The prospect of job-hunting is intimidating for any college student, but things are looking up for recent Columbia graduates.
Employment rates for Columbia College and School of Engineering and Applied Science students are nearly 10 percentage points higher than they were last year, according to the Center for Career Education’s 2011 Graduating Student Survey.
In 2009, only 36.3 percent of CC and SEAS graduates were employed following graduation—the lowest in five years. Numbers were up in 2010, but 2011 is the first year that they are higher—by nearly 5 percentage points—than pre-recession levels, with 55.7 percent of graduates employed.
CCE Dean Kavita Sharma said that the increase was the sum of a number of factors, especially the impact of the recession on students’ attitudes.
“It really helped students realize that the market is very competitive … and they have to be very engaged in searching for jobs and internships and starting early,” Sharma said.
Since the recession, students have been more proactive in their job searches, she said, showing greater interest in CCE’s advising resources and setting up more advising appointments. CCE has also hosted more career fairs and worked to increase the number of jobs and internships posted on its job-searching website, LionSHARE.
The number of jobs and internships posted has jumped from 10,000 three years ago to over 16,000 this past year, CCE Executive Director Al Spuler said.
“There are a couple new career fairs this spring,” he added. “We felt it was really necessary to expand and include other industries.”
Nearly 27 percent of 2011 CC and SEAS graduates entered the financial services industry, followed by 10.5 percent in consulting, and 9.8 percent in education. The top 10 employers for graduates include a slew of financial companies, Teach For America, and Columbia itself.
In addition to the shift in students’ approach to the job search, new strategies to reach students have been implemented by CCE.
Niamh O’Brien, director of undergraduate career development at CCE, said CCE includes an outreach team dedicated to connecting students and employers.
“With the recession, a lot of students felt it’s hopeless,” O’Brien said. “We took every stride possible to get out and connect with students.”
Beezly Kiernan, CC ’11, said he was not surprised by the higher figures. “My experience with CCE was about what I expected it to be, though maybe less than what I hoped it would be,” he said in an email. “People in CCE definitely work hard to present students with lots of opportunities and to connect students with employers.”
At the same time, Kiernan said, there are limits to CCE’s powers. It “is no substitute for family connections or good friends in high places,” he said.
Both O’Brien and Sharma emphasized the role of alumni in the job search process, and their importance to CCE programs.
CCE has implemented a number of new programs to take advantage of Columbia’s alumni pool, including an alumni mock interviewing program, in which alumni conduct practice interviews for students; an externship program for first-years; the Columbia College Alumni-Sponsored Student Internship Program; and an alumni dinner series.
The alumni dinners are “not about showing up and getting a job,” Sharma said. Instead, attendees learn more personable skills, like the importance of networking and building relationships. “Those are equally as important as the number of jobs there are,” Sharma said.
Around 20 percent of students in 2011 chose to attend graduate school, a rate that has remained basically constant over the past five years. Similarly, the portion of students choosing to take time off after graduation has remained relatively constant at around 5 percent.
Employment rates for students graduating from the Graduate School of Planning and Preservation, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of the Arts, the School of Continuing Education, General Studies, and the Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Science have risen as well.
Administrators noted that CCE also tries to reach out to students who are still seeking employment after graduation.
“We do follow up with students throughout the summer,” Spuler said. “We have counselors send them emails, highlight certain things that are in LionSHARE.”
Sharma also said that communication over the summer has increased.
“Traditionally, the summer’s not as busy a time with counseling and advising,” she said, “whereas now, we easily see 100 clients per week over the summer.”
“It’s a lifelong service,” Spuler said.
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