CHANGES IN CAREER PREFERENCES DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A STUDY OF BUSINESS UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN BANGLADESH

1. Introduction

Due to the COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the world, various countries have taken precautionary actions, including travel prohibition, home office exercises, lockdown, social distance, etc. These actions caused issues among the people of Bangladesh, a low-income economy with one of the densest populations in the world. The first COVID-19 case in Bangladesh was reported on March 8, 2020 (Satu et al., 2020), and the virus propagated slowly in the initial period despite the significant increase in cases that began in April. As the economic impact of the pandemic was evident, companies and organizations cut so many workers and employees off to minimize costs. In the 66 general holidays issued by the government in an attempt to suppress the corona virus, the Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) believes that almost 36 million jobs have been lost. Students and undergraduates in the last year of the university thus become indirect and direct sufferers of all these dismissals. Many of them are stuck in the middle of career choices. Business students were among them, in a more irregular situation because of a low “work opportunities per student” ratio. In Bangladesh, about 17 state colleges and 72 private universities produce millions of business graduates every year. But employment opportunities did not expand similarly for business-oriented pupils. Therefore, there is a strong competition among undergraduates to get a job to survive. It grew more competitive as COVID-19 adversely affected economic prospects and produced unemployment and job losses. In addition, students in several professions can quickly convert their positions to corporate careers. So, it is harder for a business graduate to stick to a single career plan every day. They desire adjustments in their professional preferences instead. Career preferences facilitate career choice, which is why situations like during and after COVID-19 are vital to consider. Every year, many new business graduates come out. But not all of them hunt for jobs; many are starting new enterprises or running their family firms, and many are studying abroad or in Bangladesh. Specialists are still unsure of the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, the projected number of cases and deaths, or the extent to which quarantine measures will disrupt daily life in communities across Bangladesh (Zandifar and Badrfam, 2020).

According to a recent research, mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with gender, socio-economic status, occupation, having COVID-19-like symptoms, perceptions of COVID-19 impacts, interpersonal conflicts, social media use, and social support, among other factors (Mowbray, 2020; Wang et al., 2020). With the economic changes that have happened as a result of COVID-19, students’ job preferences and their underlying reasons must be determined. The case study will help academics and policymakers in the field of career advice match the students’ skills to recover the economic damage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some research has also been carried out concerning the impact of COVID-19 on career transitions since the majority of COVID-19 studies are economic, demographic, and clinical (Lin et al., 2020). Keeping this in mind, the study on changes in job preferences among Bangladeshi graduates during the ongoing COVID-19 encouraged the authors.

2. Objectives of the Study

The case study aims to inspect the changes in career preferences due to COVID-19 among business undergraduates in Bangladesh and also to identify the major career preference in the post-COVID-19 arena. For this purpose, the focus has been on:

3. Business Graduates in Bangladesh

A “business graduate” usually refers to a person who graduated with a Business Administration degree. Graduates usually have a diploma in Business Administration with a major in management, finance, accounting, marketing, or human resources. A study conducted by the Bangladesh Public and Private University Students (Shamsuddoha and Khanam, 2003) found that business education in science, social science, professional, vocational, and other purpose-oriented education is in greatest demand among human resource developers and entrepreneurs. Business education in Bangladesh is enormously expanded across every possible background of university education. According to the “Annual Report 2016” of the Bangladesh University Grant Commission, around 28 lakh students are studying in public universities and 3.37 lakhs are studying in private universities, in 41 public and 103 private universities, and every six lakh students graduate from public and private universities in Bangladesh. One-sixth of the six lakh graduates are business graduates (University Grant Commission, Bangladesh, n.d.).

In Bangladesh, business graduates have many multi-dimensional opportunities as far as their career opportunities and income are concerned. For graduates, MNCs, banks, education, NGOs, government services, nonbanking financial institutions, start-ups, and information technology sectors are among the top career opportunities in Bangladesh for graduates. Many factors are to be taken into account when a question arises regarding the career choices of business graduates. They intend to be placed in a variety of renowned companies in their preferred sectors following graduation. In Bangladesh, there are many job sectors for business graduates. Not everyone can achieve their goals and still try to compete for those career choices at their best. These opportunities improve your job prospects and help you achieve your career ambitions.

