4 Best Practices to Promote Your Image As A Great Place To Work

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One of the most frequent topics for discussion at recruiting conferences is employer branding. Employers large and small have come to understand that their employer brand is separate from their business-to-consumer, business-to-business, or business-to-government brands. And for organizations with multiple products or services, each of those brands is separate from their employer brands as well.

Every employer wants to be known as a “great” place to work. Not every employer is. If you aren’t, don’t try to pretend you are as you’ll do more harm than good as now you’ll be known for lying in addition to whatever other negative issues may exist. So fix whatever problems you have until you truly are a great place to work and then promote that image to the students and recent graduates you most want to hire.

NACE’s 2012 Student Survey offers four excellent suggestions for how you can boost your recruiting according to the preferences of the college students your organization is recruiting: Continue Reading

75% of Employers Want to See Leadership, Problem-Solving Skills on College Grad Resumes

When a new college graduate puts together a one-page resume (as experts recommend), every word must count.

An employer spends just seconds scanning each resume to decide if it’s going into the “interview” or the “toss” pile.

In addition to a solid knowledge of the new grad’s field (noted by earning a good GPA and participation in internships), employers are looking for grads who have a number of “soft” skills, according to a new survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Employers taking part in NACE’s Job Outlook 2013 survey say they look for a range of soft skills, including leadership abilities, initiative, the ability to communicate, and more.  Continue Reading

Top 4 Industries for Those With Associate’s Degrees

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According to a recent survey of nearly 5,000 associate degree students, the overall top industries for this student group to begin their careers were government, human services, social services, and then education.

“The interest in government as a career option is particularly noteworthy,” writes NACE’s director of strategic and Foundation research Ed Koc. “However, when one considers the large percentage of associate degree students who are majoring in healthcare and social work [a combined 36 percent] and those who intend to pursue a bachelor’s degree in education, the result is less surprising.” Continue Reading

Unemployment Rate for New College Grads Plummets

The unemployment rate for new college graduates is down significantly from last year, continuing a decrease in unemployment for this group, according to an analysis of the numbers released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics last week.

In September 2012, the unemployment rate for new college graduates—defined as college graduates ages 20 to 24—fell to 6.3 percent from 8.3 percent in September 2011 and 9.4 percent in September 2010. 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

12.2% Hiring Increase Projected for 2013 Grads

The job market for college graduates continues to improve according to preliminary results from the NACE’s Job Outlook 2013 survey.

The 12.2 percent projected increase in hiring of recent college graduates comes on top of the 9.5 increase seen in 2012. Part of the strength in the 2013 numbers is due to only eight percent of employers planning to hire fewer graduates, the lowest number seen since 2007.

The degrees most in demand are: 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

College Grad Hiring Up 9.5%

Employers plan to hire 9.5 percent more new graduates in 2011-12 than they did in 2010-11. In comparison, in the same survey a year ago by National Association of Colleges and Employers, employers anticipated double-digit hiring increases.

Although the overall increase isn’t as high the increases projected last year, other factors indicate a positive job market for the current class. For example, slightly more than half of respondents have plans to increase their individual number of hires from last year. This follows a positive trend illustrated in Figure 2, where the percentage of employers planning to increase their number of hires continues to grow, while the percentage with plans to decrease their number of hires continues to shrink. Thus, it appears that college hiring is moving in the right direction. 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