Motivating and recruiting intending IS professionals: a study Of What attracts IS students to prospective employment

This paper is the second study in a research program aimed at achieving a better fit between university courses and professional practise of information systems. the paper reports the results of a survey of student attitudes towards incentives and conditions of employment that may be useful to employers who wish to attract and retain scarce and talented information technology professionals. Students were asked to rate the importance of eleven conditions and incentives and to identify and rank the five incentive variables that they considered most important to them in their decision to accept and remain in work in a given organisation. the findings suggest that IS students are most attracted by a friendly work environment, supportive superiors, and perceived promotional opportunities, with economic incentives such as salary and fringe benefits rated as rather less important. Implications for employers who are dealing with an ongoing global shortage of information technology staff are discussed.