If you’re graduating from college this spring, you can expect to do well as far as salary goes. According to a recent study by the Hay Group division of Korn Ferry, average salaries for 2017 grads are at an all-time high (see separate article). But what if you have been in the workforce awhile?
To help EE-Evaluation Engineering readers achieve a better understanding of current salary trends as a function of experience, we are now conducting our annual salary survey. The results will be published in our August issue and will update last year’s survey results.
Please help your colleagues gain a sharper picture of the industry and work-related issues by completing this year’s survey. Click here to take the survey. As always, your personal information and responses will remain anonymous. Please include your contact information at the end of the survey if you are interested in being interviewed for the article.
Meanwhile, the Hay Group study found, not surprisingly, that STEM majors graduating this year will receive the highest salaries. Software developers will start at $65,232 (31% above average), and engineers (discipline not specified), will start at $63,036 (27% above average). Customer-service reps and category assistants will not fare so well.
Starting salaries this year, adjusted for inflation, are 14% higher than in 2007, just before the Great Recession, according to the Hay Group.
Although salaries might be high, students can’t count on having a job the day after graduation. Kelsey Gee in The Wall Street Journal reports that a separate survey of 1,000 college seniors by Accenture PLC found that only 15% had received a job offer before graduating. She quotes Thomas Ward, executive director of the career-services center at Adelphi University, as saying most graduates need six months to land a full-time gig.
