An Empirical Study about the Critical Factors Affecting MIS Students' Job Opportunities

For the first time in many years, Management Information Systems (MIS) students and faculty are seeking ways to improve full-time job placement for program graduates. Due to sharp IT budget cuts, the slowing economy, and outsourcing, job opportunities for MIS graduates have become scarcer than ever before. In addition to achieving good academic performance, MIS students have adopted aggressive approaches to securing employment, such as building MIS-related internship experiences, adding additional majors, and taking more technical course work. Research on the critical factors affecting MIS full-time job opportunities has not received enough attention, and little empirical research is currently available. There are several factors generally known to affect full-time job opportunities for graduates. These factors include the intern-like work experience, nature of work experience, multiple majors, the timing of major declaration, grade point average, and gender difference. An urgently needed empirical study has been completed and the results are reported in this paper.