More college, jobs, and career choice...2011 Grad Salary

[MotoSook]

Starting salary offers for college graduates rise 3.5% - Feb. 10, 2011


So you want to get a Liberal Arts degree and borrow money to do it?

Project your future earnings, based on $36K/yr. If you get a job at all.

While the association's survey didn't break out starting salaries for individual liberal arts majors, offers were up a whopping 9.5% to $35,633 for the group as a whole. That compares to a steep drop of 11% last year.

One point of reference, my former company was looking to hire an admin asistant's assistant (that's right the assist to the assist) to help with compiling spreadsheets, package reports, etc. Nothing real demanding nor did it require a degree. The starting salary was....$32K/yr! That was 3+ years ago. So in this case, it would have been more effective to take an Excel class at the JuCo than to go to college.


For engineers...and others...

Business majors noticed the biggest bump, with the average salary offer rising nearly 2% to $48,089.

Graduates majoring in engineering -- typically one of the highest-paying fields -- didn't see a big change overall, with the average starting salary down a mere 0.3% but still high at $59,435.

Mechanical and Electrical still top the list of engineer starting salary...(typically Chem Eng is at the top).

Certain engineering majors, however, saw significant jumps, with electrical engineering majors receiving an average salary offer of $61,690 -- up 4.4% from the previous year. Offers for mechanical engineers climbed 3.8% to $60,598.

But it didn't pay as much to graduate with a degree in civil engineering this year, with starting salaries in that field slipping 7.1% to $48.885.

What the survey doesn't tell us is the number of hirings in each of these fields. I would gamble that engineering is at the top of the list for numbers of hires.

Unless things have changed in the last 5 years, there is still a shortage of engineers...that is, the number of engineers graduating hasn't increased proportionally with the number of engineering jobs available or that will be come available.

[Aurel]

A combination of electrical and chemical engineering will open all the doors to jobs in demand right now in the fields of Li-ion batteries and thin-film solar cells.

[BRPORSCHE]

Originally Posted by Aurel

A combination of electrical and chemical engineering will open all the doors to jobs in demand right now in the fields of Li-ion batteries and thin-film solar cells.

Aurel, Have you looked into employment at XOM?

[audiman08]

I think engineering has always been a pretty safe major, not that it's for everybody.

[silverc4s]

Best Combo for the coming decades: RN and MBA

[Gogar]

What does it say about Music Majors?

[audiman08]

Originally Posted by Gogar

What does it say about Music Majors?

I don't think it broke it down that much, but my guess is without teacher certification it's probably not too valuable.

The "College degrees that don't pay" sublink in the article lists Social Work, Athletic Training, Recreation and Leisure, Art, Interior Design, Religious Studies, Horticulture, Education and Culinary Arts as the least valuable degrees in terms of salary.

[Seahawk]

Starting salaries are meaningless, as a measure of future earnings.

The single most difficult hire I make is an experienced engineer (pick a discipline) with management skills.

The better hire is a systems engineer type with a grounding in both engineering and management.

The landscape is littered with smart kids who will always make 60K, or the prevailing wage. Aero folks are the perfect example.

[gtc]

Interesting. I recently interviewed for what was essentially an entry level mechanical engineering contract-to-hire position at Intel and got low-balled... they were offering $43k.

[biosurfer1]

The nice part about the engineering field I have found is not only do they have high starting salaries (usually) but moving up the pay scale is MUCH faster than most fields... experience is big in any field, but seems to be especially valuable in engineering (which is good for me)

[Aurel]

Originally Posted by gtc

Interesting. I recently interviewed for what was essentially an entry level mechanical engineering contract-to-hire position at Intel and got low-balled... they were offering $43k.

Was that Intel in Corrales, NM?

[MotoSook]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

The single most difficult hire I make is an experienced engineer (pick a discipline) with management skills.

Very very true! I've always stated when in conversation about engineering organization structure, "engineers make for poor managers and managers make for poor engineers, but and engineer that can manage...golden!"

After the kids get a little older, I'll get my MBA and hopefully, I'll have some golden years in industry before I retire early and consult. Not sure I'm 100% management material 'cuse I tend to shoot too straight, but I'm learning to hold my tongue and watch how things pan out...then jump in to steer the ship in the right direction when it's deviated too far off course.

[sammyg2]

Starting salaries for engineers fresh out of college are in the $75 range where I work.
It certainly isn't easy, it isn't always clean, and there is an inherent danger associated with this type of industry, but you won't starve working in it.

[gtc]

Originally Posted by Aurel

Was that Intel in Corrales, NM?

Folsom, CA

[Rick Lee]

My company wouldn't hire a recent college grad for any sales job. But after you get a few years under your belt, base salaries are $55k and you can double that in commissions if you're pretty good. Benefits are excellent. They say you need a college degree, but I can't see how it would really matter.

[biosurfer1]

Originally Posted by gtc

Folsom, CA

That is right near where I live and went to college. Intel didn't have the best reputation when I was graduating from college in the working world. They were always present at job fair's and I had 2 friends who went to work for them...they no longer work there if it says anything. A job is a job, but $43k is ~$12k lower than most of my friends and I got offered out of school and that was 6 years ago. Different job market now, of course.

[gtc]

Originally Posted by biosurfer1

That is right near where I live and went to college. Intel didn't have the best reputation when I was graduating from college in the working world. They were always present at job fair's and I had 2 friends who went to work for them...they no longer work there if it says anything. A job is a job, but $43k is ~$12k lower than most of my friends and I got offered out of school and that was 6 years ago. Different job market now, of course.

Yes, I got the impression during my interview that something was very strange about the department. It seemed relatively high tech, but very low budget. They sold tools to other intel labs.
Oddly, I have a friend there (who got me the interview) who seems to enjoy it and make decent money.

[porsche4life]

Pharmacy is still a growing field....

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

They say you need a college degree, but I can't see how it would really matter.

They demand it because they can. It weeds out the rest.

My wife has a 4 year degree in a professional field from a great private college. The jobs she's applied for 'require' less schooling than she has. She is still overlooked because PhD's are applying for those entry level jobs.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Even in the depths of our recession I knew engineers that were finding jobs. As someone else noted, in many industries engineers are retiring faster than new ones are coming out of school. It's a good situation for the younger folks like me, and will hopefully get even better when I finish my MBA in a few years.