South African students are looking for job security over the allure of leading balanced lives, according to the latest South African student survey by employer branding specialist Magnet Communications.

Every year Magnet Communications asks students to select the three top career goals they would like to achieve in the next three to five years after graduation. The latest survey results reflect polled the views of over 26 000 students from 23 tertiary institutions.

"This is the first time in six years of this survey that work/life balance does not appear in the top three list of career goals," says Magnet communications MD Johansson.

"It seems economic instability in South Africa has affected the perceptions of future graduates entering the working world."

The survey further reveals that across all sectors 48 percent of students want to be leaders and managers of people in their field, 32 percent want to be secure and stable in their jobs and 32 percent would like to be competitively and intellectually challenged.

Over the last two years the number recording a desire to head overseas for international work experience has declined.

In similar surveys conducted from 2005 to 2007, the top career goal for South African students was to work overseas.

In 2008, the trend on university campuses changed and the need to pack bags and move abroad dropped to position four on the priority list.

"Since 2008, South Africa has been cultivating a generation of future leaders graduating from university. Their number-one career goal is to be leaders and managers above anything in their future careers," says Johansson.

"When the results are examined more closely, there are differences among students in each area of study. Compared to last year, commerce students are realising the need for job creation, so are favouring entrepreneurial, creative and innovative ventures.

"In the light of South Africa's alarming unemployment rate, it's a positive sign that graduates are leaving universities with this career goal in mind."

The survey shows that 37 percent of science and health care science students would like want to contribute to society, choosing this goal over the need to be secure in their jobs; 39 percent of humanities students shared this sentiment.

The survey is linked to other studies carried out overseas, and shows that 49 percent of South African students want to be leaders and managers of people foremost in their career, whereas 58 percent of UK students voted for work-life balance, 49 percent want to be challenged in their jobs and 41 percent to be secure and stable in their jobs.

American students, instead of wanting challenging work, would like to focus on contributing to society.

The survey also asks students to identify their ideal employers from the list of 130 companies. The same set of students were asked, and to comment on their reasons for selecting certain companies as ideal companies to work for.

The commerce students identified Absa as the employer of choice; Eskom won the engineering students' vote as the most desirable place to work; science students voted unanimously for Sasol, and humanities students ranked the SABC as the ideal employer in 2009.

All these companies received awards at the annual awards ceremony in Joburg in December.

The results are company-specific and can be explored in greater detail through Magnet Communications. For more information, call 021 422 4863.