Applying Themselves Health Care Sector Still Holds Considerable Promise For Recent Graduates

After all the pomp and circumstance, reality sets in for most college graduates, as they begin to think of themselves not as students, but the latest members of the workforce.

 

And as the Class of 2005 puts their caps and gowns away, most are entering a job market that has significantly improved since the start of the decade, but still holds its share of challenges.

The market with the most promise for recent Western Mass. graduates, though, remains the health care sector, for those with both health care-related degrees and otherwise.

“We’re definitely referring more people to the health care sector,” said Maureen McCartney, director of Career Services at Westfield State College, noting that while WSC has only one program directly related to the field – movement science – health care facilities are actively recruiting graduates for a wide range of positions.

She said Baystate Health System and the Sisters of Providence Health System, in addition to smaller nursing and rehabilitation facilities and regional hospitals, for instance, often post administrative positions in finance, human resources, public relations, marketing, and other departments in addition to the more-visible nursing positions. Meanwhile, recruitment in general has been particularly vigorous this year, she said, up about 20{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5}, suggesting a positive trend in the overall job market.
“We’re getting some great feedback from both students and employers,” she said. “Students are finding the jobs they want, and employers are finding the caliber of employee they need.”

Testing the Waters

That trend of matching graduates to employers is increasing as job-seekers capitalize on jobs within healthy markets like the health care sector, but also as more students begin to pave the way to those jobs early on, enrolling in specialized majors to fill gaps in the existing employment landscape.

Graduates armed with degrees in a number of burgeoning fields are leaving commencement ceremonies with unique, and often lucrative, jobs lined up.

epartment heads at Springfield Technical Community College in the medical assistant, physical therapist assistant, occupational therapy assistant, radiography, and energy systems technology programs, for instance, each said that most graduating students this year have accepted employment.

“The job outlook for radiographic technologists is great,” said Anthony Kapadoukakis, chair of STCC’s radiography program. “Many radiological technologists will be employed in airport security, as applications specialists for major companies that sell equipment such as GE, Philips, Siemens, Kodak, Fuji, Agfa or in industry, but many will find jobs in hospitals or in clinics.”

And Linda Desmarais, chair of the Physical Therapy Assistant program at STCC, said PTA graduates are also entering a market that is more robust than it has been in years.

“In 1998, the Balanced Budget Act was implemented, and that limited how much money government would apply to rehabilitation services,” she said. “Managed care really tightened its grip on rehab, and students who entered school thinking they were going into a field that was wide open were graduating into a market that was in crisis.”

But now, after a few years of steady improvement, Desmarais said 2005 graduates of STCC’s PTA program are entering a career climate that has returned to the state at which it was before the Balanced Budget Act, and in addition are often receiving multiple job offers and strong starting salaries.

Cathy Roskuski, a recent graduate of the PTA program, is an excellent example. Roskuski began interviewing just after her classes ended, more, she said, to get a feel for the job market. But soon, she was entertaining four job offers and comparing the different facilities to find the best fit for her.

“I’ve been looking in Massachusetts and Connecticut,” she said, “and now I just have to decide what to do next, which job is best. I was really surprised; I thought I was just gaining some interview experience.”

The multiple offers have also allowed Roskuski to make her career choice carefully, taking time to ‘shadow’ current employees at the various facilities and comparing salaries and benefits, as well as corporate cultures and the general feel she gets for each employer.

“It’s nice not to have to scramble and worry,” she said.

Desmarais added that Roskuski and other graduates can also get a feel for the salaries they should expect in this market.

“For a full-time job with benefits, most students are being offered salaries in the 30s, and many of those are well into the 30s,” Desmarais said, noting that the success of PTA graduates in securing employment is a good indicator of allied health professions in general. “PT and OT really parallel each other. It seems things are much better across the board.”

In turn, although the health care sector remains on more solid ground than other industries in Western Mass., those seeking jobs in that field are not immune to the level of competition present as an outpouring of graduates across the region submit their résumés en masse.

Deborah Pace, director for employer relations at the Career Center at Western New England College, said this year’s graduates will find that there are good jobs available to students with a myriad of degrees, but those individuals will still have to be prepared to search high and low for some of them.

“The demand for college grads has gone up, and there are opportunities out there,” said Pace. “We’ve seen the market grow about 11{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} compared to three years ago; there are some fields that are always strong, like health care, and there are some other markets that are emerging.”

But Pace cautioned that the overall market is still a competitive one, and said that while a good portion of graduating seniors at WNEC had positions lined up prior to tossing their mortar boards, those who have their professional futures mapped out are also those who started early, prepared extensively, and expanded their search to include companies and markets that may not have originally come to mind, including health care facilities.

“Overall the jobs are there, but some of these students will still have some heavy competition for them,” she said. “They have to have their résumés in order and have some solid experience listed on them. Those who started early and put the time in are the ones who graduated with jobs.”

And for those who started late, Pace said, getting something – anything – career-related on their résumé should be a top priority.

“I’d say our students are pretty on the mark in terms of national averages. Typically, about 50{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} have jobs lined up when they graduate. Six months out, that number goes up to about 85{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5}.”

“After they graduate, they should go to an employment agency immediately and secure work, even if it’s part-time,” she said. “Companies don’t want to see applicants in the fall that have been resting on their laurels all summer.”

McCartney concurred. She said WSC’s graduating students are recording largely positive ends to their job searches, but that search doesn’t always end along with the last final exam.

“I’d say our students are pretty on the mark in terms of national averages,” she said. “Typically, about 50{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} have jobs lined up when they graduate. But six months out, that number goes up to about 85{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5}.”

Most of those students are remaining in Massachusetts, although some fields, particularly teaching, hold more opportunities out-of-state. Not all sectors locally are as robust as health care, McCartney noted, citing education and public safety as two fields in that category, and this trend is sending many graduates out of the area in search of good positions.

“Locally, our cities and towns are still struggling, and that affects elementary school positions and graduates with criminal justice degrees, as communities are forced to cut back their police budgets.”

Conversely, the growing opportunities in health care nationwide are also presenting many out-of-state options for recent graduates, posing a similar problem.
But although the idea of college students leaving Western Mass. in droves is a frightening prospect, it could actually improve the economic climate in Western Mass. Junior Delgado, assistant director of Career Services at Westfield State College, said many students, especially those who attended WSC, a state school with a predominance of Massachusetts students, may leave for greener pastures now, but they often return.

“Just because they leave doesn’t mean they won’t come back,” he said, noting that for those students seeking jobs in tough markets or entertaining intriguing prospects in robust markets, the WSC career services department will actually encourage them to look elsewhere. “If they leave and secure a good job in another part of the country, they can return to the area with that much more experience, and ultimately improve the economic picture.

“Today’s job market requires that we work to get rid of students’ misconceptions,” he continued. “There are great opportunities out there.”

Trick of the Trades

But Pace said despite steady growth in jobs, it’s still an employer’s market.

“We’re seeing recent grads getting hired, but not at huge salaries,” she said.

In short, it’s a market in which putting time into preparation – be it for an interview, through an internship, by earning a very specific degree, or taking that entry-level job to gain even further experience – is still key.

“There are good jobs for the taking,” she summed up. “But to land them, the graduates have to do their homework.”