Searching for jobs and being out in the real world can be daunting. To dispel some fears, or at least shed light on the situation, the Creightonian sat down with the Career Center to get some helpful information.

In recent years, the job market has looked bleak for many college graduates. The gloom and doom of periodic jobs reports alone is enough to make students dread graduation. According to the Career Center, however, Creighton graduates have less to worry about as they receive their diplomas this year.

The immediate employment and enrollment of Creighton’s students into jobs and graduate and professional schools is impressive. Creighton keeps track of all its students and is personally committed to assisting in career planning and development, according to the Career Center web page.

“We hear from over 80 percent of our graduates, which is better than the national average of 50 percent,” said Jim Bretl, director of the Career Center.

According to a recent article from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the hiring of college students has gone up 13.5 percent for the class of 2011. In fact, 47.7 percent of responding employers expect to increase their hiring; 40 percent expect to maintain their hiring levels, brining on approximately the same number of 2011 graduates as they did from the class of 2010.

A recent article from NACE discussed these facts drawn from a survey conducted by employers that hire new college graduates and undergraduates for full-time and intern positions.

“This all could certainly change, but the outlook, at least for now, is reasonable,” Bretl said.

Within six months of graduation 95 percent of all 2008-09 Creighton graduates were either employed or enrolled in a graduate or professional school. The acceptance to graduate and professional school for graduates from the College of Arts & Sciences is nearly 54 percent, which is an increase of 5 percent over the last year. Full-time positions in business, teaching or volunteer work were the choice of 38.5 percent of graduates.

According to the Career Center, the starting salaries for Creighton College of Business graduates increased by 2 percent overall in a year where average salaries declined nationally. Business graduates had 97.3 percent of students employed or choose to go to graduate or professional school, and more than 70 percent of Business graduates accepted a job offer before graduation.

Also, 99.3 percent of all Nursing graduates were employed or were enrolled in a professional or graduate school or chose to pursue a volunteer program.

Bretl said Creighton students have the best chance for employment in the Midwest because of Creighton’s location and its connections to the local job market.

The average salaries for Creighton’s undergraduate schools are as follows: College of Arts and Sciences, $31,186; College of Business, $42,709; and School of Nursing, $43,019.

“The job market is better in the Midwest. States like the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa and all the way down towards Texas,” Bretl said. “It is harder for those who live in Ohio or Illinois or some of those more eastern states.”