Sampling of upcoming college graduation ceremonies:
Friday
University of Georgia, undergraduate and graduate ceremonies
Georgia State University, Ph.D. ceremony
Saturday
Georgia State University
Agnes Scott College
Georgia Southern University, undergraduate ceremony
Monday
Emory University
Wednesday, May 15
Kennesaw State University (Coles College of Business; College of Science and Mathematics; doctorate, specialist, and master’s degrees)
Thursday, May 16
Kennesaw State University (College of the Arts; University College; Bagwell College of Education; WellStar College of Health & Human Services; College of Humanities and Social Sciences)
Friday, May 17
Georgia Gwinnett College
Sunday, May 19
Morehouse College
Spelman College
Monday, May 20
Clark Atlanta University
For a complete list, see the AJC guide to Atlanta area college graduations.
As strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” drift from various local college campuses this month, odds are improving that new graduates’ next stop will not be their parents’ basements.
Hiring isn’t strong, but it sure looks better than it has since the economy tipped into recession a little more than five years ago.
“For sure, I thought I would graduate with a job – definitely,” said Morgan Woodbury, 22, a senior at Kennesaw State. “I think the job market is good right now.”
Her experience is evidence: Woodbury felt confident enough to turn down an initial offer from shipping service DHL. The company offered a different job with better pay and - with her graduation still a few days away - Woodbury is working in international sales in a territory arcing from Buckhead to Chattanooga.
“The pay starts with a pretty good base, plus an allowance, plus commission,” she said.
Last year, metro Atlanta schools churned out about 27,000 grads with bachelors’ degrees, 2,800 with associates’ degrees and 11,000 with masters, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Job growth isn’t absorbing them all, said Phil Gardner, director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. “There has been steady improvement but it’s not enough to clear the new grad market. We need some double-digit (job) growth.”
Still, the hiring outlook is improved. In 2009, when most of this year's grads started college, the unemployment rate was cresting at 10 percent nationally and 10.4 percent in Georgia. Since then, the national rate has ticked down to 7.5 percent in April. In Georgia, the most recent jobless rate – for March – was 8.4 percent.
And the job market is better on average for college grads.
Among people with at least a bachelor’s degree, the jobless rate is 3.6 percent, down from highs above 5 percent during the recession.
Another hopeful sign: starting salaries for grads nationally are up 5.3 percent this year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The biggest pay boost comes in the healthcare sector, while the highest starting salaries go to engineers, according to the NACE survey.
Business hires are averaging 7 percent more than a year ago.
Dennis Loubiere, 51, of Marietta, went back to school to finish his undergrad degree after being laid off by a mortgage company amid the housing bust. He graduated summa cum laude from Kennesaw State and stayed on to get a masters this year in business.
“There is definitely hiring going on,” he said. “For the first time in quite awhile, I actually feel confident that I can get a job.”
Technology and finance are the hottest sectors.
“We hire a ton of people each year,” said Bob Eichenberg, greater Atlanta market human resources leader at PwC, a global auditing, accounting and consulting company with about 1,250 employees here.
Experts in finance have been in steady demand, he said. “People still have to have audits. They still have to file their tax returns.”
AirWatch, an Atlanta-based company specializing in software for mobile devices, is expanding rapidly, said John Patrick, campus recruiting manager. “We are looking for people with a variety of majors: computer science, electrical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, industry engineering.”
Grads with liberal arts degrees have to show that their skills “are transferable” to business needs, said Emory senior Alexi Lauren New, 21, who majored in sociology and anthropology. With so many unemployed Americans, companies can be very selective, so that argument is not an easy one, she said. “I think it’s a tough market out there.”
The Rockville, Md., native has a year-long fellowship in Washington, D.C.
By last year’s commencement, only 16 percent of Emory’s graduating seniors were unsure what they would do in the coming year, said Paul Fowler, executive director of the university career center. About half of them ended up going on to more school.
The situation is about the same this year, but “we have seen a number of companies calling us out of the blue this year,” Fowler said. “That’s an indication that things are getting better.”
There is risk for grads who do not find a position fairly quickly.
Going without a job – or taking a poor-paying position you’re overqualified for – may handicap a young employee’s economic potential, said Carl Van Horn, director of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University and author of “Working Scared (Or not at all).”
“The basic point is that where you start with your salary and benefit has a tendency to influence the first decade of your career,” he said. “The reason is that employers look at salary history and they tend to pay accordingly.”
Some people try to improve their odds - and postpone their job search - by adding a degree.
Roderick Williams, 33, of Kennesaw is getting his bachelors in accounting at Kennesaw State. But he’s decided to take another year to get a masters degree.
“I met with a lot of firms and they said I’d be better off to go ahead and get a masters and pass the CPA exam,” he said. “Having a masters – especially in tax – most firms want to see that.”
Other grads will make do by stitching together jobs.
Molly Gilmartin, 22, has a part-time job tending bar at Lulu’s Firewater Grill. But she wants a career on the stage: she’s majoring at Kennesaw State in theater and performance studies with a concentration in acting.
She’s landed a 20-hour-a-week office job at the Georgia Ensemble Theater in Roswell. “I will keep my job as a bartender. With the combination of the two things, I’ll be okay.”
She hopes to combine a day job with parts in local theater productions at night, she said.
“That would be living the dream.”
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