Six months after graduation, 65 to 70 percent of Syracuse University seniors have usually obtained jobs, compared to the 35 to 40 percent job rate of years past.
Director of SU Career Services Michael Cahill said he expects companies to hire 10 percent more graduating seniors this year. Job placement data for the Class of 2012 is not yet available, but Cahill said he expects this year’s numbers to be similar to those of the Class of 2011.
‘This job market is going to be slightly better than it was last year,’ said Cahill. ‘We do expect things to be trending up slightly with job opportunities for students.’
Six months after graduation, 66 percent of the Class of 2011 had found full-time employment, an increase of 6 percent from 2010. The number of students going to graduate school decreased slightly from 21 percent in 2010 to 20 percent in 2011, according to the SU Class of 2010 Placement Report from Career Services and Class of 2011 data provided by Cahill.
The number of students going on to graduate school is usually around 20 to 25 percent, but the recession has caused more students to attend graduate school in the last three to four years, Cahill said.
The most common way students find jobs is through connections they have in their industry, Cahill said. SU’s Career Services encourages students to start making these connections as soon as possible and to go about it in a purposeful and proactive way. Besides finding jobs, Cahill said these connections help students learn more about the industry they want to work in.
‘The greater value in it is exploring and learning more about what options and possibilities are out there,’ he said.
There are jobs available in any industry a student might want to go into, and lack of focus and not understanding the proper way to conduct a job search is what normally keeps students from getting jobs, Cahill said.
‘Don’t worry too much about where the jobs are,’ he said. ‘There’s enough jobs out there for you to get one if you are effective in engaging in that process.’
Donald Dutkowsky, an economics professor in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said the economy is getting better, and the country is no longer in a recession. But he said the economy is not growing as fast as it should be and that it will take a while for companies to start hiring again.
‘It’s slower than it should be, and it will make the prospect of looking for a job harder than it should be in a completely healthy economy,’ he said. ‘On the other hand, the prospects seem to be a little better this year than the same time last year.’
Professional services, which include medicine and education, have traditionally carried the economy and are now cautiously expanding, he said.
This can be good for college graduates because most of these jobs require college degrees, Dutkowsky said.
jliannet@syr.edu