Comparison of Turkish students perceptions of professional reputation with international students and a policy proposal for qualified intermediate staff

One of the important problems in the field of employment in Turkey is the shortage of qualified intermediate staff. There is convincing data that this gap is due to socio-cultural reasons such as the social reputation and perception of professions, as well as economic and political reasons. In this study, it was based on the idea that it would be valuable to understand how the reputation perception of international students differs from Turkish students, especially in professions where there is a shortage of intermediate staff, and these two groups were compared based on the Perceived Reputation Scale for Professions and the Attitude Towards Work Scale. The data set used in the study was obtained from the academic units affiliated with Ondokuz Mayıs University in Samsun province and its districts, and the surveys were distributed through course instructors and applied face to face. As a result, it has been determined that international students assign higher reputation scores than Turkish students to many professions where there is a shortage of qualified intermediate staff in Turkey. International students also assigned higher scores than Turkish students to a number of professions under the title of professions of the future. While this study contributes to the literature by being the first to compare the occupational perceptions of Turkish and international students; it has offered employment-related solutions and policy suggestions to the government, business world and relevant decision makers.