For more grads, a job awaits

Area colleges says postings are up and some students have multiple offersthat would "also be an adventure."

"There are actually a lot of practi-cal skills I'll learn on the road as faras managing my own work and beingresponsible for a brand, so I definitelysee applications to my future career and... it should be an exciting thing to talkabout," he said.

While Heng's career path might notbe traditional, employer surveys showthat more and more college graduatesare in the same position, landing a jobbefore they've graduated or jugglingmultiple offers. Surveys show prospec-tive hiring of recent graduates is upthis year over last, with the NationalAssociation of Colleges and Employersreporting about a 9 percent increase inhiring from a year ago among about 160

See Graduates: Page 2

Graduates: Colleges, companiesstress importance of internships

employers surveyed.Another survey of about 200 corporate

executives by Korn/Ferry Internation-al Inc. indicates job prospects for theundergraduate class of 2014 are evenbetter than that: Of those surveyed, 67percent said job prospects are better forthe undergraduate class of 2014 than forgrads a year ago, and 56 percent saidprospects are better than they were threeyears ago.

At Creighton University's CareerCenter, senior director Jim Bretl saidthis year he's seeing more postings onthe Jobs For Jays website, and employersrecruiting on campus and at career fairsare hiring for multiple positions. "We'vehad really well-attended career fairs thisyear with employers that have a lot ofjobs," Bretl said.

"I think it's a healthier market evenover last year," he said. "The feeling ismutual amongst all my staff."

Representatives of the Omaha andLincoln campuses of the University ofNebraska also report more postings, em-ployers with multiple positions to fill andstudents in some cases receiving morethan one offer.

Michael Weber, 21, will graduate fromCreighton this week after majoring infinance and economics. He's still on thehunt for a job and hoping for one closerto home in the Chicago and Milwaukee

areas. "I really want to work in a positionI'll really enjoy in a location I'll reallyenjoy, instead of taking something thatcomes right away."

Weber admitted he was a bit worriedabout not having a position locked in yet.But he said he feels prepared, with twointernships under his belt, including onewith Mutual of Omaha as an investmentanalyst, and with help from the careercenter in using the Creighton alumninetwork.

He said he did think the job markethad improved since he started school,but added: "The bar is set a little higher.It takes a little more skill to impresspeople these days than what probably myparents had to go through or my grand-parents."

Another Creighton student, CollinMathis, 22, said he found out in Marchhe'll be working at ConAgra Foods' infor-mation technology help desk starting inJune. He already had a two-year intern-ship with the company and believes thathelped set him apart from his peers.

"I just thought having that experiencewould really help me not only get a jobbut also help me understand my classesbetter."

ConAgra has completed its hiringfor the school year, and spokeswomanBarbara Bellinghausen said the companyconsistently fills about 100 positions per

year with recent college graduates. Thecompany also has a robust internshipprogram across all departments, hiringabout 200 interns per year. "We find thatour intern program is a great feeder forour full-time positions," she said.

But getting students to understandthe importance of internships has been achallenge, Bretl said.

"The students that struggle the most ina good job market or bad market are theones that don't have internships and areundecided about what they want to do."

Jessica Wolff, senior director forachievement and the University of Ne-braska at Omaha's director of academicand career development center, said thecenter has been seeing "a good number"of postings on its job board.

"We have been heavily contacted overthis past year by employers who are try-ing to recruit college graduates," Wolff

said. The university also hosted a "speednetworking" event for the first time inApril, where about 20 companies told stu-dents about their businesses and studentshad a chance to talk about opportunitiesthere in two-minute exchanges.

The event responded to requests "fromour employers that they want moreaccess to our students and ability to net-work with them one on one."

Hiring at Mutual of Omaha hasincreased this year, mostly because of

growth in the company s informationtechnology and actuarial departments,said the director of human resources,Sharon Rues Pettid.

Recruiting efforts have includedattending job fairs on college campusesand an internship program, she said. Full-time positions can be offered to internsas early as the fall of their senior year.

The company has about 60 job open-ings right now, and about a third are idealfor recent college graduates, she said.

While hiring of graduates may beup this year, Nebraska was relativelyinsulated from the deep effects of therecession, said Bill Watts, director ofuniversity advising and career servicesat the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

"We've seen increases in job post-ings and a few more employers coming(to campus), but we never saw the dipthat some of our peers might have seenduring the depths of the recession,"Watts said. "Our students are reportinganecdotal opportunities and good things."

Watts' staff members in the CareerServices office have also been counselingmore and more students who are jugglingmultiple offers, he said.

Last year, about 53 percent of under-graduate students at UNL reported em-

ployment after graduating, and about 23percent attended graduate or profession-al school. Of Creighton students, about55 percent reported employment aftergraduation, about 33 percent planned toattend graduate or professional school,and 7 percent participated in a volunteerprogram.

This year, UNL also added a springcareer fair that focused on governmentand nonprofit jobs because of studentinterest and national trends that indicatea growing number of people lookingfor nonprofit work, Watts said. Severalhundred students and just under 100employers attended.

Recruiting on college campuses is apriority for First National Bank, saidTonya Kaminski, vice president of talentmanagement. The company attendscareer fairs on local college campusesand employs a recruiter who focuses oncollege campuses.

Kaminski said the company will bring10 former interns into full-time roles thissummer and has hired another 10 spring2014 graduates for its yearlong manage-ment training program. The programallows fresh college graduates to getsome experience in different areas of thecompany before starting in a permanent

full-time role."We're giving them that year of expe-

rience so we can get them right out ofcollege," Kaminski said.

Like Creighton student Mathis' experi-ence, Kaminski said internships startingin a college student's sophomore year arebecoming more and more common. "Thatwould be my advice to students, is thatthey start early and they get in on theinternships," she said.

Heng, the soon-to-be hotdogger withOscar Mayer, said he didn't think he'd beemployed without the internships he'ddone, eliminating a lot of the panic thatcomes with searching for a job out ofcollege. But he was never particularlyworried about finding a job.

He said he had applied for other po-sitions at advertising firms and for jobsin public relations, but the hotdoggerposition was one he was "really excit-ed" about and an "honor to receive." Heheads to Wienermobile headquarters inMadison, Wisconsin, on June 1, and is"ready to get going."

"I just think it's such an amazing pro-gram and such an iconic part of Ameri-can life," Heng said.Contact the writer:402-444-1414, paige.yowell@owh.com