Top Paying Liberal Arts Majors

Three liberal arts majors had average starting salaries that topped $40,000 in 2012, according to a new report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

NACE’s January 2013 Salary Survey (see Figure 1) found that the top-paying liberal arts majors in 2012 were: Continue Reading

Employers Taking 30+ Days to Extend Offers After Interview Date

How long can a college student expect to wait for a job offer after an interview? And, after an offer is extended, how long will he or she have to accept or reject it?

NACE’s 2012 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey found that, on average, employers hiring new college graduates take 24.2 business days to extend an offer to a college student after an interview. If you add in weekend and holiday days, that means that the employers are asking the average candidate to wait more than 30 days from the date of their interview to receive an offer of employment. Once an offer has been extended, employers then give the candidate an average of 14.1 business days to make a decision. Continue Reading

6 of 10 Top Paying Majors in Engineering

Marilyn Mackes of NACE

Technical majors—particularly those in engineering—dominated the list of top-paying majors in 2012, according to a new report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

NACE’s January 2013 Salary Survey found that six engineering majors were among the 10 highest-paid at the bachelor’s-degree level.  Continue Reading

Annual Salary Increases More Important to New Grads Than Medical Insurance Benefits

Marilyn Mackes of NACE

Annual salary increases are the most preferred benefit among job-seeking new college graduates, according to results of a new study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

Historically, graduating seniors taking part in NACE’s annual student survey have placed medical insurance in the top spot, according to Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director. Continue Reading

Forget the Early Worm. Grads With Best Communication Skills Get the Jobs.

What sets two equally qualified job candidates apart can be as simple as who has the better communication skills.

An annual survey of the job market for new college graduates shows that, year after year, certain skills, attributes, and qualities show up on employers’ “most wanted” list. Continue Reading

Hiring of Class of 2013 Projected to Increase by 13%

Hiring will be up for new college graduates, according to a new report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). NACE’s Job Outlook 2013 survey shows that employers anticipate hiring 13 percent more Class of 2013 college graduates than they hired from the Class of 2012.

“While employers are seeking graduates from a broad range of disciplines, this fall they expressed particular interest in hiring new graduates with business, computer science, and engineering-related degrees and are looking to college campuses to supply their hiring needs,” says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director.  Continue Reading

Starting Salaries Up 1.7% to $44,259 for Class of 2012

Class of 2012 bachelor’s degree graduates are better paid than their Class of 2011 counterparts, according to a new report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

In its September 2012 Salary Survey, NACE reports that the overall average salary for Class of 2012 bachelor’s degree graduates inched upward 1.7 percent to $44,259 from the overall average of $43,521 posted by the Class of 2011. Continue Reading

60% of Paid Interns Receive Job Offers. Unpaid Internships Create Almost No Benefit.

Approximately 60 percent of 2012 college graduates who took part in paid internships received at least one job offer, according to results of a new study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

NACE’s 2012 Student Survey also found that unpaid interns fared only slightly better in getting job offers than graduates who had not taken part in an internship. Thirty-seven percent of unpaid interns received job offers; 36 percent of graduates with no internship experience received job offers.

“These results are consistent with what we saw last year with the Class of 2011,” says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director. “Students with a paid internship have a decided advantage in the job market over those who did an unpaid internship or didn’t do an internship at all.”  Continue Reading

41% of 2012 College Grads Using Social Media as Part of Job Search

New college graduates are embracing social media as a job-search tool, according to a new study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

Approximately 41 percent of 2012 college graduates in the market for a job are using social media to help them land one, according to NACE’s 2012 Student Survey. Continue Reading

Class of 2012 Faring Far Better Than Class of 2011

Early data suggest the college Class of 2012 may fare better in the job market than their peers who graduated a year ago, according to a new study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

More than one-quarter (25.5 percent) of the Class of 2012 that applied for a job already has one in hand, according to results of NACE’s 2012 Student Survey. That’s up slightly from last year at this time, when 24 percent of 2011 graduates who had applied for a job reported having accepted one.

Among 2012 graduates who applied for a job, 44.2 percent received at least one job offer. In comparison, 41.4 percent of 2011 graduates who applied for jobs received an offer.

At this juncture, graduates most likely to receive a job offer were those earning degrees in accounting, engineering, computer science, economics, and business administration. Continue Reading