'Things Are Opening Up': Job Market Looking Promising For New College Graduates
EASTON (CBS) -- Stonehill College senior Daniel Vazquez knows his future looks bright.
"I am crazy excited to get out into the real world," he smiles.
And as graduation quickly approaches, the hunt for a job is on every senior's mind, including marketing major Emily Demanchyk.
"It will be so exciting and such a weight lifted off my shoulders," the senior said of when she finds her first job.
Her dream is to land a sports marketing job. She spends hours on the computer applying for entry-level positions. She's applied for six already.
"It's definitely something that takes a lot of time and a lot of research," she said.
Andrew Leahy is the Director of the Career Development Center at Stonehill. He says this year's graduating class spent much of their college career under COVID, but now that the job market is opening up, companies are looking to hire young talent.
"The National Association of College and Employers put out a report that hiring is going to increase over 30 percent for the class of 2022 from the class of 2021. So things are opening up. The great resignation opened up a lot of rebuilding," Leahy said.
Vazquez, who interned at Merck and the New Bedford Public Schools system, says he's on the second round of interviews for two positions in HR and recruiting.
"The big thing I am seeing is a lot of hybrid opportunities, a lot of remote opportunities that I wouldn't have had two years ago," he said.
Director Leahy says the landscape for opportunities looks promising for seniors graduating in 2022. But there are a lot of steps seniors need to take to land that first time job, which the Career Center prepares each student for when they visit the center.
Leahy says a lot of recruiting is going virtual, so coaching students know how to represent themselves with energy through a camera is also critical.
"We're coaching students to be lifelong learners, and how to tap into those competencies and employ them in different ways is going to prepare them for all of those different changes you'll see down the road," Leahy said.
Meanwhile, for Vazquez, the hunt for a job continues.
"Once I get it, it's a sense of assurance," Vasquez said. "But at the moment, it's a little bit stressful, just because I don't have anything set in stone yet."