Job Outlook For Class of 2015 Looks Promising
As a new semester begins in colleges everywhere, another graduating class is full of students looking for jobs.
For a long time, the job outlook for graduates has been sub-par. Forunately, according to a report by Michigan State University’s College Employment Research Institute, employers are expected to hire more college graduates in 2015 than the previous year.
Specifically, there is to be a 16 percent increase in new graduates hired this year. Naturally, some industries are going to see more growth than others and there are going to be places where more jobs are available than others.
From the same report, the responding employers anticipate hiring about 120,000 graduates this year and about 78 percent of them will have bachelor’s degrees. The report also stated that employers are recruiting graduates at a rate that is comparable to “the dot-com frenzy of 1999-2000.”
Almost all job sectors have employers who will hire graduates with bachelor’s degrees with six of the reported sectors showing growth. The two that showed a decline are education services and utilities.
According to a survey conducted by Manpower Employment Group, all 50 states along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have positive job outlooks, with the most promising states being Hawaii, North Dakota, Delaware, Michigan and Texas.
The weakest states are New Jersey, Alaska, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Looking deeper, the metropolitan areas with the strongest job outlook include Cape Coral, Fla.; McAllen, Texas; Delton, Fla.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Milwaukee, Wis.; and Oxnard, Calif.
Those looking for jobs should avoid Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Syaracuse and Rochester, N.Y. and Indianapolis.
The MSU report says that the industries that are expected to see the most graduates hired in 2015 include information services; finance and insurance; professional, business, and scientific services; government; nonprofit groups; manufacturing and health services.
While these are the most promising industries for college graduates, do not give up even if the industry you are looking to work in does not have a good outlook.
However, respondents in the MSU report have also expressed concern that the millenials entering the job market will enter the job hunt with sub-par resumes and poor cover letters. Those who do receive job offers often have unrealistic expectations for their salary or a lack of knowledge of labor conditions.