The future is looking bright for USU grads
This summer graduates will leave Utah State Univeristy and its late-night studying, cramming for midterms and eating ramen to enter into a world of responsibility, dedication and antacid.
Fortunately, many of these students will be able to find employment in the field they chose to study. According to the USU school profile in Choices, a computer guidance program, about 91 percent of USU graduates had full-time job offers within six months of graduation.
About 80 percent of students are placed in jobs within a year of graduating, Randy Jensen, administrative assistant of career services, said.
“We’re following the economic trends [and] it’s getting better,” Jensen said.
He said the Engineering and Business colleges probably have the highest placement rates. This is consistent with national outlook projections that indicate about one-fourth of the top 20 occupations (requiring college degrees) with the most new openings will be in computer science or business.
Other occupations with large numbers of openings include all types of teachers and workers needed in the health care industry.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics more than 14 million job openings nationally between 2002 and 2012 will be filled by workers with a bachelor’s or graduate degree and who are entering a job for the first time.
In 2003, workers with a bachelor’s degree earned $900 a week and high school graduates earned $554 a week according to the BLS. This means on average, college graduates earning 62 percent more than high school graduates.
BLS information also indicates that in many occupations advancement opportunities increase with a graduate degree, even when it is not required to enter into a career.
Between 2002 and 2012, “pure-college” occupations are projected to grow 22 percent, compared to the just 15 percent growth for all occupations, according to the BLS. “Pure college” occupations are defined as occupations where at least 60 percent of current workers have a bachelor’s or graduate degree, fewer than 20 percent have only a high school diploma, and fewer than 20 percent have some college courses but less education than a bachelor’s degree.
Over the past 10 years, the percentage of the U.S. population, aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s or graduate degree has risen from about 22 percent to about 27 percent.
Lower unemployment is another advantage of going to college reported by BLS. The national unemployment rate for full-time workers with Bachelor’s degrees (3.3 percent) is lower than that of workers with just a high school degree (5.2 percent).
The chart shows a national table of the 20 pure college occupations expected to provide the most openings in the 2002-2012 decade.
Every spring semester USU Career Services holds a career fair where close to 180 employers are represented. For the 2005 fair, companies included ARUP Laboratories, Dell, Inc., Federal Aviation Administration, Intermountain Health Care, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Wright Engineers.
In addition to those participating in the career fair, about 1,400 employers came to campus this year to recruit USU students, Jensen said. “[That number] may be up a little bit this year.”
“These are people who actually came and interviewed students,” Jensen said.
About 3,000 jobs were posted and advertised at USU.
Career services offers other information and services to students including individual career counseling/planning, a job bank, a career library, help with résumé writing and interview workshops.
For heaps of information on careers, including links to Utah-specific information and Choices, go to http://www.usu.edu/career/.
-sdobson@cc.usu.edu