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M: Take the season for pomp and circumstance and for thousands of new college graduates to find a job. The process can be intimidating, but thanks to a strong economy, there is good news for the grads. Ellen of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance has some advice to help new grads into the working world. Vera, it’s good to see you.
W: Good morning, Russ, nice to see you.
M: So the job market is good, ha?
W: It’s very good, employers planned to hire about 14% more grads this year than last, a very good time to be an accounting major, engineering major, finance major, but really the demand, is across the board, it’s the best job market we’ve seen in 4 or 5 years.
M: And what do you attribute this hiring surge to?
W: Ah, largely a reflection of the economic conditions, corporate growth of course has been good, corporate profits are strong, so companies feel more comfortable hiring. As you know, the entry-level market is most sensitive to the economic conditions.
M: Right.
W: Conditions are good, hiring is on the up.
M: What about, what about starting salaries, are they higher this year than years past?
W: Those are very good as well. There are up about 6 percent more this year than last with the average starting salary at a whopping 46,000 dollars and you can deem better than, than that, if you’re engineering major or looking at potentially 50, 55 thousand dollars to start, perhaps even the signing bonuses are making a comeback as well.
M: You are talking about our starting salaries years ago, well, that’s a lot different. Is it the market so good now? There is competition among employers to hire these folks.
W: Yes, yes, that’s a good point, nearly 9 out of 10 employers in fact say that competition this year is stronger than last.
M: Hmm. You’ve got some advice, er, for college grads as they’re looking for a job. The first thing you say is do not rely on the Internet, why?
W: Don’t rely on the Internet as your only job searching strategy. It’s fine if it’s a component of the strategy, but should not be your only strategy, because only about 25 percent of the jobs are advertised in any public medium and only about 5 percent of the job seekers actually end up getting a job through an advertisement. So your best job searching tool, networking, word of mouth, getting the no word out there, hitting the payment
M: Second thing you just mentioned in networking, for those kids who don’t quite grasp what networking is. Why don’t you turn to break it down?
W: Get out there, and get the word out, go to your college and ask them for a list of local alumni who are in the field that you’re interested in pursuing. Find out about relevant trade organizations, attend some varied functions and if you get some leads, try to set up a few informational interviews.
M: And what do you mean by the informational interviews that if I’ve been an employer, I’m gonna say "What... you’re wasting my time. Why, why am I talking to you?" What is the point of an informational interview?
W: Just a great way really to learn more about the industry, potential jobs that might work for you, within the industry, you might pick up a few leads or two, get a few contacts. She might get some good advice along the way. I just think it’s a very non-threatening, less intimidating way for college grads to at least get their foot in the door, build up a little confidence. And statistics do show they earn more than 15 times likely to land a job through an informational interview than simply by sending your resume out blindly, which is a big mistake.
M: I see, Ok, you’ve done all these things, now you’re ready for the real doing. You wanna go into an interview to get a job.
W: Right.
M: What advice do you have?
W: You gotta go in there confident ready to take charge. You should know all about the company before you go in there. Ask very specific questions about growth opportunities within the organization. Also wanna be a good listener, because well it might be your qualifications, your education, your experience that has landed you the interview. Ultimately whether you get the job could boil down to your interviewing skills and your report with the interviewers. So you wanna come across confident, poised, you wanna look the royal, you wanna ask very intelligent questions, and be enthusiastic.
M: You also say watch the electronic footprint, what, what do you mean exactly?
W: Yes, you really have to be careful here. We’re in the day and the age when everyone’s on Facebook, they’re blogging. You have to be careful what’s out there, because a prospective employer could go on there and find something out about you that they don’t like, and that could actually cost you a job, so I would just say, be careful with online stuff.
M: As parents, is there anything that, that we can do to help our kids get a job, off the couch?
W: You could get him off the couch, you could help instill a sense of confidence in them, get them feeling like a take-charge kind of mode, get them dress for success, build a little confidence along the way and send them on, on, out the door and on their way.
M: Ok, Ellen as always, good to see you. Great advice, and see you next time.