BOULDER, Colo. — Looking for a new job at any point in your life can be stressful, but looking for your first job straight out of college comes with a sense of the unknown.
“It is a little bit stressful because you're always looking around trying to find gigs and jobs,” said CU Boulder graduate student Aaron McCoy.
After wrapping graduate school up this summer, McCoy says he’ll be in the same boat as many other job seekers.
“My dream job would be a product designer for any major company, but the really ambitious goal is to work with Nike and create 3D footwear design,” said McCoy.
At CU Boulder’s career services department, the job market for upcoming applicants like McCoy is promising.
“Graduates are entering a really positive job market. Recently, it was reported that employers hiring is up about 31.6 percent, which we can imagine is also a lot better compared to the graduating class of May 2020,” said Cori Shaff, the associate director of career services at CU Boulder.
Shaff says even though the time is right for job seekers, she isn’t seeing very many students applying for jobs.
“Even the jobs that we hire for, that I’ve posted for, I’m seeing 50 percent less applicants than I’ve seen previously," Shaff said. "I don't know if people are aware that this is a great time to get a job."
Combined with the positive job market comes the realities the rest of working world is encountering — inflation in most areas of the economy.
“Another stressful thing is money," said McCoy. "Even if you do have a high paying job, you got to deal with the place you go to. Like Portland, the expenses to live there are going to be extreme. And then you have to pay off your loans and whatnot, so that's another stressful factor."
Even if students aren’t able to find a job right after graduation, Shaff says they’ll still be there to help throughout the summer.
“If you're graduating and don't have something yet, that's okay. You can still get it," Shaff said. "There are still plenty of jobs, whether here in Colorado or in other states as well."
The National Association of Colleges and Employers says the oil and gas extraction industry is doubling its college hires and has the largest projected increase at 105 percent.