Number of Georgia Tech students employed at graduation up for third year

With commencement weekend at the Georgia Institute of Technology almost here, another group of Tech students face the rite of passage of landing their first full-time jobs.

With the help of people such as the Midtown school's Career Services Director Ralph Mobley, new Tech alumni are getting jobs despite a challenging economy. The job market for graduating students has improved over the past three years and, though he doesn’t claim to be clairvoyant, Mobley believes it will do so for a fourth year.

Data from Georgia Tech’s Office of Assessment shows that in spring 2012, 67.2 percent of students were employed (and nearly 77 percent had offers) at the time of commencement – up from 63.4 percent in 2011. The percentage from 2012 nearly matched that of the most recent pre-recession high of 2007, when 69.5 percent of students graduated with a job. 

“Overall, one can assume engineering and technology will remain strong, but even in those areas, dips and downslides happen,” Mobley said in a school release.

What gives Mobley the confidence that 2013 will be an even stronger year? More students have secured interviews and taken offers earlier this year than last. 

Austin Harvey, who graduates in December with a degree in biomedical engineering and a job with Abbott Laboratories, is one such student. He found Career Services’ Optimal Interview helpful in his search. This resource lets students record and replay their responses to potential interview questions.

“Not only does it assist in grooming your confidence in responding to common interview questions, but it gives you ample opportunity to record responses to your own set of questions to better structure an approach in specific situational interviews,” he said in the release.

Knowing about the prospective company helps as well. “Simply researching what a company offers and familiarizing yourself with why they believe in what they do – and more specifically how that translates back to you – can be a deciding factor in their understanding of your interest,” Harvey added. 

Georgia Tech will celebrate its 244th Commencement on Dec. 14 and 15 at McCamish Pavilion.

The PhD and Master's ceremony will take place on Friday from 7-9 p.m. with Dr. Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences, the featured speaker.

The Bachelor's ceremony will take place on Saturday from 9-11:30 a.m. with Chancellor Henry "Hank" Huckaby of the University System of Georgia the featured speaker.

- The Georgia Institute of Technology contributed to this story