Class of 2014 Employment Statistics Released

Recent Bronco alumni job placement sheds light on success after Santa ClaraKrista ClawsonTHE SANTA CLARAMay 14, 2015  

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he marketable value of a Santa Clara education was put to the test recently as the Office of Marketing and Communications released employment statistics about the Class of 2014.

The results revealed that 82 percent of the respondents were either employed full-time, attending graduate school or participating in a service program full-time . Of the graduates looking for full-time work, 80 percent of them obtained it.

“Santa Clara has a strong network with potential employers and recruiters in the San Francisco Bay Area,” said Dean Ku, Assistant Director for Business and Engineering at the Career Center.

Over 8,700 employers are currently registered with BroncoLink to post opportunities for Santa Clara students. According to LinkedIn, Santa Clara has over 33,000 alumni in the Bay Area that work at top companies in Silicon Valley.

“(Alumni) often become the bridge that connects us to employers,” Ku said. “Their successes also represent what Santa Clara graduates are capable of.”

Employers seek Santa Clara graduates specifically for their strong skill sets, like communication and collaboration talent, Ku said.

According to Elizabeth Krishnan, associate director of the Career Center, 87 percent of employers who recruit Santa Clara students said that Santa Clara graduates were ready for work. Nationally, employers believe that only about 42 percent of college graduates are ready for work.

“Employers also say they value our grads because of the values alignment — we do more than just prepare them to be ready for work,” Krishnan said. “We prepare them to be compassionate citizens of the world, to be conscientious and ethical.”

The survey indicated that 90 percent of the graduates believe that their Santa Clara education provided them with good to excellent preparation for life after college. Of those working full-time, 85 percent indicated that their Santa Clara education provided good to excellent preparation for their careers.

“Santa Clara has an excellent program of bringing firms to campus and having many events for us to network with them, so that was extremely useful when it came to obtaining interviews and then proceeding on with the process,” said senior Haley Khoury, who will be working at the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers after graduation.

While Santa Clara does provide a lot of support for students with their career paths, there are still some that feel the university can do more to assist in job searches.

“I know that some of my friends who are not in the Business School are having an extremely difficult time finding jobs; there seems to be more support in that school than others,” said senior Isabel Hoyt, who was accepted into the Teach for America 2015 corps program in New York. “(Santa Clara) was not involved in my Teach for America process and I forged my path alone.”

While the stats were certainly impressive overall, the Career Center hopes to continue to build relationships with employers and is optimistic that more students will use its resources.

“Building relationships is an ongoing process and Santa Clara needs to continue to nurture existing relationships, and forge new ones through consistent outreach and messaging to key partners,” Ku said. “Part of this includes highlighting the successes of our alumni and increasing alumni engagement in employer recruiting activities.”

The results also revealed that the median starting salary for the graduate working full-time is $52,500, and that graduates employed full-time were most likely to be employed in the service sector. In addition, it indicated that 97 percent of those who applied for full-time graduate study were admitted to at least one graduate program. Of those attending graduate school full-time, 94 percent indicated that their Santa Clara education provided them with good to excellent preparation for graduate study.

Santa Clara’s Career Center also provides resources for alumni post-graduation.

“We have a part-time counselor that works directly with alumni through counseling appointments and events,” Ku said.

The data for this survey was collected from graduates who started at Santa Clara as freshmen in 2010 and graduated within four years.

Contact Krista Clawson at kclawson@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.