4. Literature Review

Career decisions are among the most complex decisions individuals face during their lives. Hence, facilitating individuals’ career decision-making processes, and thereby improving the quality of their outcomes, is one of the main goals of career counseling (Gati and Tal, 2008). A career is a general path or progress taken by somebody where he is trained in a particular occupation for his entire working life, while a preference is the selection of something rather than other choices. It is the power to choose what you desire or what is desirable for you in terms of learning and development opportunities and income sources. “Career preferences” are someone’s decisions and wishes regarding the desired career. This decision-making creates confusion for 3rd- and 4th-year university students. If anyone is interested in a graduate business degree and a business career, the future of his/her career can be determined by a variety of factors, including undergraduate education, compensation, choice of industry, and personal and professional skills. Business graduates are largely affected by the job attributes like job descriptions, work environments, compensation, and security packages offered by organizations (Moy and Lee, 2002). These factors are important in making career choices for business administration undergrads. This eventually leads to the awareness that career preference is not a linear process but that it has factors that are influential in making plans, and those factors themselves are influenced by the surroundings, external environment, country situation, family orientation, and personal interests. Recognizing these factors would give individuals and industry a thought as to where to put their trust in the career choice procedure, which incorporates MNCs, the banking sector, education sector, NGOs, government services, non-banking financial institutions, startups, the IT sector, and so on.

Gati and Ram (2000) suggested differentiating, consistent, and coherent career preferences. Differentiation is the extent to which the preferences of individuals vary. Career preference is one of the most remarkable determinations for business students who will support them in their future ideas. The importance of choosing a specialization in business administration and accessible courses is crucial and important for each business student, as they will later be the building blocks of achievement. Numerous variables influence business graduates’ career preferences. For Bangladesh graduates to consider their career preferences, the authors believe factors such as challenging and interesting work, financial advantages and compensation, non-financial advantages, parental influence, prospects, good job opportunities, family or friends or parents’ inspiration, job security, career matching skills, and social status all play a role. Graduates’ emotional intelligence, communication skills, and adaptability influence them directly when choosing a career (Ketter, 2011). In transition countries such as Bangladesh, they have limited resources to guarantee job placements for graduates. Education, startups, MNCs, and government services are currently the fastest growing sectors in Bangladesh, employing the majority of business graduates. The decision-making process for career selection is one of the key aspects of individual life (Alberts et al., 2003). Although COVID-19 changed the entire outlook and created a great deal of social and economic spending in career decision-making, it also changes people’s career paths and ambitions. Graduates are now thinking about something innovative and safe that also matches their qualifications. It is more delusional for business graduates who already have a versatile career choice to stick to a certain career path. The COVID-19 created an unprecedented interruption, yet the crisis has inspired our business students to consider their career preferences strategically. It has altered the professional preferences of undergraduates, which are very much affected by the job insecurity of insiders, job losses faced by businesses, personal and family security and income challenges, and more employment opportunities in particular sectors, low salaries, and a lack of job opportunities in particular. As unemployment increases during this pandemic era, it is natural for them to take their job security and earning potential into account when deciding on career pathways. But choosing the right career is not an easy, simple calculation. Now there are so many unexpected developments that all may seem negative. In fact, there are uplifting facts about the change in career preference. Undergraduates learn new skills to prepare for new jobs and maintain these new practices over the long term. The world is changing, and those who want to evolve over time will be served by a company today as well as before the pandemic. One must learn more about the way one is going to graduate. A source of innovation and creativity can also drive growth.

5. Methodology

5.1. Data selection

The study focuses on this area as the highest number of COVID-19 cases were found in the country’s capital, Dhaka (Kamruzzaman, 2020). The study’s population consisted of final-year business students from Dhaka’s private and public universities. There are 51 private universities and 13 public universities in Dhaka right now. A sample of 620 final-year business students has been selected for data collection from 12 private universities and three public universities situated in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

5.2. Data collection and sampling frame

While developing rapport is critical for establishing trust and confidence between a participant and a researcher (Waddington, 2004), COVID-19 restricts the interactions necessary to conduct a large study. To address this issue, the author chose to conduct an online survey interview with the respondents. Convenience sampling is also used to collect the minimum possible sample size necessary to support the study population. An anonymous online questionnaire was developed with close-ended questions and distributed among the final year students of the BBA program at 12 different private universities and three public universities. The sample was collected through simple convenience sampling since the authors think it will be easier to get enough data through it. This is why the authors managed to get a high response rate (more than 91%). Since the study is based on the career preferences of business undergraduates in Bangladesh, the sampling frame selected is the final-year business students. According to Raymond James Jessen, “In many practical situations, the frame of the survey is a matter of personal preference for the survey planner, and it is sometimes a critical decision.” Due to a lack of an apparent frame, some very worthwhile investigations are never undertaken; others, due to flawed frames, have resulted in disasters or have left the investigators in a state of limbo.

