Majority of hiring managers vie for recent grads

Dive Brief:

Hiring prospects for this year's college graduates are good, according to Robert Half research. Eighty-three percent of senior managers in the survey said they're likely to hire people right out of college. The top advantages managers cited for hiring new graduates are their enthusiasm for beginning a career (35%) and their ideas and fresh perspectives (28%), the study said.
Senior managers at organizations with at least 500 workers are more apt to hire new college graduates than those at smaller companies, partly driven by the tight labor market, the survey noted. A separate Robert Half survey showed that 70% of organizations are open to hiring and training workers without the required skills for their open positions.
"Companies interested in hiring new college graduates should highlight what makes their firm a great place to work on their website, in job descriptions and when meeting with applicants,” Paul McDonald, Robert Half's senior executive director, said in a press release. “A thoughtful and thorough onboarding process is essential for then getting entry-level talent off on the right foot."

Dive Insight:

A survey released earlier this year found that college grads receive fewer job offers than they have in the past, but they are also more selective about employers in their job searches — suggesting that competition for new college grads will continue to be fierce.

When it comes to compensation, college graduates could be somewhat disappointed. A study by LendEDU found that new grads expect to earn $60,000 a year as a starting salary. But the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that the overall beginning salaries for recent grads dropped to $50,004 in 2018, from $51,022 in 2017, and data from PayScale found starting salaries for college grads to be just above $48,000 a year, according to a CNBC report. College grads freshly out of school don't typically have much power in negotiating pay, but employers might find the need to increase starting salaries to compete for talent in an employee-driven labor market.

Employers looking to fill positions in the arts, media and social services, could be in luck in the competition for talent; a recent Indeed study found that new college graduates prefer careers in these areas over positions in business and finance, such as as actuaries, economists and statisticians.

Still, the job market remains hot for graduates with specialized skills in math, technology and engineering, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. "Bachelor's and master's degree-holders of the Class of 2019 are entering a hot job market," said Andrew Challenger, the firm's VP, in a press release. "Those with specialized skill sets, especially in math and statistics, engineering, and software development, will find themselves in high demand."