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.

“Overall, 50 percent or more of the graduates in these fields who applied for a job received an offer,” says Mackes.

Slightly more than half of seniors taking part in the survey (52.1 percent) reported that they had actually applied for a job. That’s well below the activity reported for the Class of 2011—approximately 75 percent had applied for a job by the time of the survey—but consistent with results for the Class of 2007 through the Class of 2010, when the percent of the class applying for jobs hovered between 42 and 50 percent.