Certain sectors of the economy may be in a well-publicized downturn, but employers are still actively hiring newly minted college graduates, including those from the University of South Carolina.

"Our on-campus interviewing, as well as all of our job fair numbers, have been very strong this year," said Tracy J. Powers, director of employer relations and associate director of the Carolina Career Center.

"We've seen significant numbers of new companies and significant growth in the overall numbers of people who have been to the job fairs and our on-campus recruiting has been holding firm this year."

Though the anticipated annual increase in recruiting went from a projected 16 percent last fall to 8 percent at the start of the spring semester, the net increase still has left graduates and administrators smiling.

"Our graduates are very pleased to continue seeing new opportunities in front of them," Powers said.

Granted, she added, some areas like the construction industry, housing, and the financial services sector have taken hits in the current downturn and in some instances there's been a ripple effect in other areas, but for the most part, "College hiring is up and it's up across the board."

Powers attributes the sustained hiring posture by employers to the realization that they need to maintain their pipelines for future leadership because so many baby boomers are anticipating retirement in the next five to 10 years. "They feel like they need to have their organizations ready for the transitions that they anticipate," she said.

Hot fields in which graduates are highly sought after are engineering, health care, accounting, and computer-related jobs, said Powers, though liberal arts graduates also are needed, and are faring well landing their first jobs out of college.

"There are still occupational fields that look for college graduates who have a lot of those important professional attributes like interpersonal skills, good strong writing skills, and the ability to think critically," Powers said.

"Many employers are not tied to a certain major if they are trying to fill non-technical positions so much as they're just trying to find solid people they can train. We see a lot of that in management training opportunities and even in areas like consulting and finance for our arts and sciences majors."

Regardless of their major, Powers encourages all graduates to seek work in fields where their interests lie in addition to where there are opportunities. That way they won't get into a job they don't enjoy and end up having to look for another job later on in a field for which they're better suited.

As for students still in school who might be discouraged about job prospects because of news from the economy, Powers encourages them to visit the Career Center and take advantage of its resources.

"There are a lot of people who enjoy helping college students and the students need to use that to their advantage," she said. "They also need to network with family members, neighbors, friends, and others who can refer them to folks within the types of companies and organizations they're interested in working with.

"There are a lot of resources out there. They just need to utilize them."

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