One-fourth of graduating students surveyed by Career Services have obtained full-time jobs after graduation, reflecting a "fairly healthy" job market, but marking a decrease from last year's graduating class, according to Monica Wilson, acting co-director of Career Services. Although the current number of Dartmouth students with guaranteed employment is lower than in previous years, the National Association of Colleges and Employers recently reported that employers nationwide expect increases in the number of college graduate hires.
Career Services contacts seniors with a survey to "learn about their graduation plans" every spring, Wilson said. Approximately 450 students of the 1,116-person Class of 2011 responded, up from 300 students out of 1,067 last year, according to Wilson.
Of the respondents, 25 percent of seniors have accepted job offers a decrease from 27 percent last year while 20 percent planned to go to graduate school, down from 24 percent the previous year, Wilson said.
The results of the College's survey are not necessarily representative of the entire class, according to Wilson.
"Don't be swayed by the numbers," she said. "Lots of people are still figuring it out and that's fine."
Cornell University, which conducts a similar survey of seniors' postgraduate plans, found that 50 percent of Cornell seniors have accepted jobs, 30 percent will attend graduate school, 9 percent are still seeking employment and 7 percent are seeking acceptance to graduate school, Rebecca Sparrow, director of Cornell's Career Services, said in an email to The Dartmouth.
"It looks like more students this year have accepted a job offer at this point, and fewer report seeking employment," Sparrow said.
Approximately 35 percent of Brown University students plan to attend graduate school immediately following graduation, and approximately 23.9 percent of undergraduates will receive jobs after graduation, The Brown Daily Herald reported.
Representatives from other Ivy League universities did not return requests for comment by press time.
Employers nationwide are expecting large increases in the number of college graduates hired, according to the NACE survey. In its 2011 Job Outlook Spring Update, NACE reported that employers plan to hire 19.3 percent more graduates in 2010-2011 than they hired the previous year. This marks the first time in four years that there has been a double-digit increase in employers' spring hiring projections, according to NACE's website.
Although national data suggest that employers are more willing to hire post-graduates, Dartmouth students may be receiving job offers later in the year, which might account for Dartmouth's uncharacteristically lower numbers, Wilson said.
"Employers are remaining cautious and may take longer to complete the hiring process," she said. "Many positions open up near graduation, and many more students secure jobs in May and June."
Several students interviewed by The Dartmouth acknowledged the highly competitive job market atmosphere.
"It's really competitive, and it's definitely important to get started early," said Masha Barsky '11, who will serve as a study coordinator at a women's mental health clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital after graduation.
A wide variety of employers representing finance, law, marketing, hospitality, public policy and public service have had a "strong presence" on campus recently, Wilson said. Opportunities in environment, energy and social media have also increased, although those industries' popularity in the news has made employers less likely to market heavily, she said.
Cornell has also seen a recent surge in the diversity of its graduates' career paths, Sparrow said.
"Cornell students who are entering the job market enter a broad range of industries and sectors," Sparrow said. "Although we have not calculated exact numbers, I can say that on-campus recruiting and online job postings have been more robust this year than in the last several years."
There are also many financial opportunities for students, though fewer Wall Street firms are coming to campus to recruit, Wilson said. Such businesses often fill entry-level positions with former interns instead, according to Wilson.
"It's a pattern within other fields as well," Wilson said. "Employers are seeing the benefit of hiring people with previous experience within the company."
This trend mirrors a NACE survey that found that employers turn nearly 58 percent of their interns into full-time hires, representing the highest conversion rate since 2001. The survey also reported that an average 39.1 percent of companies' entry-level employees from members of the class of 2010 had participated in their internship programs, according to NACE's website.
The current economic climate which has not fully bounced back to its pre-recession levels influences students' approach to finding jobs, Evan Lambert '11, who will attend Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in the fall, said.
"There is an overwhelming anxiety, people are applying to more jobs and there is the prevalent attitude of take what you can get,'" Lambert said.
Kashay Sanders '11, who will work in schools in India on an IDEX Fellowship in social enterprise, said that being mentally prepared for the search process was important.
"You just have to get yourself mentally psyched up," she said.
Job market shifts and currently-developing industries are also opening up new opportunities for students, Lambert said.
"Journalism is interesting because it's all moving towards online media," Lambert said. "The field is changing. Our generation is being trained in new ways. We're the people who are going to be jump starting the field again."
Lambert is a former member of The Dartmouth Staff.
Students interested in a particular field should think broadly about different types of opportunities, including smaller companies, different locations or positions in other related industries, Wilson said.
Career Services organizes a two-day career fair each year to aid students in their job search. Last fall's fair saw record turnout by both students and recruiters, with nearly 900 students attending the first day alone, which featured over 100 employers and booths, Wilson said.
The fair is also an opportunity for seniors to establish long-term relationships with alumni representatives, according to Wilson.
"[The turnout] is representative of the fact that the market has improved, and that Dartmouth students are looking at various options, but it's also up to the individual to do the work and follow up," Wilson said.
Wilson added that Dartmouth's location affects the number and variety of employers.
"Our location is a major challenge, especially since an employer can no longer fly directly to the Lebanon Airport from [New York City's] La Guardia [Airport]," Wilson said.
As an alternative, Career Services offers employers resume drops in order to entice them to travel to Hanover, according to Wilson.
The large number of resumes employers receive from Dartmouth students may encourage them to visit campus to interview students, she said.
The quarter system may also make it difficult for employers to recruit Dartmouth students, Wilson said.
"Especially in the fall, employers often go three weeks earlier to many of our peer schools," Wilson said. "They may have extended offers to students at other schools before they get here."
Employers tend to seek applicants who possess "soft" or transferable skills, such as communication, leadership and adaptability, Wilson said.
"Dartmouth students tend to excel in these areas, and companies frequently see them as long-term hires who move into leadership roles," she said.
The job search process puts additional strain on seniors who may not be certain what they want to do after graduation, Sam Snow '11 said.
Snow, who plans to study bird communication in Peru this fall and volunteer on an organic farm in New Zealand in the winter, will enter a PhD program in ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University in Fall 2012.
"Most people have not found their calling, and going and searching for jobs is extra intimidating because it feels like you're being locked into something that you don't necessarily want to do," Snow said.
There has been an increased interest in working abroad in recent years, though it is not as "high-profile" as financial jobs or graduate school opportunities, Wilson said.
