Posted on 05/22/2011 9:38:36 AM PDT by rabscuttle385
This year's college graduates have better career prospects than their peers did a year ago—as long as they're looking in the private sector.
Employers plan to hire 19% more new graduates this year than in 2010, according to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. That means students were more likely to have offers as they head toward graduation. Among college seniors who applied for positions, the survey said, 41% had an offer this year, up from 38% last year.
(snip)
...some degrees are far more valuable than others. Computer science, accounting, economics and engineering majors were in high demand this year. English majors struggled and the market for education graduates was particularly dire amid state and local budget cuts.
"It really makes a difference what your background is," says Till Marco von Wachter, a Columbia University economist who has studied the long-term effect of graduating during a recession. While engineers from top schools can recover their earnings losses in five years, that's not the case for humanities majors at mid-tier colleges. "They should be aware they're at a real risk of not recovering."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
but but but, I always wanted to be an african studies major or major in womyn studies. So now why is it I cannot get a job?
fyi
The title of this article is either a frakin’ joke or made in response to what had been reported earlier this month:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2665439/posts
Of course, no mention of the petroleum industry. I’m a geologist for a large independent. We (as well as every other company) routinely hire recent college grads for 80k plus - engineers (petroleum, chemical, operations, reservoir), geologists/geophysicists, drillers etc. With oil prices high and demographics (avg age of geologist is probably 60+) there are many career options.
Sure, we might all be driving solar powered cars in 50 years but you can make one heck of a career out of it in the meantime.
...some degrees are far more valuable than others. Computer science, accounting, economics and engineering majors were in high demand this year. English majors struggled and the market for education graduates was particularly dire amid state and local budget cuts.
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I believe this has been true for years, perhaps forever. Employers are looking for skills that are needed in their business. So if you want a job, engineering is a better choice than Central American Literature for your major. It is very easy these days to waste 4 years sopping up the useless PC course content of your typical liberal arts curriculum.
I am not familiar with those areas. I have a daughter who is not sure what she wants to do. She likes being active. Would any of the fields you mention be outside work? How well do women fit into this field?
Thanks.
Wonder if the same is true for Spanish or Ebonics majors?
I hear there are openings for those who are willing to clean the houses of engineers.
If she is science and math oriented quite a few of those fields need people willing to work outside in the field. Some of the field work in those areas can be rough physically demanding work.
Forty years ago the same conditions existed. if you wanted a good job right out of college you went to college to get the education for that job. If you didn't you ended up in the military.
The education system has been deluding itself since the 1960s. Education is not the end goal of education. It is just a stop on the way to a good job. Why else do you have “hard degrees” and “soft degrees”?
The terms of difficulty are inverse to the job openings. The reason there aren't any jobs for “soft degrees” is there are so many applicants for those jobs. The reason there are jobs for the “hard degrees” is there are so few applicants for those jobs. Capitalism at its best. Too bad our education system has been successfully ignoring capitalism since it was taken over by the radicals in the early 1970s.
There are plenty of geology jobs in the oil patch for those not worried about working only 9 to 5.
The company I work for has increased hiring by 9% this past fiscal year. Looking to do more. If you do fluid process control and/or software, PM me. We have offices in CA, MA and TX.
I'm not so sure of the future of wildlife management and forrestry, but those could enter in as well.
Thanks, she is currently thinking of a double major, math and dance, that is where the ‘active’ part comes in. It is also we demanded that she can’t only do dance. She has seen that too many just don’t make it, or seen them fade away and teach for awhile.
I am just trying to keep my eyes open for “what about this moments” when she is asking for some input.
When you say rough physically demanding work, is this like construction? She has been dancing for more than 20 hours a week since 5th grade. She is used to hard work. She doesn’t do frou frou dance, or ‘dance team’ and she trains with weights. She seems to like it. She is miserable when she doesn’t have it.
Kind of like construction. Physically demanding includes working in some weather extremes - Heat, cold, wet, arid and long hours 14- 15 hours a day in summer time. Any outside work will include having to work in all kinds of conditions. And she had better be able to pull her weight doing the assigned job else she wont survive the job long.
The author of this is a graduate of the Tokyo Rose school of propaganda.
She understands pulling her own weight. It does irritate her when others don’t.
The outside in all weather is part of the parcel, but what kind of work is it? Hiking around with a pick and looking around? Or are we talking about actually putting in a new well?
Thank you for the clarification.
That’s a funny piece.
That is definitely true. I graduated in early 2001 before prices took off and did environmental work until 2008 when I saw an industry salary survey!
I moved back to Texas (home!) and took an entry-level job as a geotech and was promoted a year later. Even after starting over I’m making almost 50% more than in my previous job as an HSE manager. We were very lucky that this move occurred in Sept. of ‘08; I would have certainly lost my previous job in the crash.
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