Before the economic downturn, those attending college had no worries about finding employment upon graduation. In fact, the entire basis for students pursuing higher education was because of the promise of getting closer to their dream job. Unfortunately, the past few years have greatly disrupted this process. Although the result of the poor economy has caused even more people to flood college campuses–not to mention the scores of working adults heading back to school–with the job market laying people off and conducting hiring freezes, this has created quite a frustrating situation for many.
However, things are slowly but surely changing. According to a recent study conducted by Michigan State University, the hiring trends and job outlook are projected to improve, especially for college graduates.
What Are the Numbers?
According to MSU’s Recruiting Trends Study, 40% of the 3,300 employers surveyed stated they plan on hiring college graduates. When it comes to hiring overall, the same study showed that these numbers would increase by 4% for students currently enrolled at a college or university. This news is huge, mainly due to the fact that this increase is actually up by 10 points compared to last year.
The level of degree earned by graduates has also been shown to play a huge factor in an individual’s chances of securing employment after finishing college. According to the survey numbers, those with doctorate degrees will have the highest increase in job opportunities (12%), followed by those with BAs (7%) and coming up close behind, individuals with MBAs (6.4%).
Why Now?
Even though things are far from ideal, studies show that society overall is experiencing optimism that the economy will turn around for the better. Over time there has been a small change in the number of job opportunities available, especially in certain industries. Knowledge that there are fields wide open for employment has produced this optimism, which has created a trickle effect of sorts when it comes to the job outlook.
Additionally, the optimism for college graduates in relation to their job outlook has to do with the fact that there are a handful of industries with vacant jobs because there is currently no one qualified enough to fill the positions. This fact alone is why employers in these industries are eagerly waiting for students pursuing those fields to obtain their degrees. The sooner they graduate, the sooner employers can snatch them up. Some of these fields include but are not limited to: finance, engineering, economics, communications, accounting, computer science, public relations, science and marketing.
Slow & Steady Wins the Race
Despite the good news projected through MSU’s study, the reality is that there is still a long way to go before the job market is fully restored to its old glory. Experts interviewed for MSU’s study were quick to point out that the job growth won’t happen all at once, but will instead develop gradually over the next few years. Even though things should look promising for college graduates, the same experts also caution that there are outside factors that could set things back at any time.
