February 14, 2013

Best hiring climate in 4 years

The demand for engineers and computer scientists is exploding. More than 80 engineering or engineering-related companies are expected at the Engineering and Computer Science annual Career Day, 8 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Friday, March 1st in the University Union Ballroom. The annual event is always the most productive hiring event of the entire year for the College.

For the first time in four years, hiring is expected to be brisk, with strong demand across all technical disciplines.

Companies are hiring interns, new grad and experienced candidates. They want to snag techies as early as possible to meet the increasing demand for new technology and infrastructure. The annual hiring survey that is conducted in conjunction with the hiring event gave some interesting data for what is fueling their hiring demand with the most commonly cited reason being new business.

50 companies cited new business, contracts, and projects;
33 companies indicated that they are expanding their areas of business;
32 cited demand for new technology infrastructure;
28 cited growing demand for technology;
23 Upgrades/replacement of old technology;
17 cited new government regulations;
16 cited upcoming retirements;
14 cited new government spending;
14 cited expansion into international markets.

The Career Day event will attract companies from across the spectrum- aerospace, electronics, software, IT, consulting and services, manufacturing, government (state and federal), construction and construction management, computer games, energy, and utilities.

Many companies hire from more than one type of engineering discipline: 34 companies are hiring civil engineering candidates; 27 are hiring construction management candidates; 27 companies are hiring computer engineering candidates; 31 companies are seeking computer science candidates; 32 companies are hiring electrical and electronic engineering candidates; 35 companies have openings for mechanical engineers.

More good hiring news came from the National Association of Colleges and Employers in their recently released Winter 2013 Salary Report. NACE indicates that the economy is adding jobs for new college graduates across the board and that salaries rose 3.4% across all disciplines.

Engineering and Computer Science majors are at the top of the pay scale according to NACE with 2013 over 2012 all average salaries increasing:

Computer Science: +3.7% to $64,400
Civil Engineering: +2.5% to $57,600
Electrical & Electronic Engineering: +3.8% to $62,300
Computer Engineering: +3.8% to $70,400
Construction Management: +2.9% to $56,600
Mechanical Engineering: +4.0% to $62,900

In addition to the job fair, six career seminars will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 pm at the March 1st event. The list of seminars and companies attending Career Day 2013 is at http://career.ecs.csus.edu.

For more information contact Cici Mattiuzzi at (916) 278-7091 or visit http://career.ecs.csus.edu.