Employment for 2012 College Grads Improving

The National Association of Colleges and Employers, also known as NACE, conducted a recent survey of employers regarding the job outlook for the spring months. According to the results of the survey, hundreds of employers claim that they expect to hire 10.2 percent more brand new college graduates in 2012 than the amount hired in 2011, according to The Kansas City Star.

Matt Reiske, the director of career services at the University of Missouri business school, said that efforts of employment recruiters are comparable to that of five years ago. Reiske also said that there has been a nine percent increase in employment recruitment on the school’s campus. According to NACE, new college graduate hiring fell close to 22 percent in 2009. According to career departments at colleges in Missouri and Kansas, employers are not just performing interviews; they are also offering positions at their companies.

“But then as the economy has strengthened, the outlook for our graduates appears more promising,” Reiske said. “We are seeing more jobs posted (online) and more companies on campus doing interviews. In past years a good number of them came to the career fairs just to keep a presence, for name recognition among the students. But they weren’t hiring.”

There were 106 employers who answered the survey conducted by NACE. Based on their responses, job postings on electronic bulletin boards averaged 116 postings per employer. This number is an increase from 105 in 2011 and 45 in 2010.

“I’m not sure if it is because of our more proactive outreach to employers, or if it’s the recovering economy, or a combination,” said Kerri Day Keller, director of career and employment services at Kansas State University.

“There is definitely more of an air of optimism felt; people are more cheerful, students and employers,” said Liz Caldwell. Caldwell works as the employment services manager at the Career Center at the University of Kansas.

In 2011, KU hosted 88 employers. In 2012, 116 employers came to the KU campus.

“I had one employer tell me that last year he had two job openings. This year he has 10 or 12,” Caldwell said.

A 16 percent increase in recruitment has been seen at Rockhurst University compared to 2011, when there were only 874 students hired from the school, according to Mike Theobald. Theobald is the director of career services. At Rockhurst this year, 1,016 students have acquired jobs with financial service providers, nonprofit organizations, public accounting firms and many more.

Recruiters present at KU and MU include representatives from Dish Network, the American Red Cross, Cerner, Garmin, Aflac Insurance and the Federal Reserve Bank.