A List
7/13/09

Education Remains Top Career Field For Recent SLU Graduates

CANTON - For the eighth straight year, education is the top career field choice reported by alumni of St. Lawrence University one year after graduation. It has been in the top five fields for the past decade.

The University's career services office conducts an annual survey to determine career and graduate school placement rates. The survey for the Class of 2008 had a 75.7 percent return rate. Facing one of the most difficult job markets in several decades, the class reported a total placement rate (employment and graduate school) of 93.6 percent, down just 3.8 percent from the previous year, which saw placement rates that reached record highs. The overall placement rate for the Class of 2008 is consistent with those of the late 1990s.

Of those responding, 21 percent reported working in the education field, far outpacing others in the top five, which include banking/finance/investments (12.1 percent); sales/marketing (11 percent); and science/technology and government/non-profit (tied at 6.8 percent).

More than 81 percent of employed graduates secured jobs either through networking or direct application. A sub-set of the networking total is those who obtained employment as the result of a previous internship; the figure is 13.3 percent, a significant increase over last year's percentage, 4.3 percent.

At the time of the survey, some 72.2 percent of respondents indicated being employed, a figure that is down 5.3 percent from the previous year. The percentage pursuing graduate or professional school remained the same as the previous year, at 19.9 percent.

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