Log-in: Pipeline (Member community)

Posts Tagged ‘NACE’

« Older Entries

Questions to Ask in the Job Interview

Friday, May 3rd, 2013

The following post was originally featured in Job Choices: Diversity Edition, a publication from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). You can view the original article in the digital version of the issue.

In the interview, you will be expected not only to answer questions but also to ask them. What you ask can be as important as the answers you supply. Steer clear of questions that could easily be answered with a little research. The interviewer may perceive you as lacking initiative or interest in the organization. Your questions should not be “throwaways” designed simply to fulfill the interviewer’s expectation. Ask questions that are based on the specific organization and job, that will provide you with important information and insight that can help you decide if this is a good match for you. You’ll score points with the interviewer if you ask thoughtful questions that demonstrate you interest and show you have taken the time to research the organization. Ideally, your research and your discussion with the interviewer will give you some topics to follow up on with pertinent questions, but here are a few to get your started.

  1. What do you do in a typical work day? In a typical week?
    This is a question to ask a hiring manager. It shows you are interested in life on the job in the organization.
  2. Why did you choose to work for this company?
    You can pose this question to a recruiter or hiring manager; this gives the person a chance to “sell” the company and gives you insight into why someone would want to work for the organization.
  3. How would you describe your company culture?
    This question provides you and the interviewer or hiring manager with another opportunity to determine if you and the company are a good match for each other.
  4. What is the natural career progression for employees with my skill set?
    This question shows that your are thinking about the future and hope to stay with the company.
  5. Does this organization have a formal mentor or coaching program? How is it structured?
    This illustrates that you are interested in being the best employee you can be.
  6. What kind of internal and external training do you provide?
    Again, this type of question illustrates your desire to excel in the job.
  7. What are the next steps in the hiring process?
    In addition, as your interview closes, be sure t restate your interest and ask for the job.

Caution: Be sure the answers to questions 5 and 6 are not available on the organization’s website or literature. If it is, you might ask a related question that delves deeper into the topic.

Special thanks to NACE for permission to share this article. Now we want to hear from you! What other interview tips would you share? For more information and tools, consider visiting our Pinterest board for job seekers!.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Help Wanted | No Comments »

Salaries Climb for the Class of 2013

Thursday, April 25th, 2013

This post was provided by Claudia Allen, editor at the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). NACE connects campus recruiting and career services professionals, and provides best practices, trends, research, professional development, and conferences.

Starting salaries for the Class of 2013 continue to climb as the job market improves for college graduates.

The average starting salary for a new college graduate earning a bachelor’s degree is $44,928—up 5 percent over the average starting salary earned by members of the Class of 2012, according to the April 2013 Salary Survey, a new study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Starting salaries rose across the board, from 2 percent to almost 10 percent.

Engineering majors claimed seven of the 10 spots among the highest paying majors for 2012-13 bachelor’s degree graduates. Petroleum engineering majors grabbed the top starting salaries, with an average of $93,500. Computer engineers pulled the second highest salaries with an average of $71,700.
Other engineering majors among the highest-paid are:

  • Chemical engineering ($67,600),
  • Aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical engineering ($64,400),
  • Mechanical engineering ($64,000), electrical/electronics and communications engineering ($63,400), and
  • Engineering technology ($62,200).

The top-paying non-engineering majors are computer science, with an average starting salary of $64,800, followed by management information systems/business ($63,100) and finance ($57,400). Generally, for humanities and social science majors, the average salary is $37,058.
Here’s how that plays out for some new graduates:

Source: April 2013 Salary Survey, National Association of Colleges and Employers, copyright holder.

A free executive summary of the April 2013 Salary Survey report is available at www.naceweb.org/salary-survey-data/.

NACE’s next report on starting salaries for Class of 2013 college graduates will be in the September 2013 issue of Salary Survey.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Soapbox Holland Post | No Comments »

What Employers Want to See on a Resume

Friday, March 15th, 2013

The following post was provided by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). NACE connects campus recruiting and career services professionals, and provides best practices, trends, research, professional development, and conferences.

When a new college graduate puts together a one-page resume (as experts recommend), every word must count.

An employer spends just seconds scanning each resume to decide if it’s going into the “interview” or the “toss” pile.

