University officials in several colleges are tracking the success rates of graduates to ensure current students have the best chances of succeeding in their fields, even in the face of a weak economy.
According to a 2009 National Association of Colleges and Employers survey, only 19.7 percent of 2009 graduates who applied for a job had one by the time they graduated — a drop from the 51 percent reported in 2007 and the 26 percent reported in 2008. Although it’s not a common practice in all colleges, officials in the engineering and business schools said it’s important students understand which job markets are hiring.
And the best way to do that, they said, is to see where recent graduates are now employed.
“To us, it’s important to track this information in this kind of economy to understand where the jobs are and where the trends are,” said Jeff Kudisch, managing director of the business school’s Office of Career Services. “For instance, if we know that accounting and consulting are picking up, we can put more efforts in terms of developing relationships with those employers and preparing our students.”
In both the business and engineering schools, surveys are given to graduating seniors before commencement to determine how many students have secured jobs and where they were hired.
“The information contained in our graduation survey is very important so it can help students target their job search to the right employers,” said Veronica Perrigan, the engineering school’s assistant director for student services. “Trying to find a job in this tough economy is like a full-time job, and anything that can give them an edge is something we want to provide.”
According to last year’s engineering school survey, which Perrigan said 93 percent of its undergraduates completed, 52 percent of students were employed full-time by commencement. And though Kudisch said only about 66 percent of business students responded to the survey last year, more than 55 percent of those surveyed were employed full-time by May 2010. He noted that number does not account for the 5 percent who have started their own business and the 5 percent who went on to internships.
But not all colleges are keeping data on their graduates’ job success.
Although the journalism school doesn’t officially survey its students, Chris Harvey, the school’s director of internships and career development, said the college still knows where many of its students end up.
“A lot of us keep informal track of different parts of the alumni pool,” Harvey said. “I’ve been running the multimedia news bureau since 2001, and I could tell you where most of those students are.”
Harvey spouted off several companies at which her former students currently work, including The Washington Post, USA Today and The Baltimore Sun.
But some students, such as senior journalism major Lisa Krysiak, said the school would benefit from handing out a graduation survey and being able to directly cite its success rate.
“I think they’d be a good idea because it’ll give the j-school an idea about just how good of a job they’re doing, or not,” she said. “Especially nowadays when there’s so much controversy about just how important a college degree is.”
Regardless of tracking methods, many colleges are improving efforts to work directly with recruiters and improve overall success rates.
“We have to keep a pulse on what the employers’ needs are to fill their talent pipelines,” Kudisch said.
And as students stand on the brink of a slow job market, Kudisch said the business school has added another aspect to training students: teaching them how to handle rejection.
“In a tough economy, teaching students to be comfortable with hearing ‘no’ and the emotions that go with dealing with failure is important,” Kudisch said. “You have to teach them how to cope with this kind of environment.”
farrell at umdbk dot com
