Wright State students that are about to graduate next month are in for some good news: Unemployment numbers are down and employers are actively seeking college graduates.
Ohio’s unemployment rate in February was 5.1 percent, down from 6.2 percent in February 2014 according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The unemployment rate is only a snapshot of who is actively seeking employment.
As unemployment numbers drop, more people actively look for work, causing unemployment numbers to flatten according to Lance Cauley, Wright State’s Director of Career Management at the Soin College of Business.
“There was this bubble of college grads from 2008 through 2012 that had a really tough time finding jobs,” Cauley said. “Now that it has finally passed and employers are more anxious to hire new college grads, I feel sorry for the people who graduated from 2008 to 2012 because employers are not going back to that group.”
Cauley said that students who have spent their four years of college building their resumes would have the best opportunity to be hired.
“A lot of seniors think, ‘Oh my gosh, I am in my last year, I better get an internship, I better do something because I am about to graduate,’” Cauley said. “From the employer’s point of view, they would rather have sophomores and juniors than seniors. Internships are like a year-long job interview.”
Kim Gilliam, WSU’s Associate Director of Career Services, agreed with Cauley’s point.
“All students are marketable for employment if they have prepared themselves well while in college,” Gilliam said. “Completing one or more internships, participating in student or campus leadership, job shadowing, informational interviews and networking with faculty and staff.”
While finding jobs should not be difficult for students graduating this spring, finding employment that will pay for student debt could be a challenge. University of Dayton’s Director of Career Services Jason Eckert said that many new college graduates are able to find full-time employment, but are still having a tough time paying for student loans.
“I would agree that in some cases, the starting salary that a college graduate from any of our local schools may accept may not position them to pay for their debt,” Eckert said.
Eckert recommended that students who are about to graduate should be open-minded about potential openings.
Cauley said that as unemployment continues to decline, companies will be forced to increase wages to attract employees.
“Because more people are working, fewer of the high qualified people are actively looking for a job so the only way for employers to attract the best talent is by bumping up their wages,” Cauley said.
The consensus from Cauley and Eckert is that students graduating in 2015 are going to have a much easier time finding employment compared to five years ago at the height of the recession.
“Things hit the very bottom after the recession of 2009 and since that point, things have been getting stronger and stronger,” Eckert said. “While some people are still struggling in the job market, new college graduates are doing whether well. Ohio is an example of that.”
Ohio’s unemployment rate is .4 percent below the national average. For graduates looking to stay in the area, the news is positive.
Eckert said that bigger cities like Columbus and Cincinnati have more diversified economies, but there are plenty of industries in the Miami Valley that are thriving. Dayton’s unemployment rate is slightly above the rest of the state, but had its lowest number in December in the last decade.
“There are lots and lots of jobs in healthcare,” Eckert said. “If you look at Payless Shoes or Proctor and Gamble or Kohl’s, there are a lot of jobs in supply chain management. We also have seen a lot of jobs in high tech manufacturing. Those are often medium sized employers.”
