If you’re wondering why college seniors can be stressed as they approach graduation rather than purely excited, it might be because they’re in the process of finding a job.
This isn’t the case for all seniors, however, 61.6% of all surveyed graduates are employed full-time within a year of graduation while 37% continue education after they receive their bachelor’s degree, according to a survey given by the Center for Career & Professional Development.
The survey includes data from the graduating classes from 2018 through 2022.
Contributed by Molly Jacob, ’24
The primary fields of study that survey participants work in following graduation are health science, nursing, education and accounting.
Sacred Heart University alumnus John Goodnough was in the same position as current seniors when he was graduating in May 2019, and he said that several different opportunities at SHU helped him prepare for the job market.
“Just trying to boost up your resume in different ways could be helpful, whether it’s being a Welch Mentor, being an ambassador,” Goodnough said. “All these different things could help with your resume, and it helps when you go to the different career fairs.”
Goodnough, who majored in finance and marketing, also said that SHU’s location in proximity to several big cities was an advantage when searching for a job, post-graduation.
“Overall, there’s a lot of good opportunities. As a student, you just have to take advantage of the different opportunities and career fairs that they offer,” said Goodnough.
These internships and connections made at SHU helped Goodnough find his current job at Ameriprise Financial, where he’s been employed for over four years.
Economics and finance professor Lucjan Orlowski said that graduates need to have certain traits when searching for a job, such as curiosity, confidence and the drive to succeed.
“They should take risks because they are young and can experiment, and [they have] to learn not to give up if they fail with their first experiment. You fail in order to draw lessons for the next time,” Orlowski said.
Orlowski also said that the job market is undergoing major changes in the types of jobs needed, with artificial intelligence playing a major role.
“Ten years ago, we had more needs for programmers, financial analysts, technical analysts and more micro-oriented jobs,” Orlowski said. “Right now, you have to have a macro-perspective or a global perspective with analytical skills.”
According to the Associated Press, the job market has been trending in the right direction recently, as the number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped from 220,000 to 212,000 during the week of Feb. 4 until Feb. 10.
The Associated Press reports that “The unemployment rate stayed at 3.7% and has been below 4% for 24 straight months – two full years – the longest such streak since the 1960s.”
According to Orlowski, the job market has made recoveries from the Covid-19 pandemic, but it varies depending on the field.
Sophomore Laura Schroeder said that she feels more prepared to explore job opportunities thanks to an internship with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League.
“These internships are your chance to be in a professional setting before there are big, real risks,” Schroeder said. “You’re able to make those mistakes that might cost you a job in the future and learn before that could possibly happen.”
Schroeder, who majors in sports management and business management, said that her internship helped her identify that she prefers a job with more action and movement rather than a desk job.
“If I was doing the same thing every day, eventually I would get bored. I liked the unpredictability of my job over the summer because the games were unpredictable,” Schroeder said.
For more information on job and internship opportunities, visit the Center for Career and Professional Development, located on the second floor of Linda E. McMahon Commons.