In addition to a solid knowledge of the new grad’s field (noted by earning a good GPA and participation in internships), employers are looking for grads who have a number of “soft” skills, according to a new survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Employers taking part in NACE’s Job Outlook 2013 survey say they look for a range of soft skills, including leadership abilities, initiative, the ability to communicate, and more. (See Figure 1.)

“Eight out of 10 employers who review the resumes of potential college hires are seeking evidence of leadership skills,” says Andrea Koncz, NACE’s employment information manager. “In addition, 75 percent of employers are looking for problem-solving skills.”

How does a new college graduate demonstrate these attributes? Here’s where outside activities and interests are important. Joining and holding an office in a profession-related organization, participating in intramural sports, and volunteering are some of the activities employers look for as evidence of a student’s taking the opportunity to learn those skills.

Figure 1
resume attributes

About the survey: The Job Outlook survey is a forecast of hiring intentions of employers as they relate to new college graduates. Each year, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) surveys its employer members about their hiring plans and other employment-related issues in order to project the market for new college graduates for the current class and to assess a variety of conditions that may influence that market.

From July 25, 2012, through September 10, 2012, data were collected for the Job Outlook 2013 survey. A total of 244 surveys were returned—a 25.2 percent response rate.

The Job Outlook 2013 report was published in November; NACE will update the hiring outlook for the Class of 2013 in April.

About NACE: Since 1956, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has been the leading source of information about the employment of college graduates. For more information, visit www.naceweb.org. NACE maintains a virtual press room for the media at www.naceweb.org/pressreleases/.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Help Wanted | No Comments »

Setting Pay Rates for Interns

Thursday, March 14th, 2013

This post was provided by Claudia Allen, editor at the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). NACE connects campus recruiting and career services professionals, and provides best practices, trends, research, professional development, and conferences.

As your organization prepares for its summer internship program, one of the tasks you will have to undertake is setting intern wages.
Typically, interns are paid an hourly wage and fall into the “non-exempt” category due to the nature of their positions. Some employers use the salary they pay a new college hire as the starting point for determining intern wages.

In general, employers with formal internship programs for college student determine pay rates by degree level, class year, and academic major. For example, seniors earn 26.3 percent more than their freshman cohorts. A master’s degree intern is paid 35 percent more than a bachelor’s degree intern.

Students earning engineering and computer science degrees generally are paid a higher wage rates than students in other disciplines, regardless of class year. Currently, at the bachelor’s degree level for seniors, engineering interns average wages of $20.79 per hour, and computer science/IT interns average $19.10 per hour. These exceed the pay rates for all other intern majors within the senior-class level.

(Note: Your interns will talk amongst themselves, so apply your pay scales consistently.)

Average Intern Hourly Wage Rates, by Class

Class

Average
Freshman $13.91
Sophomore $15.36
Junior $16.82
Senior $17.57

Source: 2012 Internship & Co-op Survey, National Association of Colleges and Employers. Data are for bachelor’s degree students.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Soapbox Holland Post | No Comments »

Calculate Your Cost-Per-Hire

Wednesday, February 20th, 2013

This post was provided by Claudia Allen, editor at the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). NACE connects campus recruiting and career services professionals, and provides best practices, trends, research, professional development, and conferences.

Cost-per-hire is difficult to pinpoint because companies use different formulas to calculate their costs.

However, while it is difficult to compare cost-per-hire among organizations, it can be used internally to help determine where you are getting the best value for your recruiting dollar. It can be used to determine which activities or which schools are yielding the largest number hires for the least cost. Plus, it may help you explain the need for additional resources.

To calculate your organization’s cost-per-hire, use the worksheet below developed by the NACE.

Figuring Cost-Per-Hire

Cost for college relations/recruitment office
(This category includes the total cost of office overhead; salaries and benefits of recruiters—prorated if their time is divided among other HR functions; expenses associated with recruiter training and professional development, e.g., membership fees, conference/workshop fees.)

$ _____

Cost of prerecruiting activities
(Total cost of activities such as resume books, information sessions, related activities, programs for faculty/career services staff.)

$ _____

Cost for recruiting trips
(Expenses associated with on-campus recruitment, e.g. recruiter travel and accommodations expenses, cost of equipment rentals.)

$ _____

Cost for company visits
(Expenses for bringing candidates to the organization, including candidates’ travel, lodging, and meal expenses, and the time of line managers, recruiters, and other staff involved in the visit.

