In the context of large-scale import substitution, improving the training of workers for all sectors of the national economy in the system of secondary vocational education becomes an urgent problem. It is necessary to create conditions that ensure the formation of motivation among college graduates for the implementation of the entire volume of competencies acquired during the study in the specialty or associated with it. In this regard, there is a need to investigate the motivations that determine the employment of current academic graduates. Based on the materials of three sociological studies conducted by the Ural Federal University in 2018, 2021, 2023, the main factors influencing the choice of a future place of work by senior students of different colleges of the Middle Urals are revealed. The article shows changes in assessment of the level of the desired salary, prospects of realization of abilities, professional and career growth when making a decision to work in a profession or adjacent to it.