CSU grads find job market better than 'soft economy' indicates

As the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” cause tears to well in the eyes of Colorado State University graduates and their families this weekend, many new Ram alumni will also have a nagging thought in mind: Now what?

For college graduates entering the workforce, the glum economic news of recent months might not be particularly inspiring. But the news is better than may be expected, experts said.

“The job market for them is not bad across the board, actually. There are certain areas that just really consistently have more positions than students to fill them,” said Brett Beal, associate director for employer relations for the Career Center at CSU.

The Web site collegegrad.com keeps a list of the top entry-level employers around the country, and predicts that 60 percent of those top employers will hire more college graduates in 2008 than they did last year.

Certain jobs are healthier than others, of course—computer science, occupational therapy and environmental health are among the robust fields for new graduates, Beal said.

Intel is projecting a 25 percent increase in entry-level hiring for 2008, for instance.

“Computer science and (computer information systems), that computer tech stuff is very hot, and the supply is low, the demand is high,” Beal said. “We are also seeing a pretty steady availability in things like management training in a couple of different industries, engineering is still pretty strong as well—on a broad level right now, it’s not a bad place to be.”

Hewlett-Packard, which has a large campus in Fort Collins and offices around the world, still has openings for positions in Colorado, according to Betty Smith, the company’s university recruiting manager for the Americas.

She said the company continues to seek recent grads even in the face of dour economic news.

“We are not immune from ups and downs in the economy, but we do have a strong commitment to university recruiting and the new skills and knowledge that comes with the students that we hire,” she said. “Even if the economy is, let’s say, soft, or if the economy is having troubles, we have an overriding commitment to university recruiting. The numbers may rise and fall some from one year to another, but the overall commitment is there.”

Other fields may not be as strong, especially in the liberal arts, but some students don’t seem worried—they’re headed for graduate school or internships.

Stephanie Gerlach is one graduate taking an intermediate step before seeking a full-time job.

Gerlach, the outgoing editor of College Avenue magazine at CSU, landed an internship at Denver’s 5280 magazine, where she will earn a paltry $600 a month.

“Our salaries can be a lot lower; they can get a lot more out of us,” she said of recent grads. “If you’re willing to work, and maybe for less than you thought you should, you’re going to be fine.”

Gerlach, 20, graduated in just three years with a degree in technical journalism with a news-editorial concentration.

She said she felt more comfortable with an internship than looking for an entry-level job or even leaving the industry.

“But I may have to go and work for a restaurant or some other place for awhile before I find the job I want,” she said.

She added that many of her friends plan to keep the part-time retail or restaurant jobs they’ve held throughout college, just in case.

Gerlach has some friends who planned ahead like her, and have post-graduate plans in place.

“But there are some others who have no clue what they’re doing afterward,” she said. “Some are lazy, yes, but for those who are smart and have the capacity to do a lot, I hear them say, ‘I don’t know where to look for a job.’”

She said professors have told her that some degrees have an “expiration date”—if you’re not employed within six months of graduation, it will grow even harder to find work, because you’ll be competing with the next group of graduates.

With that in mind, some graduates are seeking internships to improve their status or are gradually becoming OK with lower salaries, she said.

But that might not be the case all around. According to a report last month by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, on average, college graduates who get jobs will get paid 5.3 percent more than last year’s graduates, a sign that the job market for graduates is still healthy.

Other graduates are planning to wait before entering that market.

Anica Wong, another journalism graduate who finished her work early, is going to Stanford for a master’s degree.

“Since I’ve only been at school for three years, I don’t know that I’m ready to be out yet,” she said. “I enjoy school, so it’s not just like, ‘Get out of here, get out of here, let’s go.’”

The Stanford program focuses on new media and public issues reporting, which Wong thinks will help her get a leg up in the industry. She will be an intern this summer for Trail Runner magazine, based in Carbondale, and hopes that experience will also help.

“At the beginning of this school year, realizing I was going to be done soon, I was kind of weighing my options—do I want to go into newspapers, magazines, where would I want to go ... the option was work or grad school,” she said.

It’s not that she felt hampered by a weak job market, she said. She just wanted to pursue further education.

High school graduates headed into college also have some financial issues to worry about—namely, securing the student loans that will help them pay for the education that ultimately lands them a good job.

Martin Shields, a CSU professor who studies the regional economy, said he has heard tell of a tightening student loan market related to the overall credit crunch.

“Any time the credit market tightens, another credit market starts looking at applications more closely or might not have capital at hand, might not parcel off as much,” he said.

For those who don’t go to college and work in retail or restaurants, the job market is fairly steady, he said. Vestas Wind Systems, which is building a massive wind turbine and tower manufacturing plant in Windsor, expects to add 700 jobs to the region and is not expecting applicants to have college degrees, Shields said.

Experience does count, however, so he advised future workers to get some sort of practical experience even in high school.

The same holds true for HP, where Smith said any kind of experience, even if it’s from a pre-engineering level robotics competition, can give a recruit a leg up.

The more experience, the better, but new graduates are often a hot commodity even in a tepid economy, Beal said.

“They’re enthusiastic, they are still in that learning mode, so there are a lot of reasons why employers like to look at college students,” she said. “There are some advantages that a college grad brings to the workforce.”

So Who’s Hiring?

For those graduating with hot, in-demand majors, finding a well-paying job could be a snap. Technical fields like chemical engineering, computer engineering and computer science reward graduates with the highest starting salaries, around $60,000, according to data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Civil and mechanical engineers are likely to fare similarly well in today's job market. Marketing majors are in demand and so are accounting majors.

With green-energy related industries very much en vogue, graduates with this particular niche could have an easier time finding work in Northern Colorado than others, according to regional economist Martin Shields.

While the region is not immune to national trends in business and finance, where job growth has slowed, Maureen Harter, employment center manager at the Larimer County Workforce Center said they’re still plenty of demand for specialized workers. It just depends what industry you look to.

“Jobs in health care continue to grow,” she said. “Registered nursing and medical technician jobs are available, as are positions for physical therapists and administrative health care positions in billing and record keeping are also relatively abundant in Northern Colorado,” said Harter. “Social workers will continue to be in demand in the future.”

The non-profit sector could also translate to good news for those graduating with non-technical skills. There are over 120,000 non-profit jobs in Colorado, and skills from all majors can be applicable. Charley Shimanski, president/CEO of the Colorado Nonprofit Association thinks the non-profit sector is a viable option for recent grads.

“It's a sector that doesn't suffer as much in an economic downturn,” he said. “Many of these jobs are in demand no matter what happens in the private sector. Plus, there's the added satisfaction of knowing you're doing something to make your community stronger.”

Finding a job out of college takes persistence and creativity, regardless of major, said Brett Beal, assistant director of CSU's Career Center.

“It's never too late,” he said. “Put the work into your job search and you'll see results.”

--By Chris Dietreich