Business undergraduate students in their final year are usually considered to have some clear and specific directions and reasonable self-concepts. Students in their final year were purposefully interviewed with the assumption that they had chosen their specialization by this point, with their career goal in mind. This sampling frame represents the population set of the study, business undergraduates of Bangladesh.

5.3. Data analysis

The respondents were asked to mention their career preferences and the main reasons behind them. In line with the previous studies, focus group discussion with the current final year business students, and the present context of Bangladesh, the study considered 10 reasons, namely; challenging and interesting job, financial benefits and compensation, non-financial benefits, parental influence, prospects, good career opportunities, family or friend or relative’s inspiration, job security, matching capabilities with the career, and social status. Then, they were asked to express their opinions about the career they wanted just after the COVID-19, and what they believed to be the reasons for their changing career preferences. With the help of focus group discussion with the current final year business students, recent articles and reports, and the present context of Bangladesh, the study considered six reasons, which are as follows: Job insecurities of industry insiders, job loss issues facing the industry, personal and family safety and income issues, lack of job opportunities in particular sectors, and low salary or cutting off of salaries. This study investigates the reasons followed up by COVID-19 impacts that influence Bangladeshi business graduates’ changed career preferences. The collected data were processed in MS Excel and SPSS. The inclusion of a $t$-test is used, and it is necessary to do a paired-sample $t$-test in order to determine the significance of the study. The timeframe of this study was from May 2020 to October 2020.

6. Findings

From Table 1, it is observed that among nine career preference fields most of the business students according to their major business subject areas liked to build up their career before COVID-19 in Multinational Companies (34.2%). That is because business undergraduates’ thoughts about MNCs are more structured.

In addition, according to the questionnaire’s specific 10 reasons, 18.9% of respondents preferred to work in the banking sector, and 14.7% preferred entrepreneurship as a future career. Among the subsectors of the overall service sector, the banking sector is considered to be one of the most organized. It must concentrate on providing personalized customer service, which necessitates the use of skilled and potential human resources despite a heavy reliance on artificial intelligence. The information technology sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are both represented by 2.6% of the total, and government services are the least preferred job fields represented in Table 2.

The issue arising from this finding is that out of the 10 reasons that had been identified may influence the career preference field before COVID-19, and among them, financial benefits and compensations (26.8%), social status (13.7%), good career opportunities (13.2%), and job security (11%) were identified as extremely important reasons behind career preferences. As most of the business students preferred to work in a Multinational Company and Banking Sector showing that they were seemed to be highly influenced by financial benefits and compensations and social status reasons. On the other hand, challenging and interesting job (3.5%), prospects (3.2%), inspired by family or friends or relatives (2.4%), and matched capabilities for doing the job (7.4%) were the least important reasons influencing business undergraduates’ career preference.

In Table 3, BBA students’ career preference fields after COVID-19 are presented. COVID-19 has some impacts on many opinions and attitudes of BBA final year students related to career preferences. The table shows the drastic change in their career preferences during COVID-19. Before COVID-19, Multinational companies and the banking sector were the most preferred areas as a future career, whereas now after COVID-19, students mostly want to work in Government services (34%) and the second preferred career choice is to be an entrepreneur. Government services and Entrepreneurship are the most highlighted career preference of BBA students after COVID-19. Moreover, very few students change their opinion on their career preference fields.

The authors of the study allowed the students to select multiple reasons that they considered as important for changing their decision to choose a specific career. Table 4 shows different reasons influencing the career preference after COVID-19. Most business undergraduates now want to build a career in Government services or as an entrepreneur and the most preferred reason for it is “personal and family safety and income issues” (30.2%). Low salary/cutting off of salaries (19.4%) is the 2nd preferred reason to change their career path because nowadays it is seen that most of the private companies decease the employees’ salaries to sustain in the market. Then, the 3rd preferred mixed reason is job insecurities of industry insiders and lack of job opportunities in particular sectors (12.4%) as many companies lay off their employees for COVID-19 and as usual for fewer job opportunities in Bangladesh.