$ _____

Hiring and relocation cost
(Expenses for new hires visiting work city to locate housing, temporary lodging costs, moving expenses.)

$ _____

Cost of advertising
(Expenses associated with recruitment advertising and recruitment literature.)

$ _____

Total cost

$ _____

Total number of college hires

_____

Average cost-per-hire
(Divide the total cost by the total number of college hires.)

$_____

NACE’s formula for calculating cost-per-hire in based on the work of Robert Greenberg, former director of career services at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Soapbox Holland Post | No Comments »

Interview Tips: Do Your Homework on the Employer

Friday, February 15th, 2013

Before going to an interview, do you research the employer? Gathering information about the employer before your interview can help you further convince the interviewer that you are right for the job. Listen to Marilyn Mackes, the Executive Director of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, as she shares some interview tips around how research can differentiate you from the other candidates.

Key takeaways:

  • Do homework about yourself, prospective employers and the opportunities employers have for you
  • Always look for new ways to use technology to market yourself
  • Most significant thing – be able to communicate that you know something about the employer, what the work is and that what you have to offer matches the expectations of the employer

To see more interview tips, visit our Job Seeker Advice Pinterest board. Ready to start you job search? Visit US.jobs!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Help Wanted | No Comments »

Internships, Co-ops, Practicums, and Externships: What’s the Difference?

Friday, February 1st, 2013

The following post was provided by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). NACE connects campus recruiting and career services professionals, and provides best practices, trends, research, professional development, and conferences.

Internships, Co-ops, Practicums, and Externships: What’s the Difference?

Student work and observation experiences go by a number of different names, including internships, co-ops, practicums, and externships. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what an experience should be called—definitions can vary among schools and employers. Following are some general definitions.

Internships
Internships are typically one-time work or service experiences related to a students major or career goal. The internship plan generally involves a student working in a professional setting under the supervision and monitoring of practicing professionals.

Internships can be paid or unpaid and the student may or may not receive academic credit for performing the internship.

Cooperative education
Cooperative education provides students with multiple periods of work in which the work is related to the student’s major or career goal. The typical program plan is for a student to alternate terms of full-time classroom study with terms of full-time, discipline-related employment. Since program participation involves multiple work terms, the typical participant will work three or four work terms, thus gaining a year or more of career-related work experience before graduation.

Virtually all co-op positions are paid and the vast majority involves some form of academic credit.

Practicums
A practicum is generally a one-time work or service experience done by a student as part of an academic class. Some practicums offer pay, but many don’t. Almost all are done for academic credit.

Externships/job shadowing
An externship or job shadowing experience allows a student to spend between a day and several weeks observing a professional on the job. Such experiences are unpaid, however some colleges and universities pick up travel and/or living expenses. Externships and job shadowing experiences are generally not done for academic credit.

For additional information, visit our Career Resources page or Job Seeker Advice board on Pinterest.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Help Wanted | No Comments »

The College Class of 2013: Current Demographics

Thursday, August 16th, 2012

The following guest post was written by Mimi Collins, director of communications for the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

Overall, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) expects the Class of 2013 to total 1,744,000 bachelor’s degree graduates. Here’s a quick look at the class, and what’s happening in some of the key disciplines.

* Women will outnumber men: Overall, women will account for approximately 57 percent of bachelor’s degrees. This continues a trend that started in the early 1980s, the last time men earned more bachelor’s degrees than women.

* The class will be more diverse: Though the class is predominately white, racial/ethnic minorities will make up a bigger part of the pool than was the case just 10 years ago.

* Key disciplines will be under-supplied: The STEM disciplines will account for less than 10 percent of the degrees conferred.

* Overall, salaries will increase: Salaries have been trending upward for new college graduates as a whole. In April, the median salary for a bachelor’s degree candidate stood at $42,569, up 4.5 percent over the previous year. Not surprisingly, employers should expect to pay top dollar for low-supply, high-demand graduates.

Diversity
The student population is increasingly diverse, with most racial/ethnic groups gaining ground, Hispanic graduates, in particular, accounting for much of that growth.

Overall, racial ethnic/minorities account for approximately 29 percent of bachelor’s degrees. That’s up from around 25 percent at the end of the 1990s. (See Figure 1.)

