Hot Job Market For College Grads

The search through the classifieds wont be as tough this Spring for college seniors.  A new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers says companies plan to increase hiring of college graduates by 17% compared to last Spring.

Those national numbers seem to hold-up locally.  UTC Seniors preparing to walk the aisle in May found more perspective employers seeking them out recently at college job fairs.  Jean Dake, Director of Student Placement, says "participation from employers were up at all those, we were up the last time I checked about 14% in companies coming to career days."

The university's student placement office also noticed an up-tick in companies posting job openings through the school for business, engineering, and education candidates.  That bodes well for Chara Davis, who expects to know next month if she'll have a job.  "Yeah, I feel pretty confident, I'm going to teach science and they say that's a well needed field."

The nursing field remains an occupation of employment ease for local college graduates. For example, at Memorial Health System, demand includes both new positions and open ones.  40 upcoming graduates already committed to working at Memorial, and the health system still has openings.  Robyn Tobias, a Clinical Recruiter, says "we have positions available in our med surge areas, our telemetry, our clinical care areas and some of our specialty areas such as surgery."

The U.S. Bureau of Labor ranks education and nursing among the top-five entry level positions.  College grads going into accounting, computer science, and finance shouldn't have trouble finding work either.  Graduating Senior Mary Marshall says "well, I already have a job so its been pretty easy."

Still, that same report estimates 20% of grads won't enter the job market... choosing to continue their education.