There is good news for seniors still looking for a last-minute job offer — a recent study found that hiring has begun to increase for college graduates as the economy slowly recovers.
Hiring projections increased by 10.2 percent from the previous year for recent college graduates, according to a report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
“People are getting more optimistic,” said Tim Stiles, associate director of University Career Services. “They are willing to take the chance on hiring.”
Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, said the increase in hiring of college graduates is directly linked to the economic climate.
The economy and the job market are cyclical — when the economy goes down, there are fewer jobs, Carnevale said. But now that the economy has begun to recover, employment has seen an uptick.
Although some students might have sought fewer job opportunities more aggressively during the recession, the recent increase in hiring cannot be fully attributed to new strategies formulated by students, Stiles said.
“I would love to think that the downturn motivated students, but that has not been our experience,” he said.
He said the situation was similar during previous economic downturns beginning in the early 1990s.
“Intuitively, I thought people were going to be motivated,” he said. “But it didn’t happen — the first recession, second and now third.”
