Hiring of grads pleases colleges

A year after graduation, graduates of St. Lawrence County's four colleges are still finding jobs, with even more success than their alma maters expected.

The economy is far from robust and jobs are hard to find, with many companies reluctant to hire or expand.

"I was pleasantly surprised with our employment and graduate school numbers for the class of 2009," said Karen L. Ham, SUNY Potsdam's director of career planning. "Our unemployment rate was less than I would have predicted, given the widespread impact of the recession."

Of SUNY Potsdam's nearly 600 graduates in 2009, slightly more than half responded to the year-out job survey. Of those, 49.2 percent were employed and 43.9 percent were in graduate school, according to Ms. Ham.

Many recent college graduates are opting to go directly to graduate school in the hopes that the economy will have improved by the time they graduate with a master's degree. Graduates from both SUNY Potsdam and St. Lawrence University, Canton, the county's two liberal arts schools, have tended to make that decision more often than those at SUNY Canton or Clarkson University, Potsdam.

At St. Lawrence University, 83.6 percent of the 439 graduates responded to the year-out survey. Nearly three-quarters of those who responded are employed, while about 20 percent chose to continue their education. The rest were either still looking for employment or taking some time off, possibly to travel or weigh their options, according to Carole L.G. Bate, the university's director of career services.

In all, 93.5 percent of the university's 2009 graduates are employed or in graduate school, only 0.1 percent lower than 2008's graduates at the same time last year.

"I was surprised," Ms. Bate said. "I knew the students were doing well, but you never know how the results will come out."

Slightly more than 90 percent of Clarkson University's more than 600 graduates are either employed, in graduate schools or in the military. More specific numbers were unavailable.

Six months after graduation, 28 percent of SUNY Canton's graduates were continuing their education and 62 percent were employed, with the remainder still looking for a job, according to the SUNY Canton website.