With thousands of new college graduates set to enter the Connecticut workforce, administrators say the hiring atmosphere has improved, but not to the extent that experts had hoped to see for the class of 2013.
Employers surveyed in February and March by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) said they expected they would hire 2.1 percent more graduates from the class of 2013 than they hired a year ago.
That is in stark contrast to a similar survey conducted by NACE from July through September 2012, in which employers said they anticipated hiring 13 percent more graduates from this year”™s pool than from the class of 2012.
Career services representatives from area colleges said the students who took on internships and who amassed work experience while at school have been successful in finding full-time jobs.
“If the students are really methodical about it and they”™ve been pretty diligent, nine times out of 10 if they”™ve done all the things we”™ve suggested to them they”™ll be in pretty good shape,” said Cathleen Borgman, director of the career planning center at Fairfield University.
But she said hiring has not returned to levels seen by the class of 2008. “They”™re not getting (jobs) at the levels they had been in, say, 2007, 2008,” Borgman said. “I don”™t know if that”™ll ever happen.”
Halina Hollyway, director of the career center at the University of Connecticut”™s Stamford campus, said internships and a focus on interdisciplinary studies have been key to graduates finding work.
“I tell our students we”™re a downtown campus, in the tristate area, and that they have a really unique opportunity to build their academics and also get some practical work experience ”“ which is really optimal, given the market,” Hollyway said.
She estimated that about 80 percent of UConn Stamford students are employed before they graduate, noting that many of the campus”™ students are working throughout the course of their studies through either an internship, a part-time job or a full-time job.
“Internships have become the new opportunity for students to prove themselves, but also for employers to take a look at candidates,” Hollyway said. She said the Stamford campus alone has 750 internship sites compared with 1,400 students, adding that many students from UConn”™s other campuses will come to Stamford for summer internship programs.
“When the economy is tough, everything has to be there,” Hollyway said. “There”™s no room for not being prepared. …It”™s not enough when you”™re about to graduate to say, ”˜What do I do?”™”
Borgman and Hollyway said the brightest industries include engineering and mathematics-related fields, nursing, digital media and communications, accounting and financial management.
While the hiring has been worse than expected, college graduates still have a significant advantage in today”™s job market, data show. Among those aged 25 and older with at least a bachelor”™s degree, the national unemployment rate is 3.8 percent ”“ about half the overall unemployment rate.
David Lewis, CEO of OperationsInc L.L.C., a Norwalk human resources consultancy, says the job market for graduates has improved from the past few years.
“I think the recent grads in years”™ past were competing with an abundance of unemployed folks,” said Lewis, who is also CEO of AllCountyJobs.com L.L.C., a regional job board provider. “While (the unemployed) were overqualified to some extent, you can”™t ignore the fact that for about the same amount of money I might pay a recent grad, I can get someone with three years”™ experience who is more mature and less of a risk.”
Lewis said the larger companies, which have traditionally hired every spring from the top college graduates, are continuing to do so, but added that hiring among small and midsize companies is flat.
“If you look at the rest of the market ”“ the small to midsize business market ”“ it”™s still pretty soft,” he said.
