Abstract

The present study investigated gender differences in career search self-efficacy of graduating college students. The differences in four types of career search self-efficacy, job search efficacy, networking efficacy, interviewing efficacy, and personal exploration efficacy, were examined based on gender and the previous use of career services. One hundred twenty three male and female college students who were graduating in two months completed Career Search Efficacy Scale. Due to the moderate negative skewness, the scores of career search self-efficacy measures were power transformed. Whether they already received job offers or not was controlled as a covariate. The result of MANCOVA indicated the main effect of the use of career services and the interaction between gender and the use of career services on career search self-efficacy. Women who used career services showed higher scores on four types of career search self-efficacy measures than those who did not. Men did not show significant differences based on the use of career services. These results suggest the relationship between career search self-efficacy and the use of career services is stronger for women than for men, possibly implying that the relative importance of career services may be based on gender.