Top Employers for College Class of 2009

Which employers were most focused on new college graduates? NACE's Summer 2009 Salary Survey, slated for release the week of July 13, shows that accounting, engineering, education, and consulting organizations were most likely to extend job offers to the college Class of 2009. (See Spotlight Online, June 24, 2009, issue.)

The report provides information on starting salary offers to new college graduates by discipline, job function, and type of employer.

College Class of 2009: Fewer Jobs in Hand, But Still Confident

The College Class of 2009 is graduating with fewer jobs in hand than was the case with their 2007 and 2008 peers, but they remain optimisitic.

NACE's 2009 Student Survey shows that just 19.7 percent of those who applied for a job actually had one; in comparison, 51 percent of those graduating in 2007 and 26 percent of those graduating in 2008 who applied had a job before graduation.

Despite this, new grads appear to be undaunted. More than half of responding seniors who say they are job hunting said they were confident they would have jobs within three months of graduation. Ironically, although most responding students say they have started looking for jobs, the majority—59 percent—had not actually applied for one as of the end of April, when NACE's survey closed.

Trend: Fewer Students Will Have Jobs at Time of Graduation

Preliminary results from NACE's 2009 Student Survey show that approximately 60 percent of graduating seniors (bachelor's degree level) have applied for jobs, but just 19 percent have actually secured one. In comparison, last year at this time, 25 percent of those who had applied had a job in hand.

The survey doesn't conclude until the end of April, but, with 11,000 graduating senior responses in hand, early results point to fewer students with jobs at the time of graduation than we've seen for the past few years.

Additional information about the preliminary results appears in the April 1 issue of NACE's Spotlight Online newsletter.

Intern, Co-op Hiring Falls

Employers taking part in NACE's 2009 Experiential Education Survey say they will cut their college intern hiring by 20.7 percent; they also plan to trim co-op rolls by 11.2 percent.

Highlights are available in the March 19 issue of Spotlight Online.

What does the job market mean for internship programs?

This year's crop of new college graduates is facing a poor job market. What does the current economic situation mean for those still in school who are hoping to get an internship or co-op assignment this summer?

Employers have long favored internship and cooperative education programs as means to build their candidate pool, and, for many, converting interns/co-ops into full-time hires is their program's primary goal. In fact, employers typically rate these programs as among their most effective tools for recruiting full-time hires.

In the previous economic downturns, many organizations have kept their internship/co-op programs running, recognizing the value of the program not only in terms of feeding the candidate pool but also as a way to maintain the organization's image on campus and ensure campus relationships remain intact. What about this time?

Next week, NACE will publish results of its new Experiential Education Survey. The report will include hiring projections for 2009 interns and co-ops, plus metrics for internship and co-op programs.

Highlights from the report will be released in conjunction with NACE's Spotlight Online newsletter.

College Hiring Falls 22 Percent

NACE releases its Job Outlook 2009 Spring Update today, which shows employers plan to hire 22 percent fewer new college grads from the Class of 2009 than they hired from the Class of 2008.

These new projections override those made back in the fall, when employers reported plans to hold their college hiring at last year’s levels. More than two-thirds said they have adjusted their plans due to the econmy, with most pushing hiring downward.

This latest Job Outlook report ends a string of positive hiring reports for new college graduates dating back to 2004. Students graduating in the early part of the Millennium experienced significant drops at the hands of the dot.com bust and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Hiring fell off 36 percent for the Class of 2002 but steadied for the Class of 2003 before rebounding in 2004.

Additional data from the Job Outlook 2009 Spring Update report is available through the March 4 issue of NACE’s Spotlight Online newsletter.

Hiring projections update coming in early March

Just a quick heads up: NACE is currently surveying employers about their hiring projections for the college Class of 2009, and expects to release the results in early March through its Spotlight Online newsletter.

The new data will update the hiring projections NACE released back in the fall; those projections showed "flat" hiring, with employers anticipating hiring approxmimately the same number of grads from the Class of 2009 as they hired from the Class of 2008. (See Hiring Flat for College Class of 2009)