Recruiting is up slightly for graduating students at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and career counselors are urging students to ignore the lagging Colorado economy and aggressively pursue jobs.
Complete on-campus recruiting statistics will not be available until the recruiting season ends in May, but officials expect to record a 10 percent increase from last year if current volume continues. "This is exciting for the career services staff, who have worked hard to develop new opportunities for students in a difficult economy," said Lisa Severy, director of CU-Boulder's Career Services office.
A difficult job market and lagging economy can have a prolonged ripple effect in college recruiting, according to Severy.
"Â鶹ÒùÔº hear and read about the lack of opportunities, so they become reluctant to participate in the process and do what they can to avoid the market. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in that they do not put the effort into career development and, therefore, get the disappointing results predicted," she said. "Now that the new graduate job market is showing signs of improvement, we hope that students will get excited about engaging in the process."
U.S. employment rose in March at the fastest pace in nearly four years, according to the Federal Government. Severy said that while more companies across the country are looking for new graduates, job market improvement within Colorado has been slower.
"We are cautiously optimistic that the number and diversity of opportunities for our new graduates will continue to increase. Our career fairs and on-campus recruiting have been very active this semester and students are doing quite well," she said.
Teachers remain in demand, according to Severy, particularly in rural and urban areas. "There are shortages in Colorado for math and science teachers. Recruiters are also looking to diversify their faculties with male and minority teachers," she said, adding that bilingual and special education teachers are needed in many areas.
"Quite an incredible teacher shortage is anticipated in the coming years as more people retire and student populations continue to increase," Severy said.
Â鶹ÒùÔº graduating with degrees relating to computers should find many opportunities, according to Severy. "That's an industry that's always going to continue growing because so many other professions tend to depend on computer support."
Engineering students have enjoyed an internship market that has warmed up in the last six months, according to CU-Boulder career services counselor Wendy Winter. Winter helps juniors and graduate students find engineering internships that often turn into jobs. "When full-time positions become available, many companies will hire their own interns," she said.
Improvements in the tech industry have fueled some recovery from tight job markets in the recent past, according to Winter. "Companies that hadn't been hiring in years are now hiring."
"International engineering students are probably having the hardest time, though," she said. "Companies have taken away visa sponsorships."
Mary Banks, director of career development for CU-Boulder's Leeds School of Business, said many business students have found jobs or internships in Denver and on the East Coast.
"It is a very good year for the undergraduate investment banking students," Banks said. "Average starting salaries for them were about $55,000 in New York and San Francisco and $46,300 in other areas."
MBA graduates are faring well in the internship search, Banks said. "We're getting lots of calls from companies. We wish we had more in the area of operations, but finance and marketing are doing well," she said.
Every major has students who are very successful and have to decide between multiple offers but there also are students in highly marketable degree programs who struggle, according to Severy.
"When we survey employers, we know that they are attracted to students from CU-Boulder for numerous reasons, including the strength and quality of our academic programs, the work-related experience students bring to the table and interpersonal skills that will help them to be successful in various settings," she said.
"The best advice I can give students is to take advantage of the resources here at CU-Boulder, including faculty and Career Services, and to prepare to take advantage when opportunity knocks."
For more information about CU-Boulder Career Services, visit .