Graduates: Expect a Better Market Than You Thought
I read some great news today: the job market is looking up, graduates! According to the National Associate of Colleges and Employers (NACE), college hiring is up. Heather wrote about this today in her Examiner.com column and so did The CareerBuilder.com blog The Work Buzz. Some highlights from both:
- Although only 44 percent of employers plan to hire recent college graduates (up 1 percent from last year), 21 percent of those hiring recent college graduates said they will hire more than they did last year.
- Sixteen percent said they will offer higher starting salaries than they did in 2009.
As far as salaries go…
- 33 percent will offer less than $30,000
- 30 percent will offer salaries between $30,000 and $40,000
- 19 percent will offer salaries between $40,000 and $50,000
As many experts have been saying, although the market is looking better, it’s still highly competitive. You need to stand out, have experience and be a good fit with the company in order to land a job.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of listening to the CMU Journalism Department Alumna of the Year Lorrie Lynch at a luncheon. Lynch is the former editor of USA Weekend. She spoke of her many jobs she has had over the years — most of which she landed thanks to networking. She offered a few tips of advice for pending graduates that I thought were worth sharing:
- Don’t be afraid to take risks. She told a story of moving across country with only a promise of a couch to sleep on, and she took it–and ended up landing a great job.
- Network, network, network. She said each job she has obtained she got through a co-worker or former CMU alum. She told students to look around the room and remember these people — because one day they may be thanking a CMU connection for a job opportunity.
- Keep up with technology. Many jobs in journalism today are dependent on writers knowing how to use blogging software, twitter, and any new features that come up. She said to land a job, you need to know all of these things and to be able to bring a lot of skills to the job.
