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With the exception of a few majors, the Institute is putting out students earning more than most of their contemporaries. With Georgia Tech holding a steady ranking in the top engineering programs in the United States (according to US News and World Report), prospective employers have turned their eyes towards Tech. With that, everyone is feeling the change, not just engineers, but all the various majors are experiencing the effect of this in a 'higher than average' salary for Tech's grads.
While an astonishing 75% of the students at commencement are not looking for a job any longer, the rate has only been going up every year. This number includes students who have already received a secure offer or are pursuing graduate studies. Last year was the biggest in terms of career services with over 1,245 employer visits.
Of course, there has been a trend recently as more engineers are going towards the financial sector than ever before. Corporations like Citibank, NationsBank, Wachovia, First Union are putting on a major effort to recruit engineers from Tech. True to all majors is the fact that everyone at Tech is exposed to a large math and science background, which is not the case in other schools. This too makes Tech students valuable commodities.
MIT and Stanford are among the few universities whose students get a higher average job offer than Tech's.
A large part of this credit goes to the Career Services Office at Georgia Tech.
At least 80% of the students that graduate with secure job offers have used the Career Services Office in some way. The Career Services Office offers students a host of services, ranging from career planning, career development, mock interviews, testing, and listing employment opportunities. Even with a turnout like that, they are not resting on their accolades. They are becoming involved with Psychology 1010, Connect with Tech, and every other way they can so that incoming Freshmen are already introduced and are part of the programs of Career Services.
Registering with Career Services is not at all limited to Graduating Seniors.
"It is for everyone from freshmen to graduates, since Career Services works in getting students jobs as either part time, campus jobs, summer interns, and full time employment. And in the future, the market will be as good if not better", says John Hannabach, Director, Career Services.
"There may be a little softening in the high-tech area but it's still going to be a seller's market as long as the economy holds."
The Career Services Office has made a few suggestions for students to help them when they go to look for a job. Regardless of your major, if there is a position that you feel you can qualify for, you need to meet the Career Services staff, and they will make every attempt to get you on that schedule. Basically, the Career Services Office is there to help students find jobs and they aren't getting the students to utilize it to its full potential. The more students that come, the more campus visits can be scheduled and so more and better jobs for students.
"Recruiting is going on, but schedules are not full. Students are not signing up...and that's frustrating the companies and for us. So right now there are more openings than students to fill them. Having said, students should go for jobs that are of interest to them, but we have so many students enrolled at Tech, that these positions should not go unfilled", says Hannbach.
It is a simple process to register at the Career Services Office. Students signup through the Career Services Office web page at www.career.gatech.edu. From here you are lead to the Jobtrak page, which is where the students register-and Tech gets all the data from that. Currently there are 2,300 students registered, but that number is expected to grow drastically since the freshman class Psychology 1010 is going to require every student to register and put their resume on Interviewtrak (a sister site of Jobtrak).
Work experience is considered very important, and Career Services is there to help you get that experience. They work closely with the Co-op office in getting better opportunities for the students. Hannabach says that students can use interning as a way to get the job experience they need to give them the extra edge.
With regard to academic performance, Career Services Office is quick to note that 75% of the students who graduated had jobs, even though they all did not have a 3.0 and above GPA. Rather, 50% of the students at Tech have a GPA below 2.8. And the lower the GPA, the more reason for students to go the Career Services Office to learn how to market themselves. Companies today are looking for a comfortable mix of academic performance, relevant work experience , interpersonal and communication skills, a personality that matches the corporate culture of that particular company, the ability to work in teams, and flexibility.
With regards to interpersonal and communication skills, Hannabach says that leadership skills are definitely important for getting a good job. Getting involved on campus, be it with the Student Government, fraternities and sororities, or professional societies. The involvement in student life goes well with the corporate culture and the extent to which one has been exposed to leadership. With ever evolving companies, rapidly changing technology, and changing corporate strategies, flexibility in the workfield is a must.