FACTORS INFLUENCING UNDERGRADUATES OF GENERATION Z IN INDIA: EMPIRICAL STUDY ON CAMPUS PLACEMENTS

Every year in India 30-40 lakh students graduate after undertaking various courses in a multitude of streams. While a lot of them prefer going for higher education after their undergraduate degree, a majority of them sit through on-campus placements. There are various financial and non- financial factors that are vital and influence an undergraduate's decision to sit for a particular company. These factors can be their personal/ psychological reasons, their economic background or other reasons which indirectly affect them. For a company it's very important to make their recruitment drive effective and efficient, as talent management in the latest scenario with Gen Z getting into the workforce is crucial and involves huge cost. Therefore, considering what these fresh graduates are looking for when it comes to sitting for a job is crucial. The purpose of this article is to present a systematic study, which involved 396 undergraduate respondents from various streams, including factor analysis to identify various factors that influence these undergraduates. Results reveal that they are looking for a perfect blend of financial and non – financial factors like experience that the job would add, location of the office, benefits offered by the company and a challenging job profile which keeps them on their toes every time. It was also revealed that metro cities are preferred by most of them which is a very important factor to sit for placement.