WASHINGTON
— The consulting and accounting firm EY is aggressively recruiting on
college campuses this spring. The company formerly known as Ernst &
Young plans to hire 9,000 graduates from U.S. universities this year, up
from 7,500 in 2014. But recruiting isn't as easy as it used to be.
"I'm seeing a lot more competition" from rival employers, says Dan Black, EY's Americas recruiting leader.
That's
good news for college seniors and graduate students preparing to accept
diplomas this spring, and a sign that new graduates will fare better
than they did in 2014. The Labor Department reported on Thursday that
the unemployment rate for Americans in their 20s who received a
four-year or advanced degree last year rose to 12.4 percent from 10.9
percent in 2013.
"This
is a real breakout year," said Philip Gardner, director of Michigan
State University's Collegiate Employment Research Institute.
In
a survey of employers last fall, the employment center found that
hiring of graduates with four-year degrees will rise 16 percent this
year.
"It's
led by the ones you would expect — engineering and business," Gardner
said. "But there seems to be a lot of room for everybody... Even arts
and humanities are making a comeback."
Employers
have more openings to fill because Baby Boomers are retiring and more
workers are feeling confident enough about the economy to switch jobs.
Overall, the United States generated 3.1 million jobs last year, the
most since 1999. The overall unemployment rate has fallen to 5.5 percent
in March from 6.7 percent at the end of 2013.
Tyler
Etten, 22, had a $54,000-a-year job in finance waiting for him when he
graduated from Iowa State University in May 2014. Three months later, he
bounced to an even better job with the investment firm Piper Jaffray in
Minneapolis. His 3.5 grade point average helped. But Etten says he set
himself apart by getting internships, participating in campus clubs and
spending his spare time learning financial modeling and advanced Excel
skills.
"A degree is not enough with record amounts of people graduating from college," he said.
In particular, employer demand for so-called STEM graduates — in science, technology, engineering and mathematics — is high.
"We
can't graduate enough engineers," said Holly Proffitt, employer
relations coordinator in the career services office at Arkansas State
University.
Still, many recent college grads are struggling and have yet to enjoy a full recovery from the dark days of the Great Recession.
In
a report last year, researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San
Francisco found that wages for recent college graduates haven't kept up
with overall wages since the Great Recession. Between 2007 and 2014,
median wages for all full-time workers rose 15 percent. For recent
college grads, they rose just 6 percent. The same thing happened after
the 2001 recession: College grads' wages lagged behind everyone else's
as the economy recovered, the report said.
The
Michigan State survey found that 62 percent of employers were planning
to keep starting wages flat for college grads compared to last year; 37
percent planned to increase starting salaries. The increases tended to
range from 3 percent to 5 percent.
Elizabeth
Earl, 22, landed a job at a health care trade publication after
graduating from Columbia College Chicago in December. The pay is low and
the work tedious, but she's relieved she has a job.
"By
the time you get out, you assume you'll be a barista," she said. "It's
not idyllic nor at all what I want to do, but it is a job from which I
can be getting paid while I consider career paths."
Josh
Kelly, 23, is hoping to break into radio or journalism after graduating
from Rutgers University in January. In the meantime, he's working at a
record store and living with five people in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
The job search has proven frustrating, even though he had an internship
with a radio company and was president of a student-run radio station.
Kelly
said he was disheartened to learn that many companies use algorithms to
scan resumes for particular keywords. He thought human recruiters were
reviewing his applications, "yet now the picture seems to be that most
hiring agents don't necessarily see my resume at all."
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