Three out of ten college graduates and other advanced degree recipients enter employment in private companies. The document focuses on this situation and describes the characteristics of two cohorts of college graduates (who entered college in 1961 and 1966) several years after graduation (1971). The study is based on responses from 127,212 graduates who were freshmen in 1961 and 254,480 graduates who were freshmen in 1966; subsamples of 60,000 from each cohort were randomly selected for the followup mail survey. An analysis of the collected data is presented in three sections: (1) a description of the characteristics of populations of college graduates who took jobs with different types of employers based on their sex, grades, degree attainment, and occupational title; (2) an examination of values sought in the working world and of motivational factors that differentiate people who pursue a particular career in private companies from those in other settings (for example, accountants, business administrators, computer personnel, allied health workers, engineers, lawyers, and natural scientists); and (3) a comparison and analysis of the salary levels reported by the different employment populations. A series of tables presenting the data collected from the survey are appended. A list of 17 references is included. (Author/EC)