成人头条

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You鈥檙e listening to the podcast edition of the 成人头条 audio newsline. Learn more about WSU 鈥� the home of Thinkers, Doers, Movers and Shockers 鈥� on the Web at .

The economy may be far from robust, but that doesn't mean the job outlook for college graduates is in the tank. In fact, several recent surveys have found the job market is actually improving for new grads. 成人头条 director of career services Jill Pletcher offers some job searching tips for college graduates.

Pletcher: 鈥淚f you don't have experience, one of the things I'd recommend is get some sort of experience wherever you can, and maybe that's just a portion of a job that will then lead you to options for additional jobs down the road. And also as you do the job search make sure that you take time to do multiple applications. Don't put one in and then wait to hear something. Make sure that you continue to have applications out, so that you will have offers then."

A survey by , a search site for entry-level jobs, found employers increasing their entry-level hiring almost 12 percent over last year. So the job outlook is generally good.

Pletcher: 鈥淭he overall job outlook seems still to be very positive. I keep waiting for things to fall, given the economy that's in other parts of the country, but that's not part of what we've heard in the Midwest, that things seem to be very strong."

And, as usual, the job outlook is brighter in some fields than others, as Pletcher explains.

Pletcher: 鈥淭he most promising fields are pretty consistent over the past year or two 鈥� fields such as accounting, engineering, health-related occupations, I think nursing in particular, and some of the teaching fields, particularly at the secondary level, math, science. Some of those kinds of fields are very difficult to fill."

Pletcher says other career fields are more crowded and more competitive.

Pletcher: 鈥淭he fields that are a little more difficult to get into, more competitive, would be things like some parts of communication, some marketing-related types of positions. Those that just require general liberal arts, the history and psychology and so on for those, students have to have a particular background to be able to make inroads there."

A job search can be challenging enough, and Pletcher says that sometimes an applicant is his or her own worst enemy.

Pletcher: 鈥淚 think being their own worst enemy comes with partially not allowing enough time for the job search. It's said that looking for a job can be a full-time job, and that is absolutely true. I think also not taking the time to put the time into the methods that are going to be most effective. And one of those is having people contact, rather than just doing everything online."

And college students may find that they've picked up some habits that may be problematic in a job search, as Pletcher explains.

Pletcher: 鈥淥ne of the things I'm hearing from employers is some of the challenges students are having in terms of writing professionally, because of the texting and the abbreviated style that they use so frequently with their friends, that's carrying over into the workplace, and that is not going to be appropriate in many of those circumstances."

The great irony of the current economic crisis is that college grads might be in better shape than ever before. But experts aren't certain how long the job market will remain hospitable to new grads. John Challenger, CEO of Challenger Gray & Christmas, said even though the environment seems stable, seniors should nail down offers as soon as possible, because the labor market could shift in the months to come.

Thanks for listening. Until next time, this is Joe Kleinsasser for 成人头条.