Job prospects bright for UW-Madison graduates

Employment is certainly one of the top issues on the minds of University of Wisconsin–Madison students participating in this weekend’s (May 12-14) commencement ceremonies.

According to UW–Madison career and placement experts, graduates are entering a strong job market and generally finding success in their searches. A list of experts and descriptions of job prospects in their respective fields follows:

Leslie Kohlberg, director of Letters and Science and School of Human Ecology Career Services, one of the largest placement offices on campus, says that employers are planning to hire 14.5 percent more college graduates nationally. Those numbers are holding true at the campus level. Letters & Science job fairs saw an increase of recruiters, from 176 in 2004-05, to 273 in 2005-06. Job postings also are up significantly.

“Everything is up, everything is looking good,” Kohlberg says. “We’re hearing positive reports from employers. As always, UW graduates have good communication skills, along with strong leadership, teamwork and analytical thinking abilities. These are traits that employers look for in all of their candidates.”

Steve Schroeder, director of the School of Business Career Center, says he’s seeing the strongest job market in the past six years.

“All of our numbers are up – companies coming to campus to interview, attending our career fairs, as well as salaries,” he says.

The number of recruiters visiting the School of Business is up 14.2 percent compared to 2004-05. The average salary for students graduating with a business degree is $47,021, compared to $44,255 last year.

Sandy Arnn, director of Engineering Career Services, says that it’s been an equally strong year for jobs in the engineering fields, with the college holding its largest career fairs in more than five years.

For the first time ever, a civil and environmental career fair was held to accommodate employer requests for those specialties. The average salary increase for 2005-06 was expected to be in the 7-8 percent range for undergraduate engineers in all engineering majors.

In fact, Arnn says many engineering grads are receiving multiple job offers with signing bonuses and relocation packages.

Despite reports of the demise of the mainstream media, job candidates are finding it to be a pretty steady, according to Erica Salkin, undergraduate adviser at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Companies continue to need more strong writers to provide content for newspapers, magazines or Web sites.

“It’s a field that tends to want its entry-level people to start right away – yesterday, if possible,” she says. “For that reason, many of our students find jobs when they are available to immediately take them – in essence, right at graduation or shortly thereafter.”

A mentorship program was launched this year to match students one-on-one with alumni in the field during the academic year.