Highlights from Michigan State University 2009-2010 Recruiting Trends Report

College hiring this year, compared to last, is down and is expected to fall next year, but there are some pockets of growth in the hiring of graduates. Michigan State University just released highlights from their Recruiting Trends Report for 2009-2010 which focuses on trends in college hiring. A few highlights from the report on college hiring trends:

• Hiring of college students in 2009 was down 35-40% from 2008 levels
• Hiring of college students for 2010 is predicted to be down 2% from 2009 levels
• Large (over 4,000 employees) and midsized (500 to 4,000 employees) companies expect to decrease college hiring in 2010 by 3% and 11% respectively, while small size companies (less than 500 employees) expect in increase college hiring by 15%
• Sectors that are expecting to experience growth in college hiring include e-commerce and entrepreneurship, agriculture production and food processing, environmental sciences, information systems, manufacturing, nonprofits, statistics, nursing, social work, multimedia and Web design
• Sectors that are expecting to see a decrease in college hiring include accounting, banking, engineering, transportation, utilities, real estate and computer science and computer programming.
• Overall organizations are focusing on hiring candidates with flexibility and adaptability skills

The results of this report are based on a survey of over 2,500 companies and institutes and will be presented at the annual Trends in Recruiting Conference in Chicago on November 20th.