The National Association of Colleges and Employers’ latest Job Survey shows that businesses are looking to hire 10.2% more college grads this 2012. That’s a definite improvement over 2009, which saw employment rates fall by a hair-raising 22% throughout the year.
According to the report by the Michigan State University that echoed the same sentiment: “Employers are now more optimistic about the college labor market than at any time since 2007.”
But while the job market seems to be recovering, we are far from the point where there will be jobs for everyone.
Older graduates and laid-off workers have borne the brunt of the lean periods. Many of them are still around, underpaid and overworked but waiting for an opportunity to jump into their careers all over again. This is why college seniors (and even juniors) need to start shopping around for jobs even before they graduate. Otherwise they run the very real risk of flipping burgers and serving coffee just to pay off those student loans.
This brings us to an entirely different problem that today’s graduates are going to have to deal with: excessive student loans.
This is a very real problem for graduating students. Not only are they facing stiff competition from their peers and older graduates, they are also faced with the pressures of having to pay off their student loans. If the government doesn’t step in, they could also be forced to pay double the interest on their current federal student loans – adding even more pressure to an already over-burdened generation of graduates.
So it still pays to be flexible when it comes to jobs.
Moving out-of-state is one way to land a job. There are plenty of job opportunities across the nation if you expand your search wide enough, so do not be afraid to look out of your state for one such job.