Money isn't the issue

The results might surprise you. Cash, it seems, is not the driving force behind this generation's job choices. They want the chance to develop their skills; money, yes, but they also want security. They want an honest representation of the job they'll be doing, and they won't tolerate corruption or poor health and safety.

Although graduates' pay expectations seem to be broadly in line with what's on offer, our results suggest that companies still have a way to go in treating graduates with respect and making them feel welcome. At a time when firms need new blood, their dissatisfaction about long hours, menial tasks and a hostile culture is a call for an end to the "this is what I had to go through, so you will too" attitude.

Over half of the undergraduates in the survey expect to earn £15,000 to £20,000. Just over a quarter are a little more ambitious, hoping for £20,000 to £25,000, and 13% are willing to settle for less than £15,000. After five years, 40% hope to land between £25,000 and £30,000.

Security and structure
Poor wages have long been seen as a deterrent to young people entering the industry, but this may no longer be the case. "The impression I have is that you can command quite a good salary," says Chris Parks, in his final year of a Construction Management degree at Leeds Metropolitan University. "The people on the popular courses - the Micky Mouse ones, like Media Studies - will be lucky to get £12,000."

Improve attitudes in general. The bully-boy culture still exists: I know that from first-hand experience

survey respondent

We asked respondents to choose whether they'd prefer to work for a smaller firm offering early responsibility, a large firm with structured training, or a niche firm with the highest salary. 70% plumped for the security and structure of a big company, 29% wanted early responsibility, and just 1% went for niche and cash.

Young people won't tolerate corruption. "Would you leave a company because it tolerated unethical behaviour such as bribery or fraudulent claims?" we asked. 69% would.

A higher proportion, 79%, said that they would leave a firm because it tolerated poor health and safety practices. But the potential for accidents is not, it seems, a big turn-off for tomorrow's graduates. When asked to pick the biggest thing wrong with the industry, poor health and safety came fourth (8%) behind a shortage of tradespeople (26%), divisions among professions (18%) and the industry's boom-and-bust nature (10%).

One of the biggest problems facing undergraduates in selecting an employer is their limited understanding of the industry. Parks, for example, planned to study Sports Science, but when Sheffield University phoned him up to say "Sports Science is full, but have you considered construction management?" he looked into it and liked what he found. Now, according to his course leader, he's set to come top in his year.

Treat us as young professionals, not as tea-boys

survey respondent

Sam Dutton, a cost consultant with Cyril Sweett who graduated three years ago, didn't get the grades to study English at Oxford as he had hoped; "I didn't know anything about surveying. I picked it out of a UCAS book". His course didn't really prepare him for the job. "There's little correlation between what you learn at university and what you do day-to-day as a QS. Lots of friends say the same thing."

Parks' course mate Alan White, who selected construction management after a psychometric test at school, is disappointed by what's on offer. "I expected an office job after my degree," says White. "I didn't go to university to roll around in the mud, but I'll accept that it's something I need to do to get the knowledge to do a management job effectively."

Anecdotal evidence suggests that companies are not very good at attracting students' attention. It's difficult to gauge what a company will be like just from watching the usual hour-long presentation. Given the bemoaned shortage of good graduates, it seems strange that firms have not altered their approach.

Parks is not impressed. "It's very impersonal. Two or three people from the firm stand at the front of a big lecture theatre doing PowerPoint presentations, and you get the feeling they have to do it. We're sick of lectures – we don't want another one." He would much prefer to talk on a social basis to people who work for a firm. "From personal contact, you can get the feeling of how these people are going to be for you."

Don’t assume that because someone earns a salary they’re expected to work all the hours God sends

survey respondent

Straight talking
Sam Dutton thinks that younger members of staff should visit universities. "Personnel managers often don't really know how a QS works in a company. Young people tend to be more open with their comments. You get a good idea of what they're like."

Some firms are working hard to make themselves more attractive to graduates, but sexing up what's on offer is a bad idea. Why? Because it leads to unhappy graduate trainees who feel as if they've been sold a lie. Dutton reports that some of his course mates were lured by the promise of working overseas, only to find out that these opportunities were rare and only came only after five years' hard graft. Farooq Lone, a graduate construction manager with Shepherd, wishes he had known that unpaid weekend overtime is the norm. "You have to stand up for yourself. If you don't, they have every excuse to walk all over you." From comments made on the survey, this is a common complaint from young people.

Be careful who you place graduates with, too. Aisha Alamin chose to switch to studying part-time at South Bank University after Galliford Try Partnerships offered her that option following a summer placement with the firm. Older students on her course had warned her about sexism, and on her first day she was expecting the worst. "I was expecting to be the only girl, but when I saw a woman site manager I thought 'that's really good', so I started changing my mind about what it's like to be on site."

Many undergraduates have had much less positive experiences, judging from the comments in our survey. The failings reported include bullying, treating the year-out student as the tea-boy, and too much unpaid overtime.

If companies have got the money right, many still need to work on a more receptive culture for graduates, especially when young, motivated people can vote with their feet. The majority of students we surveyed did not just fall into construction because that's what their dads did; they chose it themselves.