by: Mia Andrews | Recruiter
It’s that time of year…graduation time, when new graduates are either excitedly starting new careers or sweating that they picked the wrong major four years ago! Despite the recent downturn in the economy, the job market for 2008 graduates is looking to be very promising. According to a recent study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the average starting salary offer is 4 percent higher for 2008 graduates than last year's alumni. The study found graduates who will experience the highest increases are those with liberal arts degrees, whose average offer is up 9 percent. Technical degrees and computer programming degrees saw substantial increases in offer amounts. That said, new job opportunity has decreased in the industries hit hardest by the nation's recent economic troubles: finance and construction. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, new positions in finance and construction decreased by 7.5 percent and 2.8 percent respectively. Finance and accounting as well as business administration graduates will experience marginal offer raises compared to their 2007 alumni counterparts.
Based on another hiring trends study conducted by Challenger Gray & Christmas with human resource professionals, 22 percent of U.S companies polled intend to hire more new grads this year than they did in 2007. About 50 percent of companies will hire roughly the same number and only twelve percent of U.S companies are cutting back on entry level hiring, according to this study. Recent graduate recruitment may actually be benefiting from the current economic slowdown due to the large number of baby-boomers retiring from higher level positions. Some baby-boomers may be taking early retirement instead of a layoff which opens a lot more opportunity for recent graduates to use their fresh talent to get a foot in the door with a company that is experiencing a loss of seasoned employees.
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