Congratulations Graduates! You are going to have a banner year!
Genesis10 launched our college-hire program, The G10 Associates Program, in 2008, a time when college graduates struggled to find entry-level opportunities due to the Great Recession. After remaining stagnant for a few years, the job market eventually turned up in 2011.
In any market, each year since our program’s inception, our recruiting team has competed fiercely with other companies seeking to hire the top talent out of college. This year will be no different.
As Michigan State University’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute reports, the Class of 2018 will benefit from a job market that has improved for seven years straight, a stretch not seen by the researchers in its 47-year history.
Within specific STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) majors, demand for college graduates is outpacing the supply, driving an increase in starting salaries (good news for the grads!). The National Association of Colleges and Employers finds that Computer Science graduates were the highest paid in 2017, with an average starting salary of $65,540, up 7% from 2016. Electrical Engineering and Mathematics majors also saw a boost in compensation of more than 2%. Across all degree categories employers anticipate a boost in starting wages by 2%-15%, further supporting findings of growing demand for new college graduates.
What does this mean for employers? Companies dedicated to retaining the strongest talent will be even more aggressive in the recruiting process, moving timelines for campus visits, interviews and offers to the fall of 2017, with plans to make most hiring decisions for summer 2018 hires by year-end 2017. And to improve their marketability, companies will likely expand early-student engagement and internships to students 1-3 years away from graduating.
Despite the strong hiring outlook, employers still cite challenges associated with finding the right college talent.
When we launched the G10 Associates Program, our training program was designed to offset the perceived deficiencies of graduates. In 2008, surveys indicated that the grads lacked soft skills, an issue for employers which continues to top the list this year, according to MSU. Ranking just below, other employer concerns include:
- Competition from other employers
- Candidates lack work experience
- Candidates lack needed technical skills
- Candidates lack interest in the types of jobs offered
As competition for members of the Class of 2018 continues to be fierce, companies will need to look for creative ways to retain IT and business talent. Genesis10 is continuing to innovate our workforce optimization services to meet these talent challenges and demands.
Genesis10 is a partner for companies looking to hire and retain the next-generation talent coming out of colleges and universities, providing the training and mentoring needed to offset the challenges associated with hiring new graduates. Our campus recruiting program is national, allowing our clients access to a larger pool of talent.
Tara is passionate about helping college graduates and career changers launch meaningful careers in technology. She provides expert guidance across both technical and managerial paths, ensuring talent is prepared for the demands of the modern workforce.
Since joining Genesis10 in 2010, Tara has held a variety of leadership roles, including National Director of Emerging Talent Programs and Recruiting Lead for the G10 Associates Program. She co-created the Dev10 program in 2018, which has since launched the careers of more than 1,600 software developers and data analysts. Under her leadership, Dev10 has expanded nationwide, serving nearly 50 client companies and earning the 2023 Campus Forward Award for excellence in early career hiring.
Tara’s leadership is grounded in her belief in the unlimited potential of people and her commitment to building sustainable, scalable workforce solutions. Her work has been recognized by Staffing Industry Analysts, who named her to their 40 Under 40 list.
Before Genesis10, Tara worked at Honda of America Manufacturing, where she led college recruiting and internship programs. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs with a focus on Management and Human Resources from Indiana University Bloomington.
Outside of her role at Dev10, Tara serves as Chairperson of the Executive Advisory Board on Curriculum for Management Information Systems at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. She is also a frequent speaker on topics such as workforce innovation and diversity in tech.