6.1. Inclusion of t-test

The specific questions asked to the respondents are divided into two pairs.

Pair 1: Career preferences before and now

Based on these questions and study objectives, the author developed the hypothesis.

Pair 2: Reason for the career preference changes before and now.

Based on these questions and study objectives, the author developed the hypothesis.

In the paired samples statistics box, the mean for the “Your career preferences before COVID-19 were in?” is 4.60. The mean for the “Your career preferences right now are in?” is 4.49. The standard deviation for the career preferences before is 2.246 and for the career preferences now is 1.983. The mean for the reason for the career preferences before is 5.07. The mean for the reason for the career preferences now is 6.81. The standard deviation for the reason behind career preferences before is 3.113 and for the reason behind career preferences now is 2.510. The number of participants in each condition (N) is 620.

Pair 1: Career preferences

The authors obtained a $t$-value of $-$9.877 (Table 6), resulting in a $p$-value or two-tailed significance value of 0.031. This is a statistically significant result for any plausible alpha value. Because the standard alpha level is 0.05 and 0.031, which is less than 0.05, the author can reject the null hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh had no effect on the career preferences of business undergraduates. To put it in another way, the difference in means between the two conditions is so large that it is highly improbable to have occurred by chance; thus, the authors can conclude that the difference is real.

Pair 2: Reason for the career preference changes

Table 6 shows that the authors procured a $t$-value of $-$10.746 (Table 6), which resulted in a $p$-value — or 2-tailed significance value of 0.00000 for the authors. This is a statistically significant result at any reasonable alpha level. An alpha level of 0.05 is considered to be significant, and because 0.000 is less than 0.05, the author is able to reject the null hypothesis, which states that the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh has no effect on the reasons for changes in career preferences among business undergraduates. Another way of putting it is that the difference in means between the two conditions is so extreme that it is extremely unlikely to have occurred solely by chance, and as a result, the authors can conclude that the difference is real.

The business undergraduate final year students were asked to specify the field where they want to build up their career before and after COVID-19 including the reasons and each of the respondents was allowed to select several reasons that they considered as important for their decision to choose a specific career. With that, the authors can now able to identify the changes in their career preferences due to COVID-19 with reasons.

7. Discussion on the Findings

7.1. Before the start of COVID-19

According to the findings of the study, the vast majority of business undergraduate students have a reasonably clear idea of the career paths they want to pursue after completing their courses, as well as the qualifications required to pursue those paths. The majority of respondents (final-year business undergraduates) expressed a preference for working in multinational corporations (MNCs) or the banking sector. Business undergraduates believed that working in multinational corporations would provide them with good social status, a sense of job security (most of the time, but not always), and a pleasant working environment. Working for MNCs can be extremely beneficial when it comes to gaining the appropriate level of exposure as well as receiving the most important financial benefits, such as salary packages and work-pay balances. These are the primary reasons why undergraduate business students have become increasingly interested in MNCs. Those who participated were motivated by the right kind of competitive spirit that can propel a person forward in their future professional career. MNCs are well-managed and have a strong reputation for the quality of their products, which allows them to earn more and distribute large dividends to shareholders year after year. It also attracted the attention of young people who wanted to work for MNCs. Their reasoning was that because MNCs are experiencing growth in profits, they should be able to offer higher salaries. They were correct, as the earnings of most MNCs listed on the country’s stock market increased in 2019 when compared to the previous year. Typically, banks prefer young, competitive freshers who have completed a bachelor’s degree in Economics, Finance, or Business Administration, as well as a master’s degree in Business Administration, from reputable universities, and who thrive under time constraints. Many aspiring freshers are gravitating toward banking jobs because of the lucrative compensation packages available. Private banks offer an extremely competitive and exciting work environment in which to develop as a professional. Bangladesh’s banking industry has grown tremendously in recent years, with approximately 63 banks, including nine state-owned banks (SOBs), 40 private commercial banks, nine foreign banks (FBs), and five nonscheduled banks. Scheduled banks hold deposits of Tk.1139832 crore, have advances worth Tk.951448 crore, and operate a wide network of branches numbering 10396 (of which urban 52% and rural 48%). All the scheduled banks together operate 100 million deposit accounts and 19 million loan accounts. Fifty-eight scheduled banks including foreign banks have 182,610 employees. Those also were preferred by the business undergraduates before the start of COVID-19.

