Collegiate Times

More companies are hiring graduates with prior in-house experience under their belts as Virginia Tech processes its latest post-graduation survey report for the most recent batch of graduating seniors.

The report, which is still open for respondents, follows a preceding survey that marked a five-year low — only 50 percent — of graduate employment in the midst of last year’s economic recession.

The current survey, aimed at May and summer graduates, opened in mid-April and will remain available until November. The final compilation, including winter, spring and summer graduates, will not be released until late January 2011.

However, there are already some noticeable changes in the preliminary data compared to the previous year, according to Donna Ratcliffe, director of Career Services.

“More students are going back to former employers for their employment after graduation,” she said. “Companies are telling us, ‘We want to hire co-op and intern students early on because it’s easier to re-hire them.’”

The annual report lists aggregate information such as type of job experience prior to graduation, number of job offers and salaries, all broken down by major and other criteria.

“We at Virginia Tech want to know where people go and where their successes are,” Ratcliffe said, adding the report is used for a variety of purposes.

Currently enrolled students can investigate what former students in their majors have gone on to accomplish. From a geographical standpoint, students can also look up companies in preferred locations that have a history of hiring Tech graduates.

In addition, undergraduate admissions tends to use the information when talking to prospective students, people “who are interested in coming here but not sure, ‘Well, why would I go to VT for an English degree? Well, what do English majors do when they graduate?’” Ratcliffe said.

Companies may also consult the report to compare previous salaries and factor that data into their own salary determinations for new hires.

Survey requests are repeatedly sent to graduates’ e-mail addresses, while a customized questionnaire that models future questions based on initial answers — for example, someone who responds they are not yet employed will not be asked to supply salary or job title information — keeps the length to a minimum, often only a few minutes.

Well over half of recent graduates have responded to the survey, ranging from 56 percent in 2003–04 to a high of 73.7 percent for the academic year of 2006-07. The number for the most recent report, made available last January, was 69 percent.

Despite the decrease in graduate employment last year, the 2008-09 report showed graduates earning a median salary of $47,000, only slightly below the $48,000 average from the previous year.

Comparable statistics are available back to 2003-04, when Career Services took over the design of the online survey from the Blacksburg-based Center for Survey Research, somewhat altering the format in the process.

Gaining career-related experience prior to graduation remains a crucial factor for developing a professionally competitive profile, Ratcliffe said, particularly given the apparent rising demand from companies to rehire former interns.

“For a lot of reasons, Virginia Tech students should be seeking career-related experience while they’re in their undergraduate years: Volunteering for someone, or getting credit through their academic departments,” she said.

“Whatever form that takes, they should have a lot of experience and exposure to the work world, and to gain the experience necessary to really be competitive, because it’s just not enough to be qualified for a job,” Ratcliffe said.

She also urged students to continue to network and create personal contacts with companies and recruiters, including coming prepared to career fairs, despite the increased popularity of convenient, online methods of applying for a job.

“Students still need to have contact through networking with these companies, for there to be some sort of connection other than, ‘Well, I applied online like you told me to.” she said. “Otherwise everyone looks the same on paper or on the computer screen with their credentials.”

A version of this article appeared in the Sep 10 issue of the Collegiate Times.