Spotlight for Career Services Professionals, May 11, 2011
Spotlight for Recruiting and Employment Professionals, May 11, 2011

This year’s graduating seniors are more likely to have a job offer in hand than were their 2010 counterparts at this time last year, according to results from NACE’s 2011 Student Survey. (Editor's note: This article features final results; an early NACE report provided preliminary statistics. Overall, differences between preliminary and final results are minor.)

Overall, the results show that 41 percent of participating seniors who applied for a job received an offer. In comparison, at this time last year, just 38 percent of the Class of 2010 who had applied for a job had an offer. 

Despite the rise in job offers, however, just 24 percent of those who applied for a job reported having a job to go to following graduation—the same percentage as last year at this time. 

But that figure is somewhat misleading, as many more seniors are applying for jobs this year, and more are turning down job offers.  

In fact, nearly three-quarters of 2011 seniors reported applying for a job, up from just 45.5 percent in 2010. Last year, 59 percent of those offered jobs accepted them: This year, acceptances dropped slightly to 58 percent. This is an indication that this year’s graduates are a little more willing to hold out for a different job offer.

NACE's 2011 Student Survey was conducted February 15 - April 30, 2011; 50,901 students nationwide took part. Nearly 20,000 were seniors.