The College Class of 2006 will enjoy the best job market in four years, and employers have expressed the most interest in students with business, engineering, and computer-related degrees. That’s the good news from the 2006 National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) "Job Outlook Report," an annual forecast of hiring intentions of employers as they relate to new college graduates.

According to the report, more than 46 percent of employers responding to the survey characterized the job market for new college graduates as very good or excellent, whereas last year, only 29 percent of employers had that outlook.

Still, NACE encourages students not to sit back and wait for employers to come to them with good, well paying jobs. It pays to be proactive!

Though engineering and computer science graduates have consistently topped employers’ hiring lists in recent years, internship experience has been ranked as one of the most important job candidate characteristics.

More and more, employers are looking past individual data points---communication and interpersonal skills, personal accountability, leadership, and G.P.A.---to the jobs graduates have held in the past.

“Coming out of my freshman year, it was kind of hard to get an internship because I didn’t have a lot of experience,” said Christopher Barr, electrical engineering senior at Hampton University and current president of the IEEE student branch chapter.

By his sophomore year, Barr had started an internship assignment with Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle Memorial Institute, a private, nonprofit research company that manages national laboratories for the United States Department of Energy, The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He spent two summers there.
 
“That was really important," Barr said, "because there are a lot of things you don’t learn in school that are necessary for you to become a good engineer in the field.”

Some real world problems students don’t worry about, according to Barr, are budgets, man-hours, and independent living.

“I had to be out there by myself, so I had a taste of what it's going to be like when I move and get a real job after school," he said.

“Without the internship,” Barr added, “I would never have been qualified to get the job with Lockheed Martin. A lot of the things they asked me about, I’d already done during my internship, so I was ready to get a full-time position."

Full-time Benefits

Once Barr graduates with an electrical engineering degree, the Daleville, Ind.-native will take a job with Lockheed in New York.

”It’s a full-time salaried job, so I get benefits like eye, doctor, dental care, life insurance, and a 401(k) plan,” said Barr.

Barr also said his parents helped him evaluate the benefits that were offered with the position, and noted that a lot of college students don't know they will need these extras.

“You never really think about life insurance, because it’s always been provided in some way for you. And you don’t think about retirement either. My dad told me to put as much as they’ll match in your 401(k), because it will pay off 30 to 40 years down the line.”

Taking more personal responsibility in health care and retirement benefits is becoming an important work force management trend. In October 2005, Lockheed Martin Corporation replaced its traditional pension plan with a 401(k) plan for new employees who begin work in 2006. 

According to Workforce Management magazine editor John Hollon, these kinds of decisions are becoming more and more common.

Lockheed's pension plan has grown to $23 billion, and the company's ever-increasing cost of funding the plan is a major concern to investors.

"As with health care, the trend in retirement benefits is to transfer the responsibility and risk from the employer to the employees. Traditional pension plans continue to be replaced with 401(k) plans, and employers are putting more of the onus on employees for saving for retirement," said Leslie Gross Klaff, a writer for Workforce Management.

Employees will need more education in these areas, and employers must provide that education.

Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, said although leading employers are providing information and tools to help workers become more educated health care consumers, "We all need to help employees understand that they don’t have to keep giving their pay raises to the health care system. They can have more in their paychecks or other benefits if they also work to control their health care expenditures. Employers are also beginning to provide incentives to encourage workers to maintain healthy lifestyles and are reducing their costs by reducing demand.”

Barr’s job title will be "engineering leadership development associate." Lockheed’s three-year Engineering Leadership Development Program provides night school and in-house classes, leading to a master's degree in engineering.

”After that,” Barr continued, “I plan to go back to school and do an M.B.A. My personal goal is to become a project manager, but you need experience in the field.”

For the present, Barr’s academic major and internship experience have gotten him a job offer from the nation’s leading defense contractor.

International Students

For Adewunmi Aderibigbe, an international student from Alabama A&M University, choosing an HBCU college of engineering was one of the best decisions she has made to date.

“They have more opportunities here at AAMU, and as long as I keep doing what I am doing---which is to perform really well---I’ll be able to work at ADTRAN, where I interned,” said the senior electrical engineering major.

Located in Huntsville, Ala. in the country's second largest high-tech research park, ADTRAN Inc. is one of the world's most successful telecom equipment suppliers. The company specializes in enabling voice, data, video, and Internet communications across copper, fiber, and wireless network infrastructures.

After attending a number of career fairs as president of her college’s Society of Women Engineers chapter and researching opportunities on the web, Iyabo Alli landed an internship at the United States Patent Office last summer.

“It was really fun, and probably a bit less technical than working at Lockheed or something like that. I reviewed different technical applications, about 20 to 100 pages long,” said Alli of her internship experience.

Although Alli is considering working for the National Security Agency, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon, going back to the patent office as a primary patent examiner still seems promising to her.

“I’ll be doing the same thing, learn more about the laws, and I can go to grad school after a year," she said.

Advice for Grads

College graduates with experience are forecasted to fare the best in any job market, and the following are more strategies for a successful job search.
 
* Be flexible and focused. Broaden the number of fields you are considering and apply for plenty of positions, but research fields thoroughly so your interest is clear to employers.

* Apply for as many jobs and recruiting opportunities as possible. See a counselor in your Career Services office to find listings and recruiting programs suited to your needs.
 
* If you plan to take a break after graduation before embarking on a career, include a more serious element in the work. For example, do an internship with the marketing department of a ski area if you plan to spend next winter working at a ski lodge.

* Network as extensively as possible. Employers prefer candidates who have been referred by staff.

* Do an internship in the spring or the summer after graduation. Visit your college career services office to learn about opportunities.