2015 college graduates looking at best job market in years
May 8, 2015
Jon Schlesinger
It’s graduation time for colleges and universities around the country and for
those grads hitting the job market there’s good news. That’s because the job
market is healthy and strong across the board, says Jon Schlesinger from CUBoulder’s Office of Career Services.
CUT 1 “Projected hiring for new graduates is up, job postings for graduates is
up. Right now we have more than 900 positions posted in our database for
full-time employment. Some of the majors that employers are really targeting
right now – they’re looking into business, they’re looking into engineering,
computer science, accounting. (:17) Nationally we have projected double-digit
hiring growth in areas of non-profit, manufacturing, government, business
services, finance and information services.” (:26)
If you are graduating but haven’t landed a job, Schlesinger says there are
some things to consider when searching for work fresh out of college.
CUT 2 “Employers are looking to hire you as an individual. So they are really
looking at your skills. And we consistently see the top skills employers are
looking for are critical thinking, communication skills, teamwork skills, the
ability to use technology and leadership. (:15) If you can communicate those
skills to an employer and leverage your previous experiences that’s a great
way to really increase your shot of finding a position.” (:23)
He says something else to keep in mind when searching for a job is to narrow
your search concerning what company you want to work for and be open to
finding jobs in other parts of the country.
CUT 3 “Focus in on a few specific industries so that you can try to narrow
down that search. If you find yourself getting really stuck because your
focused on one particular geographic region, particularly if it’s small and the
market isn’t very big, the next best thing that you can do is expand your job
search. (:16) We are seeing growth all across the country so start looking at
other major metropolitan areas.” (:23)
But before you start sending our resumes, Schlesinger says to make sure that
your Facebook, Twitter or any other social media accounts you might have are
employer safe.
CUT 4 “The social media landscape has really been changing in the last few
years, particularly for employers. So right now we are seeing more employers
that are going to social media first. So they’re Googling their potential
applicants, they’re looking them up on LinkedIn, looking them up on
Facebook, Twitter, a number of different platforms. (:18) So one of the first
things you always want to do is lock those down. You want to make sure your
presenting a professional profile to employers and really projecting the
messages you want them to see.” (:28)
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, engineering
graduates are set earn the highest average starting salary of all 2015
graduates, at $63,000. The lowest average salary goes to those with a BA
degree in humanities, averaging $45,00 to start.
-CU-