Job prospects bright for grads
Class of 2005 to find better pay, but few bonuses
By Laura Morsch
CareerBuilder.com
Editor's Note: CNN.com has a business partnership with CareerBuilder.com, which serves as the exclusive provider of job listings and services to CNN.com.
College students earning their diplomas in 2005 are more likely to find a job and earn a slightly higher salary than their counterparts a year earlier, according to a report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
Businesses are reporting better-than-expected hiring for 2005, according to the report. Last August, employers told NACE they expected to hire 13.1 percent more new grads in 2004-2005 than they had in 2002-2003. In December, more than 60 percent reaffirmed their prediction, and 25 percent predicted they would hire even more.
No new perks
Although businesses expect a bit more competition for new grads, there likely won't be a boom in salaries or loads of extra perks for new hires. Only about 42 percent of employers plan to extend signing bonuses to new graduates (compared with nearly 73 percent during the dot-com boom).
Further, 70 percent of employers who do offer signing bonuses will only offer them to select hires -- not all. Expected bonuses range from $750 to $10,000, with the average falling at just more than $3,200. Outside of bonuses, 87 percent of managers say they don't plan to extend other perks to their employees.
Average starting pay rising
More students' majors are translating into salary increases than at this point last year, according to the survey. The majority of disciplines studied reported a slight increase in starting pay over last year.
What can you expect? Here are average starting salaries from the most recent NACE survey:
Accounting -- $43,050 (up 2.4 percent)Business Administration -- $38,357 (up 2.6 percent), although many business administration graduates held sales jobs averaging $40,395.Marketing -- $37,519 (up 4 percent)Economics/Finance -- $40,719 (up 0.3 percent), although the largest number of offers was for financial/treasury analysis positions, averaging $44,573 per year.Computer Science -- $51,042 (up 4.9 percent)Information Science -- $43,741 (up 3.9 percent)Civil Engineering -- 43,159 (up 4.1 percent)Chemical Engineering -- $53,659 (up 2.1 percent)Electrical Engineering -- $51,113 (up 2.4 percent)Liberal Arts -- $29,060 (down 3.6 percent)
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