Efectividad de la intermediación laboral ofrecida por el Centro de Desarrollo Profesional - CEDEP

The Professional Development Center at the Icesi University specializes in personal and professional development of its students and graduates; it continuously monitors the job market meeting the needs of employability, and making visible job offers that different organizations make through the Job Placement for Recent Graduates Program and the Job Portal. While the Center receives an average of 290 jobs offers a month through the Job Portal and 200 graduates apply to these offers, the effectiveness in intermediating between these elements is yet to be achieved. The purpose of this exploratory research was to understand the dynamics of each of the two elements – job opportunities and alumni- to identify the reasons that explain the gap between them and establish corrective actions to improve the effectiveness of job placement intermediating. 130 applications by 1941 graduates that were made through the Job Placement for Recent Graduates Program and the Icesi University’s Job Portal were analyzed. The results show that one of the reasons why the job intermediation is not effective is because the graduates do not adequately apply to job offers posted on the Job Portal, and the job opportunities submitted by the companies do not provide specific information on the requirements. Another finding in this research is that the support offered by the Job Placement for Recent Graduates Program makes more effective seeking employment and the achievement of a job. Among the elements that facilitate the employment of graduates, it was found that who applies to an offer must conform to the specifications of the vacancy offered; and that companies should specify requirements sufficiently to fill the vacancy.