Good news for recent grads: Entry-level jobs increase by 22 percent
Recent graduates, rejoice. According to the results of our 2011 Top Entry-Level Employers survey, entry-level hiring is on the rise. In fact, our findings show that entry-level hiring increased 22 percent from last year, and is the highest it's been in more than three years.
Who are the employers doing the hiring? Below is a list of the top ten employers of entry-level graduates, along with the number of positions each company is project to fill by the end of 2011:
- Enterprise Rent-A-Car – 8,500
- Teach for America – 4,925
- Verizon Wireless – 4,250
- Hertz – 4,000
- Pricewaterhouse Coopers – 3,938
- KPMG, LLP – 2,300
- Target – 2,200
- Ernst & Young – 2,000
- City Year – 1,700
- Aerotek – 900
In addition to identifying the top employers, our survey also shed light on what hiring managers look for in candidates. Contrary to what you may have thought, GPA is not important. Only 3 percent of respondents indicated that GPA was an important hiring characteristic. What really matters are an individual’s undergraduate major, whether or not they have held an internship or have relevant work experience, and the communication skills as demonstrated in the interview. Along those lines, the majors that tend to land the most entry-level jobs are business administration, engineering and marketing.
Also surprising is that, despite all of the fear-inducing reports and articles about potential employers peeking at your Facebook account, social media is actually a very small part of the recruiting process. Instead, traditional recruiting methods prevail, such as college campus career fairs and college career websites.
Our advice to you? Choose a relevant major, participate in internships, and attend your campuses career fairs if you’re looking to land one of those coveted entry-level jobs.
For more detail about the survey results, download our executive summary.
For related coverage of the survey, including colorful infographics and slideshows about top majors and tips for entry-level job-hunting, check out our partner website, Schools.com
Happy job hunting!
