutions, five employers and academic managers from the Cooperative College Moshi and the UDSM was used as a sample. The sample results indicated that graduates prefer wage employment to self-employment. These attitudes were acquired from the socialization process and upbringing, which is; from their relatives, parents, and through the social learning process from the society at large and education system. In addition, it was revealed that employers are not satisfied with graduates' attitudes and skills though knowledge-wise are appreciated. Some cases of apprenticeship featured in both wage and self-employment, whereby fresh graduates went through on job training to attain the required level of skills and attitude for a particular trade of interest. The managerial and policy implications together with direction for further research of the issues raised in the research have been highlighted.