Sales and Marketing Jump from 18 to 50% of Offers to New Grads

I had the good fortune of listening to a presentation by Phil Gardner of Michigan State University earlier this week about the current trends in the college students and recent graduate labor market. Although I’ve been keeping a close eye on the biggest employers of college students and recent graduates, it hasn’t been as easy to keep up-to-date on the types of jobs being offered to students and recent graduates. But Phil does. Oh boy, does he ever.
One of the most interesting pieces of information that he delivered was that 18 percent of the job offers made to recent college graduates in 2006 were for sales and marketing positions. So far in 2007, the percent of job offers made to recent college graduates for sales and marketing positions has jumped to 50 percent. If there was any doubt that the job market for recent college graduates is hotter this year than it has been since 2000, there should be no doubt any longer. Phil’s presentation also showed the increases in salary expectations amongst undergraduates and graduate school students alike and the increases in expectations are dramatic.
Another fascinating part of Phil’s presentation was the takeover of college campuses by women. The majority of enrollees are women. That’s no secret and has been well reported by the media. But how many knew that even though about 45 percent of the enrollees are male that only about 25 percent of the graduates are male? Why are so many males dropping out? Phil believes that it is because this Gen Y / Millennial generation and particularly males of this generation are choosing to start their own businesses so they can have more work-life balance and the students see no significant benefit to completing a degree if they’re going to work for themselves so they’re dropping out rather than burden themselves with huge student loan debt and delaying their entrance into the marketplace.