New Labor: Area college graduates

As nearly 4,000 graduates from the area’s four largest four-year schools join the professional ranks, most take with them degrees in business, psychology, accounting and education, according to university officials.

Of 2,070 degrees scheduled to be conferred on May 18 at Missouri State University, management topped the list with 112 graduates, followed by marketing with 107 and psychology with 99. MSU’s College of Business Administration graduated the most students with 594, including master’s students. COBA is the largest business school in Missouri based on 4,386 declared majors in fall 2006, according to Associate Dean Phil Harsha.

Meanwhile, Drury University graduated 250 traditional students May 12 with 35 business students ranking first. Tim Posey, associate registrar for Drury, called business one of the “traditional heavy hitters” among college majors.

Data from local universities seem to mirror what’s happening nationally.

According to the most current U.S. Department of Education statistics, there were 1.4 million bachelor’s degrees conferred during the 2003-04 school year, with 307,000 business degrees leading the way, followed by 150,000 history and social science degrees and 106,000 education degrees.

High demand

Specific majors aside, employers look for communication skills and work experience.

A National Association of Colleges and Employers survey released in March showed that communication skills, along with honesty and integrity, were the most important traits for new hires. NACE also reported that employers offered jobs to more than 70 percent of their interns.

Justin Powell, a 2007 international business grad from Drury, landed his job at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, Ark., because of an internship. Powell was hired in April to work as an internal auditor beginning May 29 at Wal-Mart’s headquarters.

Powell’s schoolmates shouldn’t have a hard time finding work, either, said Jill Wiggins, director of Drury’s career center. She said about 95 percent of Drury grads find work or enter graduate school within six months of commencement.

Drury’s placement rate could go even higher this year. NACE reported in April that employers plan to hire 19.2 percent more college graduates nationally than they did last year.

Also, the approaching retirement of 78.2 million baby boomers could create a worker shortage. Through 2012, BLS projects there will be 56 million jobs available nationally for new entrants to the work force. College-educated workers are expected to fill at least 14 million of those jobs, according to BLS.

Demand for nurses, educators, school counselors, accountants and managers is likely to grow, said Jack Hunter, director of MSU’s career center.

However, Hunter cautions his students about picking a major because it’s perceived as the next hot job.

“That’s a trap,” he said. “The worst thing you can do is to try to track trends. Because the trends are so short-lived, you may end up with a major in an area that you don’t want to work in (and) where there are no jobs.”

Enough industry?

The Springfield area is home to more than a dozen colleges and universities. However, it lacks the economy to really support the students that those institutions churn out, Hunter said.

The lack of some big-time companies such as Boeing, he said, means that area graduates who stick around Springfield are often underemployed.

“We’re just not a big metropolitan area that can cater to them,” Hunter said. “You can be a two-year degree person and manage a McDonald’s. You can be a four-year degree person with an MBA and manage a McDonald’s, too.”

Malinda Stevens, director of human resources for Springfield-based SRC Holdings Corp., disagrees with Hunter’s assessment of Springfield’s economy.

“I do not feel that our college graduates are underemployed,” she said, adding that the $200 million, 1,200-employee engine remanufacturing company is constantly seeking new grads, especially those with degrees in supply-chain management, accounting, human resources, industrial engineering and information technology. “We can’t get enough talent through our doors.”

Top 3 at the Top 4

The top three most popular majors, based on number of spring 2007 graduates, at the Springfield area’s four biggest four-year universities.

Missouri State University: 2,070 graduates

Management: 112 graduates

Marketing: 107 graduates

Psychology: 99 graduates

Evangel University: 428 graduates

Business: 78 graduates

Education: 69 graduates

Behavioral Sciences: 68 graduates

Southwest Baptist University: 350 graduates

Psychology: 35 graduates

Elementary Education: 28 graduates

Business: 27 graduates

Drury University: 500 graduates

Business: 35 graduates

Architecture: 34 graduates

Psychology: 33 graduates[[In-content Ad]]