Recruiters’ Perceptions of Graduates with Online Studies

Many colleges now offer online courses, and accordingly, an increasing number of graduates are appearing in the job market with a substantial amount - if not all - of their studies having been completed online. To date, however, there has been little research into the issue of whether students completing their education through non-traditional forms of instruction are regarded, within the wider job market, as being of the same quality, compared with students completing their studies through more traditional modes of delivery. This study investigates this issue through a vignette-based survey of job recruiters in which they are asked to rank the attractiveness of job seekers with different educational backgrounds (e.g., the amount of their studies completed online). The survey is currently being administered in the southeast region, and there are plans to extend the sample to target other regions. A summary of data collected by the time of the conference will be presented and discussed, together with the instrument used for the study.