Just as females account for a larger portion of degrees conferred, so too are females are driving much of the gains in diversity. For example, the most current data show that African-American females account for 6.5 percent of degrees, their male counterparts, just 3.4 percent. Hispanic females earned 5.2 percent of bachelor’s degrees, compared to 3.3 percent earned by male Hispanics.

Recruiting Targets
Among employers that have a formal college recruiting function, graduates in the business and STEM disciplines are key recruiting targets.

Overall, business graduates are relatively plentiful. Since the 1980s, the business disciplines have consistently accounted for approximately one-fifth of the bachelor’s degree granted. Competition for these graduates tends to focus around specific skill sets—graduates earning degrees in accounting and finance are especially sought after—experience, and other criteria. (Note: At the master’s level, there has been some slow, but steady movement upward in terms of business degrees conferred. The business fields now account for more than one-quarter of master’s degrees granted, up from around 19 percent in the early ’80s.)

It’s a different story, however, for employers seeking STEM graduates.

Combined, the STEM fields—computer science/information sciences, engineering, mathematics/statistics, and physical sciences—account for less than 10 percent of all the bachelor’s degrees granted.

Overall, that statistic has not changed much over the past decade. In 2009-10, less than 1 percent of the bachelor’s degrees granted went to mathematics/statistics majors, while graduates with degrees in computer science/information sciences, engineering, and the physical sciences accounted for just slightly more. At the end of the 1990s, the figures were nearly the same (See Figure 2.)

Although women account for well over half of all bachelor’s degrees, they are underrepresented in the STEM fields, earning less than half of degrees in all of the disciplines. In fact, their “best” showing is in the physical sciences, where they earn 43 percent of degrees. (See Figure 3.)

Racial/ethnic minorities, too, are not well represented in the STEM disciplines. (See Figure 4.)

The Talent Pool: What’s Beyond
Where is the talent pool headed? Projections through the 2020-21 academic year indicate steady increases in the number of degrees conferred at every level—associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral. In addition, NCES expects women and ethnic/racial minorities to account for increasingly larger parts of the talent pool.

(Note: NACE offers customized research; this includes research for target school selection, which can be used to identify sources of specific majors along various parameters, including gender and racial/ethnic group. For more information and a sample report, see www.naceweb.org/custom_research_data/ )


Figure 1: Degrees Conferred by Racial/Ethnic Group, 2009-10 versus 1999-00
Year Total # Degrees White African America Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander American Indian/Alaska Native Nonresident Alien
2009-10 1,650,014 1,167,499
(70.8%)		 164,844
(10.0%)		 140,316
(8.5%)		 117,422
(7.1%)		 12,399
(0.8%)		 47,534
(2.9%)
1999-00 1,237,875 929,102 (
75.1%)		 108,018
(8.7%)		 75,063
(6.1%)		 77,909
(6.3%)		 8,717
(0.7%)		 39,066
(3.2%)

Source: 2011 Digest of Education Statistics, Table 300. National Center for Education Statistics. Data are for bachelor’s degree graduates.

Figure 2: STEM Fields, 2009-10 versus 1999-00
Discipline % of Degrees (2009-10) % of Degrees (1999-00)
Computer Science/Information Science 2.4% 3.1%
Engineering 4.4% 4.7%
Mathematics/Statistics 0.97% 0.92%
Physical Sciences 1.4% 1.5%

Source: 2011 Digest of Education Statistics, Table 286. National Center for Education Statistics. Data are for bachelor’s degree graduates.

Figure 3: STEM Fields and Gender 2009-10
Discipline Total # Degrees # Male # Female % Female
Computer Science/Information Science 39,589 32,410 7,179 18.1%
Engineering 72,654 59,360 13,294 18.3%
Mathematics/Statistics 16,030 9,087 6,943 43.3%
Physical Sciences 23,379 13,862 9,517 40.7%

Source: 2011 Digest of Education Statistics, Table 301. National Center for Education Statistics. Data are for 2009-10 bachelor’s degree graduates.

Figure 4: STEM Fields and Race/Ethnicity
Discipline Total # Degrees White African American Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander American Indian/Alaska Native Nonresident Alien
Computer Science/ Information Science 39,589 26,565 4,565 2,942 3,372 279 1,866
Engineering 72,654 50,456 3,236 5,043 9,011 388 4,520
Mathematics/
Statistics		 16,030 11,510 854 1,027 1,671 81 887
Physical Sciences 23,379 17,245 1,290 1,279 2,464 168 933

Source: 2011 Digest of Education Statistics, Table 301. National Center for Education Statistics. Data are for 2009-10 bachelor’s degree graduates.

