There is good news for students who are finishing their final semester at MSU. The national employment rate projected for spring graduates is up from last year.
Results from a survey done by the National Association of Colleges and Employers say employment will be up 13.1 percent from last year.
Andrea Koncz, employment information manager for NACE, conducted the survey.
“We have employer members we send the surveys to,” Koncz said. “They were sent out in mid-August and we asked employers nationwide to rate the job market.”
The results of the survey concluded that not only are employers expecting to hire 13.1 percent more college graduates this year, it also determined the state of the job market.
“We asked employers to rate the job market with an excellent, good, fair or poor rating,” Koncz said. “Overall, most employers said that the job market looks good this year, rather than last year’s result of fair.”
The results of the job market’s growth have shown on the MSU campus.
“NACE has recently stated that employment is going to be on the increase for 2004-2005 academic year as compared to previous years,” said Scott Maynard, associate director of MSU’s Career Center. “Here at Mississippi State we’re actually seeing that.”
Career Center employees have calculated the job market’s growth on campus.
Maynard said that Career Day numbers were up 25 percent over the Career Day numbers from spring 2004. Maynard also said that Mississippi State saw a higher number of employers on campus last semester.
Campus interviews were up 11 percent, Maynard said. Also, the number of jobs posted for companies that didn’t recruit on campus was up 6 percent.
“[These results] are good signs that the economy is doing well and moving in the right direction,” Maynard said.
The results are also a sigh of relief to some students.
“It gives me more confidence in getting a job,” said Chaz Seyfarth, a senior biological engineering major. “It’s really competitive finding a job, but it’s always a plus to know that unemployment is down.”
Senior architecture major Beth Hendrix isn’t surprised by the results. “More people are co-oping and doing internships to get experience,” she said.
Hendrix said that co-oping and internships give students a heads up and help their chances of getting hired after graduation.
Maynard said that the future of the job market is showing positive signs.
“The employers that are coming on campus to recruit seem to have more jobs available so the outlook is good,” Maynard said. “Hopefully there will be more jobs and job opportunities coming to our future graduates.”