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Postgrad employment survey yields encouraging results

July 22, 2015

Each year, MSU conducts a survey of the graduating class to track where each graduate has found employment six months postgrad. The results for 2014 shed some positive light on what has recently been a tough job market.

MSU’s overall post-graduate employment rate — those who found jobs that are “career-related” within six months of graduation — is 92 percent, the survey concluded.

The survey does not track if someone’s employment is related to their field of study, although officials comb through the data after six months to remove any discrepancies or responses that might be just a volunteer opportunity or clearly not career related.

The statistics of employment between students of different colleges within MSU rarely fluctuate from the university average. For example, the College of Communication Arts and Sciences has a placement rate of 96 percent and the College of Engineering has an employment rate of 93 percent. 

Six months was chosen as an appropriate span of time due to the different employment procedures for different fields. A lot of STEM field graduates obtain jobs before they graduate, but those with majors in advertising or communications find that employers in their field typically wait until a candidate graduates to hire them.

“It’s so interesting that we have such a high percentage of students that graduate without a job; top students, but that’s the way it is across the industry that those fields, in general, they just aren’t looking to do anything until you’ve ... graduated,” Karin Hanson, director of employer relations and professional transitions for the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, said.

However, the data can run into misleading trends when reporting on majors with very small numbers of graduates, such as philosophy. In 2014, there were 11 students who graduated with a philosophy degree and of the 10 who responded, 100 percent were employed.

The placement rate also includes those who have started their own business and aren’t traditionally employed, as well as those who choose to further their education. Also tracked are those who have “other commitments,” a category which encompasses those who travel abroad, those not looking for a job, or those who start a family and have no plans to become otherwise employed.

A final category includes those who are actively searching, yet are unable to find a job; a figure which was 2.7 percent for Communication Arts.

Regarding this category, Hanson said if a student graduates and fails to find career-related employment soon, then they didn’t put enough time into things like networking or other career-building activities. 

“There definitely are jobs out there, (but) it depends on how much time is it going to take you to move into a position within your industry and if you’re prepared upon graduation, you will move into one,” she said. “Graduating without a job doesn’t mean anything, but if in four months you don’t have a job, then I would say you weren’t prepared adequately.”

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