Abstract
This study investigated various attributes that contributed to successful employment in order to develop employment support programs, especially for female engineering students. We surveyed engineering students who graduated between 2006 and 2011. The 401 employed graduates participated in an online survey. The surveys inquired about their attachment towards their major, participation in various academic and non-academic activities, and their participation's contribution to their successful employment. In regards to their majors, women, in general, had lower levels of satisfaction, confidence, attachment, and motivation to succeed in their fields when compared to their male counterparts. These results show that engineering colleges still need to work on empowering female engineering students to gain confidence in their engineering major and attachment. The graduate school experience was highly rated by both men and women, whereas double majors exhibited somewhat lower scores. Among academic activities, part-time work experience and major-related internships were rated as the most helpful, and among extracurricular activities, study-abroad for language training and participation in student council or clubs received high scores. There was little difference between men and women in study-abroad participation, and women participated more actively in student councils. However, women had much less major-related work experience, reaffirming that colleges need to expand internship and field experience programs for female students.