It鈥檚 graduation time for colleges and universities around the country and for the 5,927 University of Colorado Boulder graduates likely to hit the job market there鈥檚 good news. That鈥檚 because the job market is healthy and strong across the board, says Jon Schlesinger from CU-Boulder鈥檚 .
鈥淧rojected hiring for new graduates is up, job postings for graduates is up," Schlesinger said. "Right now we have more than 900 positions posted in our database for full-time employment. Some of the majors that employers are really targeting right now 鈥� they鈥檙e looking into business, they鈥檙e looking into engineering, computer science, accounting. Nationally we have projected double-digit hiring growth in areas of non-profit, manufacturing, government, business services, finance and information services.鈥�
And Schleslinger says for the last several years Career Services has been tracking CU-Boulder graduates and the data shows that they have been doing fairly well landing jobs right out of school.
鈥淪ix months after graduation we know that 95 percent of our graduates are employed, working in the military, doing volunteer work or working in graduate school," he said. "Sixty-five percent of the bachelor鈥檚 degrees have full time employment, which is 12 percent higher than the national average. One of the things we really find is that it really pays to start your job search early. Most of our graduates find employment between two and six months.鈥�
If you are graduating but haven鈥檛 landed a job, Schlesinger says there are some things to consider when searching for work fresh out of college.
鈥淓mployers are looking to hire you as an individual," he said. "So they are really looking at your skills. And we consistently see the top skills employers are looking for are critical thinking, communication skills, teamwork skills, the ability to use technology and leadership. If you can communicate those skills to an employer and leverage your previous experiences that鈥檚 a great way to really increase your shot of finding a position.鈥�
He says something else to keep in mind when searching for a job is to narrow your search concerning what company you want to work for and be open to finding jobs in other parts of the country.
鈥淔ocus in on a few specific industries so that you can try to narrow down that search," Schlesinger said. "If you find yourself getting really stuck because you're focused on one particular geographic region, particularly if it鈥檚 small and the market isn鈥檛 very big, the next best thing that you can do is expand your job search. We are seeing growth all across the country so start looking at other major metropolitan areas.鈥�
But before you start sending out resumes, Schlesinger says to make sure that your Facebook, Twitter or any other social media accounts you might have are employer safe.
鈥淭he social media landscape has really been changing in the last few years, particularly for employers. So right now we are seeing more employers that are going to social media first. So they鈥檙e Googling their potential applicants, they鈥檙e looking them up on LinkedIn, looking them up on Facebook, Twitter, a number of different platforms. So one of the first things you always want to do is lock those down. You want to make sure you're presenting a professional profile to employers and really projecting the messages you want them to see,鈥� he said.
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