Students discuss internships and job opportunities at the university’s Career Fair.
Although the job market has been rough on recent graduates, a new report indicates better job prospects may be on the horizon, despite slow growth this spring.
Employers are planning to fill positions with 2.1 percent more graduates from the class of 2013 than they hired from the class of 2012, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, down from earlier projections of a 13 percent increase. It may be slow, but the growth is still a positive sign for the class of 2013.
About four out of five employers indicated in surveys sent out by the NACE that they planned to hire interns or full-time employees this spring, and the early projections for fall 2013 are optimistic — about 30 percent said they would like to hire new graduates in the fall.
The report indicated some students will have an easier time than others — employers are drawn to students who graduate with degrees in engineering, accounting and health care.
The report paralleled an April 18 CareerBuilder.com survey that found 53 percent of employers were looking to hire students from the class of 2013, though the fields with the most promising outlooks were information technology, customer service, finance and accounting.
Engineering and business majors are especially prone to increasing opportunities, said Heidi Sauber, this university’s engineering Career Center director, as they are taught skills that are highly sought after in the job market.
“I definitely think that engineering students have the skills for IT jobs, even though they may not be directly taught in their classes,” she said. “I can tell you that any engineering job will behoove them to have some type of IT experience, which many students have from internships and participating in student organizations.”
The market is still recovering, but it’s a start, Career Center officials said. Having a degree from this university may also help, said Michelle Lopez-Mullins, Career Center public relations and marketing manager.
Nationally, many students still have to settle for jobs outside their major, with 63 percent of 18- to 30-year-olds working in the service or retail industries instead of their careers of choice, according to a PayScale, Inc. and Millennial Branding survey.
“A lot of majors can fall under these skill sets that employers are looking for, but the jobs available may be different from what students actually want to do,” Lopez-Mullins said. “It can be very discouraging for students to find out that their dream job has hundreds of applicants and only one opening. It’s hard to accept that you majored in something for four years, and now you can’t get the first job that applies what you learned.”
University data indicated, however, that 75 percent of the graduates the Career Center surveyed in December were partaking in their first choice of postgraduate activity directly after graduating, whether it was traveling, an internship or a full-time job, Lopez-Mullins said.
There may not be a job market bursting with opportunities, but graduates seem to be satisfied, and “that’s definitely a success story,” Lopez-Mullins said.
Senior engineering major Karen Dunford is just beginning her career, and she said finding a job has been easier than she anticipated.
“As someone who has gone on multiple interviews and has gotten a job offer, I can see that there are actually a lot of job opportunities for me,” she said. “I think that the analytical skills I have learned in college make me feel ready to tackle a new set of challenges in the engineering field.”
There is some concern that the market won’t stay so fluid, however. The federal budget cuts went into effect March 1, so it’s too early to tell how they will affect the economy, but Sauber worries students graduating after June may find their job search challenging.
“It’s really hard to predict how the sequester will change things, but I’m holding my breath,” Sauber said. “It could actually be a harder year than predicted, and students have to be willing to look outside the D.C. area.”
Lopez-Mullins said it’s important for graduates to have a healthy sense of perspective, no matter what the market looks like.
“All in all, it comes down to perseverance and resourcefulness,” she said. “Look for [a] job that is looking for your skills, because that’s what employers want. The more that employers see you can bring to the table, the more likely you will get hired.”
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