[originaltext]M: Take the season for pomp and circumstance and for thousands of

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, cor porate profits are strong, so companies feel more comfortable hiring. As you know, the entry-level mar ket 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 engi neering major or looking at potentially 50, 55 thousand dollars to start, perhaps even the signing bonus es 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 word out there, hitting the payment.
1. What is the good news for new college graduates?
2. What boosts the increasing demand for hiring?
3. What happened to the starting salaries this year?
4. What do most employers say about hiring new staff?
5. Why does Ellen suggest that students should not rely on the Internet?