Within the past three years, the job market for recent graduates has improved. While improvements have been within the past three years, it seems as though those improvements have been short-lived, as the improvements are slowing down, which is not so good news for those who are getting ready to graduate from college or have already graduated from college within the past few weeks. The Collegiate Employment Research Institute conducted a survey which included over 4,500 employers. The study shows that employers were only planning to increase their hiring 7 percent when it comes to graduates who have earned a bachelor’s degree. Back in 2011, when the survey was conducted, employers were more hopeful, stating that they expected to increase hiring of college graduates by at least 10 percent.

This was not the only study that was made available. The National Association of Colleges and Employers also conducted its study to determine the percentage of employers that were planning to hire recent 2012 college graduates. The percentage from this study also decreased from the previous year, back in 2011, when employers were expecting to increase their hiring of college graduates by at least 20 percent. However, in 2012, the study shows employers are only expecting to hire 10 percent of recent college graduates.

The information provided within these studies is not surprising to many college graduates, both those who have recently graduated and those who graduated back in 2011, as finding a job has been quite a difficult task for many of them. Many college grads admit that the job market is very competitive right now and that is generally hard to find an ideal position upon completing college. The vast majorities of graduates is still trying to find employment and are often settling for jobs that do not pay nearly as much as they should be earning, based on their degrees.

Many point out that it is important for college students to make moves while they are still in school to ensure that they receive employment after graduating. In general, this means college students must be very active in order to find employment once they graduate so they should be willing to do a number of internships and externships, along with applying for smaller positions during school just to build their resume. Those who are willing to do an internship with a company, which sometimes means working for free, are often more likely to find employment after they graduate because they have the experience under their belt and it shows that they are serious about the job. Any college student who wants to increase their chances of finding employment should be willing to participate in a number of internships.