SIFE Issues: Post-college job marketing offers new challenges

With the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years, it's no surprise that the biggest obstacle for college graduates is no longer finding that first job after graduation.

As the economy continues to expand, more and more graduates are discovering it's a matter of what company to work for rather than if they will be hired at all.

As most already know, among the highest paying fields are those related to technology and business.

Due to an amazing demand, students majoring in such disciplines as computer science and information technology are realizing it's not difficult to find a job that satisfies their preferences both in salary and location.

Graduates with such degrees may also find themselves offered extra incentives such as signing bonuses and attractive starting benefits and compensation packages from prospective employers.

Tenille Spence, a senior business and computer information science double major, said her greatest career concern is job satisfaction.

"I'm really not worried about finding my first job, but I am apprehensive about making a bad employment choice and being confined to a position or location I dislike," she said.

Like Spence, most technical graduates are confident in their skills and abilities, and realize how valuable they are to the new economy. With such a tight job market, these graduates have the benefit of evaluating employers more thoroughly than in the past.

What is not surprising about the current job market is the opportunities available not only to business and technology graduates, but also to other college graduates.

While there is no sign of a shortage of work for graduates with technical backgrounds, students with a traditional liberal arts education should not fear.

Technology generates a multitude of new products and services every year, and helps create new markets with new opportunities.

While the majority of these opportunities are for students with related degrees, many are also available for graduates with a different variety of skills such as the traditional liberal arts graduate.

Those who major in disciplines such as English and the sciences are now often finding excellent starting positions in such industries as consulting, merchandising, and transportation.

According to the United States' Chamber of Commerce, these industries alone forecast an average increase of 20 percent in new positions to be filled in the next five years.

Liberal arts graduates generally have a more difficult time communicating their career goals than those whose degrees match particular careers exactly, such as business.

Even so, employers will continue to demand such qualities as interpersonal skills, critical thinking and organization, all of which can be provided by a liberal arts education.

If liberal arts graduates are focused on what they want to do and have previous work experience, they will be attractive prospects to any employer.

Although the economy's success has created an enormous amount of new opportunities for graduates, college students from all disciplines must realize that the job market is a one of fierce competition. Students still have to continue to build on their skills and qualifications in order to get the jobs they most desire.

(Justin Whisman is a business major at the College of the Ozarks, and a member of Students in Free Enterprise. SIFE Issues will appear monthly.)