Once a student is accepted into an academic professional program the competition to hire the graduate begins. Interviews with clinical laboratory graduates indicated a perceived combination of socialization agents and tactics and the influence of specific job attributes provided a means for them to make informed job choice decisions. Participants perceived the most important employment choice considerations as: - the ability to regulate one's work schedule - maintaining work environment flexibility - familiarity with organizational environment - the nature of the job - sufficient employee benefits package. Collective formal socialization provides an overview of the clinical laboratory profession and personal interest disciplines. Individual informal socialization allowed active evaluation of organizations as potential employers. Combined socialization agents and tactics influenced the participants' perceptions of the organizational environment and nature of the job providing a means to make informed job choice decisions. This book provides insight for organizations participating in professional academic program internships to emerge as successful recruiters.
