Graduation typically brings shivers of fear, as students are expected to find their place in the corporate world. But upon receiving a diploma, the working world is now finding them.

‘They can expect more opportunities this year with employers expected to increase the number of opportunities seven percent over last year,’ said Kelley Bishop, executive director of the career and placement department from Michigan State University.

Surveys conducted nationally by MSU have led researchers to inquire about the job opportunities and salaries qualities available for a young employee, concluding that collegiate seniors have a better chance for employment than in years previous.

‘The job market is good; very small companies and large ones are strong,’ said Nancy McCracken, a research assistant professor at the School of Informational Studies.

The Federal Department of Commerce announced on its Web site that the commercial balance was more positive than what the government expected in the last five months, despite the recent economic woes of the collapsed housing and mortgage market.

‘The job market in general is doing better than last year,’ McCracken said.

All fields of studies are affected, but computer and information technology majors are doing particularly well. After the Dotcom crash around the beginning of the 21st century, the job market for IT industries decreased, and NASDAQ lost 78 percent in economic value, according to the FDC.

‘One of the consequences of that is less students in IT,’ McCracken said.

Since there were less information technology graduates to fill necessary positions in large conglomerate companies, almost all students with those skills were hired immediately, McCracken said, and the demand will continue to increase.

‘A lot of those large companies are starting to see the necessity of IT students,’ McCracken said.

McCracken said IT employees have been raised from 4 to 5 percent, the highest increase in a long time.

Syracuse University students are well represented in New York City’s budding job market and are building good rapport. The proximity to the city also presents an advantage to SU students, McCracken said.

‘The recruiters are happy with SU students, and alumni coming back tell us they are doing well,’ McCracken said.

On a local and national level, SU graduates are continuously building upon their excellent academic reputation, particularly in the finance and information majors.

According to SU’s Center for Career Services, a 2006 report showed that six months after graduation, 75 percent of the graduate answering had found a job – a 10 percent increase from the Class of 2005. Seventy-seven percent of them found a job on the North East Coast.

While the Class of 2006 entered a strong job market, the projections and early indications for the Class of 2007 are even brighter, according to an SU career service report.

But even with the record 4.9 percent growth the federal government reported for the summer, financial companies are still unsure about what the future holds.

‘Small and medium-sized employers are cutting back on their hiring plans because of concerns about the economy,’ Bishop said.

Very small companies still hire more and more people, but the companies between 100 and 3,900 employees are limiting themselves to a 2-percent increased hiring rate.

‘Student hiring is growing strongly, regardless of the size of the company,’ McCracken said of the IT industry.

IT students are hitting the jackpot this year with both hiring rates and salaries increasing strongly, which is the result of a better understanding and awareness of the need for IT workers, McCracken said.

‘And that shouldn’t stop in the next couple of years,’ she said.

Published on November 29, 2007 at 12:00 pm