2014 college graduates shouldn’t have a hard time finding work. According to Lisa Severy, the director of CU-Boulder’s Office of Career Services, the recovering economy has translated to thousands of job postings in her office.
"Right now we have over 1,500 jobs currently posted in the system and that represents over 9,000 different openings over the course of the year," Severy said. "So for students who are interested in being proactive and looking at jobs and trying to assess where they might be a good fit, there’s plenty of opportunities for those students who get a jump on it and start early.”
And when it comes to the type of student employers are looking for Severy says it depends more on their personality and skill sets than their major.
“Most employers who recruit in this particular job market are really looking for a particular set of skills," she said. "They know if you’ve been successful in going through the University of Colorado Boulder you’re smart and trainable. They’re more looking for personality type and strengths set and connections and the ability to build on all of those things in a new organization. That’s why, for the most part, they’re recruiting from all different types of majors in to various fields.”
But while there seems to be plenty of jobs available for recent or soon-to-be graduates Severy says one thing every student applying for work should do is make sure that their Facebook, or any other social media site, is updated and clean of anything that could raise a red flag.
“As with every tool, social media can be really helpful or it can hurt you," she said. "The first thing we recommend is students go through and clean up their online profile. We use the grandma test. If you don’t want your grandma to see it you probably don’t want an employer to see it. So go through your online profile and see what’s on there. If there’s anything you don’t want -- pictures, you’ve been tagged on other peoples pages on Facebook or any of that kind of stuff -- you clean that up as much as you can.” Learn more.
On average what can a college graduate expect to be paid? Although the survey numbers aren’t in for 2014, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the overall average starting salary for last year’s graduates was $45,327.