Spotlight for Career Services Professionals
Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals
The composition of Class of 2018 hires by degree includes more than 80 percent of these new college hires having a bachelor’s degree, according to results of NACE’s Job Outlook 2018 Spring Update survey.
And, although more than half of the employers responding to this survey will hire M.B.A. graduates, these particular graduates will only account for 8.3 percent of the respondents’ total hires. (See Figure 1.)
Nearly all respondents continue to hire graduates at the bachelor’s-degree level. In addition, more than half of respondents will hire at the master’s level, whether specifically for M.B.A.s or for other master’s degrees, and more than one-quarter of respondents have plans to hire graduates with doctoral degrees.
Demand by academic discipline is consistent with the Job Outlook 2018 survey findings. More than 80 percent of respondents will hire business majors. Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters of respondents plan to hire engineering majors and about two-thirds will hire computer science degrees. (See Figure 2.)
The Job Outlook 2018 Spring Update survey—which updates the hiring projections for the Class of 2018 that were reported in the Job Outlook 2018 survey in November—was conducted from February 12 – March 30, 2018. The survey was sent to 958 NACE employer members; 150, or 15.7 percent, responded. The Job Outlook 2018 Spring Update report is available free to members through MyNACE.
Figure 1: Hiring Expectations by Degree Level for 2018
| Degree Level |
Average Percent of New College Hires |
Percent of Total Respondents Hiring |
| Associate |
11.8% |
22.5% |
| Bachelor’s |
80.3% |
99.3% |
| M.B.A. |
8.3% |
55.6% |
| Master’s (other than M.B.A.) |
17.5% |
65.9% |
| Ph.D. |
8.4% |
26.8% |
Source: Job Outlook 2018 Spring Update, National Association of Colleges and Employers
Figure 2: Hiring Expectations by Major
| Academic Discipline |
Percent of Total Respondents Hiring Discipline |
Average Percent of Total New Recruits Within Discipline |
| Business |
81.7% |
28.4% |
| Engineering |
73.0% |
50.6% |
| Computer sciences |
65.1% |
26.0% |
| Accounting |
53.2% |
19.4% |
| Economics |
31.0% |
9.1% |
| Physical sciences |
24.6% |
10.9% |
| Communications |
23.0% |
4.6% |
| Misc. majors |
21.4% |
15.6% |
| Social sciences |
19.0% |
5.7% |
| Humanities |
13.5% |
7.6% |
| Agriculture |
4.0% |
7.0% |
| Health sciences |
4.0% |
6.4% |
| Education |
3.2% |
3.8% |
Source: Job Outlook 2018 Spring Update, National Association of Colleges and Employers