<p>Most competent kids that I know in the college with a 2.5+ GPA got decent job offers already, and the engineering career office advisor that i was talking to also says that they expect most students to get jobs before graduation like most years from the current hiring trend of people reporting offers. Not to mention that they think so far the starting salary hasnt dropped off that much and is comparable to previous years. The listings on our "hire me" engineering career website are still as many as there were.</p>
<p>And there are still a lot that goes to the much more desirable "better than lowly 8-5 engineering job" type of companies like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Credit Suisse, McKinsey, BCG and the likes. So what's wrong with the economy, at least from a college senior's point of view? From what I observe it doesnt even have much effect on new hires.</p>
<p>People are complaining about the economy because there is 8.5% unemployment, the total number of folks on the unemployment rolls is at a historic high, and we are in a national and global recession (as defined by negative GDP). Oh, and you have a banking and foreclosure crisis.</p>
<p>"where do you go to college? "
UMich college of engineering</p>
<p>“negative GDP” hmmm i dont think that’s possible. I guess you mean negative GDP growth lol. because negative GDP probably means there are evil corporations out there doing destruction everywhere and “destroying value”… and I am talking strictly about job markets for new hires, especially for engineering majors.</p>
<p>We’re not feeling the effects of the bad economy at all. In fact, our structural engineering consulting firm is busier than it has been in at least four years. We’re turning down work on a weekly basis.</p>
<p>I think I’m probably the only person not complaining since the company I work for is actually making more money off of the economy’s condition; which is good for me.</p>
<p>It’s less than 5% for people with a college degree. The people suffering the most are the blue collar workers losing jobs in automobile and construction industry.</p>
<p>In college you must get a false sense of the real world out there. Especially since you are in Michigan, one of the hardest hit states because of the auto industry, I would guess that all you have to do is walk down to your local shopping strip and you are likely to see closed stores, fewer people on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, etc. You could probably ask friends or family back in your home, and they will doubtless know someone or more than one person who has lost his/her job. Turn on the news and you might see stories about a tent city in California or news about people who are squatting in the thousands (more??) of homes that have been foreclosed. You could ask folks you know about their retirement accounts that have been decimated. College students sometimes have their heads stuck in the collegiate sand, and perhaps they should be sheltered from the real world. Certainly there are places that have felt this crisis less than others, and there are many, many people who are not out of work. 8% unemployment-- or whatever the number is-- means that 92%-- or whatever-- are employed. You are lucky if you are not among the hardest hit. But let’s be a bit more empathetic, shall we…</p>
<p>"In college you must get a false sense of the real world out there. Especially since you are in Michigan, I would guess that all you have to do is walk down to your local shopping strip and you are likely to see closed stores, fewer people on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, etc. "</p>
<p>oh I guess I misworded my question. My question is, why are so many college seniors complaining about the job market? I dont see new hires getting affected much here. Almost all kids with 2.5+ in our college of engineering get jobs before graduation with comparable salaries and many of the more qualified people still get the more prestigious/lucrative jobs like the Bulge bracket or good consulting firms.</p>
… along with the engineers and managers in those industries. My company has laid off 1/3 to 1/2 our employees in the past year due to the lack of work. It’s the same story with our competitors here. I’ve also been hearing that some of my colleagues at engineering and architecture firms in this area are also being laid off.</p>
<p>I think perhaps you just hit upon the crux of the issue: during the boom, plenty of incompetent kids nevertheless got very good jobs and made boatloads of money. </p>
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<p>Sure, in engineering. But what about all of the other majors? </p>
<p>*Now comes more evidence, if any were needed, that the job market for college-educated talent is hurting: The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reports that the average salary offer for 2009 graduates with bachelor’s degrees is down 2.2% from the same time last year. In 2008 a typical senior was being promised $49,624, while this year’s number currently stands at $48,515.</p>
<p>The salary cuts mark an abrupt reversal from six months ago, when NACE was reporting that salaries were up 7.6% year-over-year. Since then, the percentage of disciplines reporting a decline in starting salaries has tripled*</p>
<p>Ours too. In fact, my company started indiscriminately laying people off at one point, and I was actually tagged for layoff until my magnificent ex-boss managed to stash me and one other person in a “safe” department until he can hire us back.</p>
<p>I’m not a slacker, either. I was a National Merit Scholar, I have a BS from Rice and an MS from Illinois Structures, I’m outgoing and well-spoken, I was VP of our Chi Epsilon honor society chapter in college, and I’d always had glowing reviews from my superiors for catching tons of colleagues’ design errors and being a near-flawless structural analysis machine. They had just given me a raise and a bonus when the layoffs went through. I provide the company with my photography services free of charge, I’m personally featured on the website and the recruitment brochures, I’m incredibly involved in our company service projects, and my husband is the goalie for our championship soccer team, for cryin’ out loud. People are just being indiscriminately slashed from companies in the construction industry.</p>
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<p>This doesn’t just hit the incompetent. There’s a gal I know who is an incredibly hard worker, a really smart and nice person, has interned for NASA several times, has publishable research experience, is about to graduate from a top-notch engineering college after having gone through with a full ride, and should, by all accounts, have a spectacular job by now. Companies were beating her door down last summer and in early fall, she was running herself ragged flying all over the country to countless interviews, and then… Nothing. They stopped calling. She’s incredibly frustrated right now, but she’ll land something when things pick back up again. NASA’s recent decision to hire 50% new grads will hopefully help, but the aerospace industry is sucking wind right now.</p>
<p>Some industries are feeling it, others aren’t. It really depends upon the sorts of jobs you do. If you’re doing anything that’s “cut”-worthy… designing NFL stadiums, or flying to Mars… then you’re probably feeling the pain, even if you’re really good at what you do.</p>
<p>Our company is doing fine. Our state unemployment rate is among the lowest in the nation. That said, something like $50 trillion in wealth went poof from 2007 to this year. You may be doing fine as an individual but perhaps the number of massacres this year will tell you that a lot of people out there are stressed.</p>
<p>February UE rate, Oregon =10.8% . Real rate </p>
<p>In the Bush years, employment growth did not keep pace with the new people entering the workforce. What kept the employment appear low was that many people dropped out of the workforce.</p>
<p>Aibarr, echo’s DS experience. NMS, Top ME engineering school, dual major, MS in CS from top college, consecutive microsoft internshships, now employed in a promised position at $0 pay.</p>
<p>aibarr, one of the lessons I learned at my first job at a large A/E firm was that having great stats (mine are remarkably similar to yours!) didn’t mean squat when it came layoff time. I was let go the same week I found out I passed the PE exam. I remember being so mad, because it wasn’t fair! Especially when I saw some of the “interesting” people they kept. Owning our own firm was the only way DH and I could see to escape the madness (he was let go the same day, from the same company - I guess we were dumb to work for the same firm!).</p>
<p>It is SO nice to buy whatever resources we need and go to whatever training seminars we think are important. And not worry about performance reviews, or annoying CAD draftsmen, etc., etc. We’ve worked for ourselves 10 years now, which is 6 years longer than either of us were ever employed by another firm. And we’ve never netted less than we would have being employed elsewhere. Our former colleagues tell us they could never do what we did, but we tell them they should!</p>