Spotlight for Career Services Professionals
September 26, 2012 

Employers expect to hire 13 percent more new college graduates from the Class of 2013 than they did from the Class of 2012, according to NACE’s Job Outlook 2013 survey.

Employers in pharmaceutical manufacturing; computer and electronics manufacturing; retail trade; finance, insurance, and real estate; management consulting; and professional services anticipate double-digit increases in hiring.

Early projections show employers plan to target business-, engineering-, and computer-related degrees at the bachelor’s level during the 2012-13 college recruiting season. (See Figure 1.)

The percentage of employers with firm plans in place for spring recruiting is also on the upswing. This year, 37.6 percent of survey participants indicated firm plans to recruit in spring 2013, while 34.4 percent of employers that participated in the Job Outlook 2012 survey indicated firm plans to recruit in spring 2012. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2: Spring 2013 Recruiting Plans 

Data for the Job Outlook 2013 survey was collected from July 25, 2012 through September 10, 2012.  A total of 244 surveys were returned—a 25.2 percent response rate. The full survey results will be available in November.