Qualifications, Skills and More! Characteristics Employers Look for when Hiring Newly Graduated Applicants for a Higher Occupational Level.

This thesis examines the characteristics considered by employers in employee selection. By studying the characteristics used in the staffing process, this thesis contributes to the sociological and economic debate on inequality and stratification as results of job allocation and employer selection. Research shows that employers consider multiple characteristics during the staffing process. Thus, examining individual characteristics (e.g., qualifications, which are the primary focus of the inequality and stratification literature) is clearly insufficient for explaining the differences related to who
obtains prestigious jobs (e.g., managerial jobs) and thus is insufficient to explain differences in job allocation, inequality and stratification. Those characteristics frequently debated in the economic and sociological literature, such as educational qualifications, field of study, social, cognitive and technical skills, personality, and effort, constitute the main characteristics studied in this thesis. The study of the role these characteristics play in the staffing process contributes to our understanding of job allocation. This thesis examines the characteristics that affect job allocation by studying the characteristics employers consider during the staffing process. The central research question of this thesis is as follows: Considering employer decisions in the staffing process, to what extent do the characteristics frequently debated in economic and sociological theories on job allocation contribute to the selection of newly graduated applicants applying for a junior-level managerial job?