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Getting Started: New College Grads Entering A Strong Job Market

Getting Started: New College Grads Entering A Strong Job Market

By Carolyn Bigda, Chicago Tribune (TNS)

This spring, students graduating from college will have more to look forward to than the end of exams and term papers. They can also expect a strong job market.

According to a survey by the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University, hiring of new grads is expected to jump 15 percent this year. The survey, which asked employers about their recruitment plans for the 2015-16 academic year, is based on responses from more than 4,730 firms.

“We’re seeing hiring rates that resemble the really strong job markets of past years,” said Philip Gardner, director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute. He noted that hiring has improved annually since the 2010-11 school year, but that recruitment has really ramped up in the last three years.

“We’ve needed it,” Gardner said, pointing out that hiring must increase by 5 percent to 7 percent annually, “just to soak up new grads, never mind the students who graduated during the recession and may still be looking for suitable work.”

If you’re preparing to graduate in the spring, here’s what to expect.

Hiring is up throughout the country.

“There’s not one region that’s lagging,” Gardner said.

However, in some areas recruitment is off the charts. So-called super hirers — companies that plan to increase their hiring by more than 100 percent — are mostly in Virginia and California, followed by Michigan, Wisconsin and Texas.

“California and the D.C. metro area are home to power players in the job market right now,” Gardner said, such as technology firms, and companies in the aerospace, consulting and manufacturing industries.

Most sectors are hiring. In most cases, it doesn’t matter what career you want to pursue. Job growth is strong across industries too.

Take construction. In the aftermath of the 2007-09 recession, jobs for recent graduates all but disappeared in construction. But this year, hiring of grads with an associate’s degree is expected to climb by 37 percent in the industry. For graduates with a bachelor’s degree, recruitment is projected to jump 19 percent.

Other industries that could experience big hiring gains include automotive, health care, technology and professional services, such as accounting and marketing.

“One of the best pieces of news is that everyone is benefiting from the stronger job market, with the exception of big banks that are still sorting things out after the financial crisis,” Gardner said. “There’s not just one sector that’s going crazy.”

Still, while it will likely be easier to find a job this year, don’t expect to earn a fatter paycheck than last year’s college graduates.

According to CERI, 61 percent of companies plan to keep starting salaries at the same level as last year. Among employers that will raise wages, the median increase will be 3 percent.

Another 7 percent of companies will offer signing bonuses. Before the recession, 17 percent offered such bonuses to new college graduates.

“I’m surprised there’s not more wage pressure because competition for good job candidates is getting tough,” Gardner said. “But it’s just not there yet.”

Internships are key. Recruitment on college campuses is already in full swing, but internships are still one of the best paths to landing a gig after graduation.

According to CERI, 96 percent of employers use their internship programs, along with summer and co-op jobs, as a source for finding new hires.

“Building an internship pool is still a top strategy for companies, big or small,” Gardner said. “So if you’re a student and you haven’t done an internship, summer job or co-op (job) yet, it’s time to get on it.”

ABOUT THE WRITER

Carolyn Bigda writes Getting Started for the Chicago Tribune. yourmoney@tribune.com.

©2015 Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: Visha Angelova via Flickr

 

Job Market For College Graduates Gains, But Not To Pre-Recession Levels

Job Market For College Graduates Gains, But Not To Pre-Recession Levels

By Robert Gebelhoff, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (TNS)

MILWAUKEE — For Jack Lawinger, a senior studying engineering at Marquette University, the leap from graduation to his career will be an easy one.

He already has a job lined up at Accenture, an international consulting and technology services company, where he will be doing technical work ranging from mechanical engineering to computer software.

“It takes a little bit of the pressure off for senior year,” Lawinger said. “There’s a little bit of relief, but I’m mostly excited.”

Lawinger and his friends in the engineering program are part of a group of college graduates expected to be in high demand leaving college, and they are also part of a graduating class entering an economy with relatively positive hiring outlooks.

As the economy continues to grow, surveys show employers will be looking at new degree holders to fill positions. Schools are also reporting an increase in recruiting on campuses this year.

“The jobs are everywhere,” said Joanna Patterson, director of career education at Alverno College in Milwaukee. “We need to send students the message that if they do what they need to, something is going to happen.”

The National Association for Colleges and Employers said U.S. employers are planning to hire 9.6 percent more college graduates this year than they did last year. The group also reported that nearly two-thirds of employers were planning to increase starting salaries for bachelor’s degree recipients, which was an average of $48,700 for the Class of 2014.

“Most of the people I’m graduating with have full-time jobs or had opportunities,” said James Ward, a senior at Marquette who has a job lined up at the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Still, the optimism is tempered by the fact that job opportunities for graduates today are nowhere near pre-recession levels. Ward, whose degree in finance means he is entering a field with growing demand from employers, said his friends graduating with humanities degrees still are having difficulty finding jobs.

“For some, the career path is not as clear-cut,” Ward said. “A lot of people still can’t get jobs without going to grad school.”

Before 2009, the unemployment rate was around 5.5 percent for new bachelor’s degree holders ages 21 to 24. That number nearly doubled in 2010 and fell to around 8 percent for last year’s graduates. The average job search for students still is expected to take six months or more.

“The economy has a long way left to go,” said Rebekah Pryor Pare, director of the Career Initiative in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Letters and Science.

So despite recent improvements in labor markets, the growth hasn’t yet been broad enough or strong enough to reverse the trends contributing to the “boomerang generation” of graduates, who are ending up back where they started before heading off to college.

Pare said one in five of her school’s students is moving back home with parents, often because paying off student debt is too costly for students living on their own. “Parents are helping out students a lot more now,” she said. “This is a real challenge for (families).”

Pare attributed the tough labor market to rapid changes in technology and a shift to a global market, jolting employers’ demands for skills in the college-educated workforce.

The National Association for Colleges and Employers said the most heavily sought graduates will have degrees in finance, accounting and computer science.

(c)2015 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan