Job prospects for December college graduates look especially good this year, according to Sarah Goblirsch, at the University of Northern Iowa’s Office of Career Services. Goblirsh says the employment outlook is exceptional, despite the state having one of the nation’s lowest jobless rates at just 3.5 percent.
“A lot of it is going to depend on the areas that they want to go into,” Goblirsch says. “Some of the higher demand areas like accounting, special education, science teaching, those are always going to be areas that have higher demand for the students.” The types of industries or career fields are key, but so are the places the soon-to-be graduates are hoping to live and work, whether it’s Cedar Falls, New York City or somewhere in between.
“It’s going to depend on geographical location,” Goblirsch says. “If students are really set on maybe moving to just one specific area, their chances will be a little bit lower than those that are willing to go anywhere and everywhere.” She says UNI has a great track record for enabling students to transform a new degree into a job.
“Typically, our graduates, over 90% of them, secure employment within six months after graduation,” she says. UNI officials anticipate about 900 students will graduate from the Cedar Falls institution this month, about half the typical number who will graduate in May.
“Some of our larger majors on campus are obviously going to be within the college of education, the teaching majors,” Goblirsch says. “We also typically have large numbers in psychology, business and biology.” A recent career fair at UNI was one of the largest in years with more than 200 employers and 17-hundred students attending.