7.2. After/during the COVID-19

According to the World Health Organisation, in view of the number of positive COVID-19 cases, Bangladesh was one of the top 10 countries out of 215 countries and regions of the world (Abdullah, 2020). According to the results of the field survey, the majority of business undergraduates now want to pursue a career in government services or as an entrepreneur, with the most frequently cited reasons being “personal and family safety” and “income issues.” Low salary/cutting off of salaries is the second most frequently cited reason for changing one’s career path, owing to the fact that most private companies are reducing their employees’ salaries in order to remain competitive in the market today. In this section, the author will discuss the responses of some companies and industries to the pandemic and their actions in response to their change in operations over the last few months, in order to better understand the fact of “cutting off salaries” and “personal and family safety and income issues”:

The above news reports explain what the real scenario is. This is also reflected in the new career preferences of business graduates. They easily observed that both the banking sector and MNCs are being zapped badly by COVID-19’s impact.

8. Conclusions

Local business graduates in Bangladesh are becoming increasingly picky about the job opportunities that are presented to them. In order to fill vacant and newly created positions in their respective organizations, more and more organizations are competing to find the most qualified candidates. As a result, the job market is always extremely competitive. In their final year of business school, undergraduates usually have a clear idea about the types of careers that they would like to pursue based on their major area of study. In the overall case study, it can already be seen that there was a greater interest in banking services and private services in multinational corporations prior to the implementation of COVID-19. In order to determine the most important factors that influenced their decision to pursue those specific careers, the sample respondents were asked to rank several options from the list of factors based on their importance to their career choice. As the findings of this study have already demonstrated, the most important factors influencing these career choices are the financial benefits and social status that the sample students place a high value on, as the findings of this study have already demonstrated, because COVID-19 MNCs have increased their earnings per share (EPS) on the country’s stock market, indicating that their profits are growing. As a result, students become more interested in their compensation packages. Furthermore, sample students were aware that graduates are given first priority by banks when hiring for entry-level positions and that banking sectors were the second most popular choice due to the ease with which banking jobs can be created based on deposits. This study, on the other hand, discovered a statistically significant difference in the responses of the respondents in terms of their career preferences during the current COVID-19 period.

As a result of COVID-19, their career preferences shift abruptly away from multinational corporations and the banking sector and toward government services and entrepreneurship. Many stories have appeared on the internet or news portals about salary cuts, layoffs, or fewer job opportunities in multinational corporations (MNCs) and the banking sector, which have prompted students to reconsider their career choices. COVID-19 makes life extremely difficult, as evidenced by the fact that many private companies are taking the necessary steps to remain competitive in the market. Nowadays, government services and entrepreneurship are the most secure career options for students who want to survive in society while maintaining their personal and family safety. As a result, attracting or recruiting the most qualified graduates for a business organization will be even more critical now than it was previously. Graduates require adequate knowledge and guidance in order to be able to take their first step towards a completely different profession. Despite this, when the current economic crisis comes to an end, there will be a greater demand for a more highly skilled workforce. That would at the very least provide some sort of silver lining to the dark clouds that currently hang over the futures of undergrads’ careers and, indeed, the futures of the entire nation. Despite the fact that the pandemic has raised questions about the viability of graduate business programs and education in general, the situation is not hopeless. The university can design more market-oriented, job-related, and practical courses for business undergrads, as well as hold frequent workshops and seminars in collaboration with various specialized people from various corporate fields. Undergrads in business will benefit from these efforts. This will assist these students in determining their preferences long before they are no longer available in today’s competitive employment market. Through the establishment of a career development club, final-year business students can receive guidance on their career choices and job prospects. In addition, through the career assistance program, frequent job fairs can be organized to help you find a job. The findings of this case study revealed that changes in career preferences during and after COVID-19 have some association with financial outcomes and safety issues. However, these variables vary depending on socio-economic and demographic factors. The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in a significant decrease in economic activity. Only a few industries are growing, as people increasingly rely on technology and shop for groceries online, but the vast majority of businesses of all sizes and shapes are suffering tremendously. Unfortunately, if you are a final-year business undergraduate, your chances of finding and keeping a job, as well as your earning potential, are both negatively impacted by your gender. In addition to helping academicians better understand how students’ career preferences change as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings of the study can also help policymakers and practitioners better understand how business undergraduates’ future career preferences change as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, this case study encourages academicians and researchers to conduct additional research on this subject.