Survey says employers now hiring more grads

The job outlook for students graduating in May is promising as employers of all vocations plan to hire 12.7 percent more college graduates this year than last year.

Despite a slow economic recovery, a survey done by the National Association of Colleges and Employers' Job Outlook stated that it projects about 19,000 hires this year compared to about 17,000 actual hires last year.

"We're seeing a lot of activity in engineering, business finance and definitely accounting," said Bill Ruggirello, Career Services' assistant director for employer relations.

Officials at Career Services have seen an increase in the number of employers scheduling interviews with graduating students. Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Progressive Insurance and Sherwin Williams have come to campus to recruit.

The job outlook in the retail sector also appears to be positive. Melinda Burke, director of Southwest Retail Center for Education and Research, said there has been an increase in the number of offers made to UA students in the recruiting field.

Companies like Macy's and Mervyn's are offering management positions to graduating seniors.

"The positions they're hiring are about $32,000 for management trainee and executive development positions," Burke said.

Burke said companies that put their recruitment on hold in previous years have returned, and they are hiring.

Although the NACE survey indicates that there will be more jobs available for graduating seniors, employers are still wary of hiring new graduates. More than half of the employers, 50.7 percent, who responded to the survey said they would hire new graduates for entry-level positions this year, while 28 percent said they plan to cut back on hiring. Another 21.3 percent of employers predict the hiring level will not change.

The service industry projects a 22.2 percent increase in college hiring while the manufacturing industry has a conservative projection of about 3.4 percent.

Ruggirello said that there are jobs out there, but it is more competitive, so students must be willing to compete.

"You must make sure you did your research and know that employers are more selective and looking for those that really stand out," Ruggirello said.

Anusha Natarajan, a second-year electrical engineering graduate student, said the job outlook seems to have improved, but it is still hard for her to get a job because she is an international student.

"I think it has improved, but not for international students," said Natarajan, who will graduate in May.

Natarajan said she has applied for about 15 to 20 jobs, but she has only received two to three calls. She added that she is only in the early process of applying and will have to wait a little longer for replies from employers.

David Auerbach, an economics senior, said he has gone online to search for internships, but has not been successful in finding positions.

"It doesn't look too terribly good because whenever I search for jobs that have econ majors, there are hardly any. Most of the time, I find jobs that aren't directly related," Auerbach said.

Terry Holpert, assistant dean for admissions at the James E. Rogers College of Law, said the number of applications for the college of law is fairly stable so far this year.

"Typically, whenever there's a serious recession, applications to graduate school increase," said Holpert, who added that slow economic growth may not be the only reason for an increase in graduate applications.

Holpert said, in 2003, there was a 17 percent increase over the number of applications to the law school in 2002. She said that according to the Law School Admissions Council, applications to law schools around the country appear to be up only about 4 percent this year.

For anyone who wants to get a job rather than go to grad school, more than 60 employers are coming to the UA Career Expo Feb. 18 and 19, looking for interns and graduating students.

"The time for graduating students to look for a job is now," Burke said.