Employers plan to hire more college grads this year, according to a CareerBuilder survey. And 22% of employers surveyed cited engineering majors as in-demand graduates.
Of employers surveyed, 80% said they plan to hire recent college graduates this year, up from 74% last year and 58% in 2008. However, this contrasts with a report released in April by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which projects US employers plan to hire 1.3% fewer graduates from the class of 2018, the first projected hiring decrease since 2010.
Almost half of employers in the CareerBuilder survey, 47%, plan to offer recent college graduates higher pay than they did last year, with 33% paying a starting salary of $50,000 or more. Additionally, 74% of employers surveyed said they are willing to negotiate salary offers when extending a job offer to a recent college graduate.
CareerBuilder ranked business majors as the most in-demand grads, cited by 35% of employers. Other in-demand majors include:
- Engineering: 22%
- Computer and information sciences: 18%
- Engineering technologies: 13%
- Communications technologies: 11%
- Health professions and related clinical sciences: 11%
- Math and statistics: 9%
- Science technologies: 7%
- Mechanic and repair technologies: 6%
- Public administration and social services: 6%
- Construction trades: 6%
- Communication and journalism: 5%
- Education: 5%
- Transportation and materials moving: 5%
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies and humanities: 5%
IT and customer service topped the list of roles hiring and HR resource managers are looking to fill, at 31% and 26% respectively. Business development followed at 20%, while 18% look to fill sales and finance/accounting positions.
Harris Interactive conducted the online survey in the US on behalf of CareerBuilder between April 4 and May 1, 2018. The survey included responses from 1,012 hiring and human resource managers.
