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The career path of IRIO alumni

An analysis of professional positions of 968 alumni IRIO

21 maart 2013

This research is based on an analysis of a list of over 2000 IRIO alumni that have registered
after their graduation with the central alumni association Ubbo Emius. With the help of the
social media website LinkedIn, around 750 of the alumni on the list were found. Their job
profiles were added to the list of IRIO alumni. 1
With the view to get a perspective on career development of our alumni, the research is split
in a group with alumni that graduated between 2007-2012 and another with the alumni that
graduated before 2007.
The research is carried out by Vincenzo Rekveld, student assistant at the department IRIO.

Although the method used in this research produced sufficient results for analysis, it was insufficient in the way that common names like Mulder

and Jansen were impossible to find using this method.

Method

After finding the current positions of 968 IRIO alumni, these findings were split into two
groups: one of alumni graduated after 2007 and one with those graduated before 2007. This
led to two lists of respectively 504 alumni and 464 alumni. The division will give a general
idea on the difference between the careers of our alumni in the first five year after graduating
and the years after.
To make an analysis of the careers of our alumni, the most common sectors where our
alumni are employed were categorized. This led to two main sectors, that each have their subsectors.
1) Non-governmental
a) Private sector
i) Industry, trade and energy.
ii) Financial sector.
iii) Personnel and organisation.
iv) Information and communication.
v) Media.
vi) Judicial.
vii) Remaining.
b) International non-profit sector.
c) National non-profit sector.
2) Governmental
a) National.
i) Legislative.
ii) Executive.
(1) Ministries
(a) Foreign Affairs.
(b) Security and Justice.
(c) Economic Affairs.
(d) Social Affairs and Employment.
(e) Defence.
(f) Education, Culture and Science.
(g) Interior and Kingdom Relations.
(h) Finance.
(i) Remaining.
b) Regional.
c) Semi-government.
d) European Union.
e) United Nations.
f) Remaining.

Analysis

At first, the results of the 986 alumni were analysed on the basis of whether alumni were
employed, studying or were unemployed. The share of alumni who are currently studying is
included in this research due to the fact they graduated from the bachelor programme IRIO,
but they are not included in the further analysis. This presented us with the result that only 3%
of our alumni is unemployed, 6% are still studying and 91% is employed as is shown in
graph 1.
Secondly, the list of alumni from 2007-2012 were analysed according to the sectors
described above. The results showed that 62% are employed in the non-governmental sector
and 38% in the governmental sector. The same analyses for the alumni that graduated before
2007 showed the results of 58% employed in the non-governmental sector and 42% in the
governmental sector. The results are shown in respectively graphs two and three.

The Non-Governmental Sector

For further analysis we turn to the non-governmental sector consisting of the private sector,
national- and international non-profit sector. The alumni from 2007-2012 show a 87%
employed in the private sector, 5% in national non-governmental and 8% in international nonprofit. For the alumni that graduated before 2007 it shows that 77% is employed in the private
sector, 13 percent is in national non-profit and 10% is working in the international non-profit
sector. The results are shown in graphs 4 and 5.
When we look closer at the private sector we can establish that the sectors of industry,
trade and energy, the financial sector, and personnel and organisation employ the lion share of
the IRIO alumni. For the graduates of 2007-2012 this is a respective 22%, 18% and 19%. The
alumni graduated before 2007 show a significant higher employment rate in the financial
sector, namely 27%. The other sectors do not show an obvious in percentage: 21% for
industry, trade and energy and 13% for personnel and organisation. The results of this
analysis are shown in graphs 6 and 7.
Concluding our analysis of the non-governmental sector we see that the lion share of IRIO
alumni in the non-governmental sector are employed in the private sector. Although the
private sector remains the major employer in the non-governmental sector, the results show a
small shift from the private sector to the non-profit sector after their first five years in their
career. Furthermore, a shift in careers is to be found when looking more closely to the private
sector. A significant rise in the financial sector of IRIO alumni could be accounted for by the
need for working experience in this sector.

The Governmental Sector

The governmental sector is subdivided in the national and regional level, semi-governmental
institutions and remaining. Semi-governmental institutions are universities, universities of
applied sciences and hospitals. The remaining consists of international governmental
organizations like the European Union and the United Nations.
The alumni graduated in the period between 2007-2012 show that 53% are employed
on the national governmental level, while 23% is employed on the regional level and 17%
works in the semi-governmental sector. The remaining 7% consists of 3% employed at the
European Union, 3% at the United Nations and 1% at other international governmental
organisations. The alumni graduated before 2007 show a similar image, only is the
participation in international governmental organisations slightly higher. The percentages read
48% on a national level, 23% on a regional level and 19% in the semi-governmental sector.
The remaining 10% is composed of 4% employed by the European Union, 3% by the United
Nations and 3% by other. The percentages are shown in graphs 8 and 9.
For further analysis it is important to make a distinction between legislative and
executive governmental jobs on a national level. This showed a strong preference for
executive governmental jobs in both the alumni group of 2007-2012 and before 2007. The
percentages are respectively 96% executive and 94% executive.
Lastly, the analysis of employment of IRIO alumni on the national executive level is
divided into the different national ministries. The main employers within the government of
the IRIO alumni are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Economic Affairs and Security and
Justice. This is the case for both the alumni graduates of 2007-2012 and the alumni that
graduated before 2007. The alumni graduates of 2007-2012 who are employed on the national
executive level are employed for 20% by Foreign Affairs, 20% by Security and Justice and
14% by Economic Affairs. In addition, they show that Social Affairs, Defence and Education
all account for 9% of the employment. In comparison with the alumni that graduated before
2007, there is a significant difference shown in the percentage employed by Foreign Affairs,
namely 31%. Economic Affairs and Security and Justice account for respectively 22 and 20%.
The percentages are shown in graphs 10 and 11.
In conclusion, we can see that the single biggest employer of IRIO alumni is the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. Although they employ 20% of the IRIO alumni in the first 5 years of their
career, the share increase over time. Economic Affairs and Security and Justice are also big
employers for IRIO. When looking at the graphs it also shows that although the IRIO alumni
in the first 5 years of their career are more scattered across the ministries than in a later stage
of their career. A switch to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs due to their experience in a
ministry and their study could explain the rise in the percentage of Foreign Affairs in the later
stage of the alumni careers

Graph 4

Graph 5

Graph 6

Graph 7

Graph 8

Graph 9

Graph 10

Graph 11