Dive Brief:
- The annual CareerBuilder survey indicates that 74% of employers are planning on hiring new college graduates this year, compared to 67% last year. This outlook is the most optimistic since 2007.
- On top of more career opportunities, more than 50% of the employers polled said they would be offering higher starting salaries, with around one third offering $50K or more. The most in-demand degrees include business, engineering and computer information science.
- Rosemary Haefner, CHRO for CareerBuilder, said that competition for new college graduates can be attributed to growing skill shortages and the fresh mindset they bring to the workplace.
Dive Insight:
The CareerBuilder survey is a 'temperature' for the job market as a whole, or at least for the employers who are still using job boards to attract talent. With the present administration focused on creating more jobs for Americans, the battle for talent is only expected to increase.
This study is also good news for graduates who largely find the post-grad job hunt difficult. Some employers still believe millennials may be job-hoppers, skewing opportunities for young applicants. One in three respondents in a study by Job Applicator Center weren’t confident that their employer would recognize their loyalty.
Along with above average starting salaries, benefits, career advancement opportunities and other perks it will be interesting to see what some companies will be offering new grads this year. One thing that stuck out in particular about this study was the types of degrees being sought by employers. Companies of all types, not just tech-oriented companies, are looking to fill tech-oriented roles, requiring new skills from graduates.