Mimi Collins is director of communications for the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Soapbox Holland Post | 1 Comment »

Best Practices for Internship Programs

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

The following guest post was written by Mimi Collins, director of communications for the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

An internship program is among the most effective tools organizations have to identify, recruit, and hire college talent, enabling organizations to build a relationship with top students early in their college careers, before they are actually in the market for a job).

The internship program also provides the organization with a key advantage over competitors: The organization can extend a job offer to the intern at the conclusion of the summer internship—before the student returns to school for the fall recruiting season and before other organizations have a chance to compete for the student’s interest.

In NACE’s 2012 Internship & Co-op Survey, overall, organizations with a formal college relations and recruiting program reported that 42 percent of their new college hires were from their own internship programs.

The internship program, however, also provides ROI on the other end. NACE’s survey found that former interns have a higher retention rate than their peers who did not do an internship.

But not all internship programs are created equal, and those that are poorly organized or mismanaged can be costly and yield little.

Below are five best practices to building a top-notch, effective program to feed your full-time college hiring efforts:

  1. Pay your interns.
    There are two key reasons why you need to pay your interns, if you expect your program to help you recruit full-time hires: First, you want to ensure that you have the best students available to you—not just those students who can afford to forgo a paycheck for the summer. Second, there are legal hurdles associated with unpaid internships that can make it difficult to give your interns meaningful assignments. Without meaningful assignments, there is no way to assess the intern as a potential employee. (Note: NACE publishes salary/benefits information for interns. See NACE’s Guide to Compensation for Interns & Co-ops at www.naceweb.org/research/intern-wages-compensation/2012-survey/.)

  2. Provide real work assignments, not busy work.
    Providing interns with real work is number one to ensuring your program’s success. Interns should be doing work related to their major, that is challenging, that is recognized by the organization as valuable, and that fills the entire work term.

    You can guarantee that hiring managers provide real work assignments by checking job descriptions, emphasizing the importance of real work assignments during a manager/mentor orientation sessions, and communicating with interns frequently throughout the work term to determine who they perceive what they are doing.

  3. Hold orientations for all involved.
    It’s important that everyone “be on the same page,” so hold an orientation session for managers and mentors as well as a session for students. Orientations ensure that everyone starts with the same expectations and role definitions.

  4. Provide interns with a handbook and/or website.
    Whether in print/PDF or presented as a special section on your website, a handbook serves as a guide for students, answering frequently asked questions and communicating the “rules” in a warm and welcoming way.

    You may also want to maintain a separate website for interns, which you can use as communication tool, with announcements from the college relations staff or articles of interest written by the interns themselves.

  5. Have an intern manager.
    Having a dedicated manager is the best way to ensure that your program runs smoothly and stays focused on your criteria for success. Unfortunately, the size and resources available to most internship programs mean that this isn’t always possible. If your program isn’t big enough to warrant a dedicated full-time staff member, an excellent short-term solution is to hire a graduate student (look for a student working toward an advanced HR degree) to be your intern, and put this college relations intern in charge of the daily operation of the internship program. This gives the interns a “go-to” person, and gives you and your staff a break from the many daily tasks involved in running a program of any size. For this to work, you have to plan the program structure in advance (don’t expect your intern to do it), and be accessible to your college relations intern.

Get more best practices for internship programs at “15 Best Practices for Internship Programs” at www.naceweb.org/recruiting/15_best_practices/, and access the executive summary from NACE’s 2012 Internship & Co-op Survey at www.naceweb.org/intern-co-op-survey/.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Soapbox Holland Post | No Comments »

The Employment Line, Episode 7: College Recruiting Tips from NACE, 10,000 Jobs Challenge & 2012 Annual Conference Date

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

In this episode:

Suggestions for college recruiting efforts from NACE, 10,000 Jobs Challenge for veterans and military spouses, and the 2012 Annual Meeting & Conference

Keeping you connected, with no waiting—The Employment Line. Thank you for watching.

The Employment Line is brought to you by DirectEmployers, a non-profit association of global employers, which provides simple, sophisticated solutions for Human Resources and Recruitment.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Employment Line Post | No Comments »

« Older Entries