Editor’s note: The 1575 members of University of North Dakota (UND) spring 2006 graduating classes---including undergraduates, medicine, and law---stride across the stage to collect their degrees with confidence born of a good education and an exceptionally strong job market. Graduates of in-demand programs such as engineering and nursing---many snapped up by eager employers as long as a year ago---are launching careers with salaries more than twice what their parents might have expected. Both public and private sector managers are eagerly tapping UND and other colleges across the country for newly minted talent---and they’re wooing graduates with more compensation and other emoluments.

That doesn’t surprise Mark Thompson, Director of Career Services at UND, who graduated from UND in 1972 with a degree in political science and in 1998 with a master’s degree in educational leadership. Thompson, who joined North Dakota Job Service in 1974 and Career Services in 1984, says UND is well placed in today’s competitive job market with a number of strong academic programs and a very talented and energetic student pool. Thompson’s seat at the helm of Career Services gives him a frontline view of the job market, what recruiters are looking for, and what occupations and professions are providing the biggest employment opportunities. ---interviewed by Juan Miguel Pedraza, Office of University Relations writer/editor.

Q. A number of economic challenges have emerged this year that could signal an indication of tougher times ahead---the rapid rise in fuel prices, the growing threat of inflation, ongoing Middle East conflicts, and an uncertain national election year. But we hear from young people graduating this year that the job market looks pretty good---excellent in some career fields---with prospects strong for advancement in sectors such as health care, energy, engineering, and education. What are you seeing?

A. Well I can tell you that, for undergraduates finishing their baccalaureates, there are employers in certain fields, particularly engineering and nursing, who are still coming to us with job opportunities, but we don’t have many students at this stage who are looking---they’ve already got jobs or they’ve decided on graduate school. That tells me the job market over all is very strong. We don’t track who gets jobs right after graduation, but we do survey our grads after 18 months and in our last survey 96.4 percent of them were employed or pursuing other educational opportunities.

Q. What fields seem to be the hottest?

A. I don’t like the word hot---that just means what’s popular now, and that can change fairly quickly---so I’ll use the word “strong.” What comes immediately to my mind as the strongest career field this year is electrical engineering, followed closely by the other engineering professions, chemical, civil, geological, and mechanical. Companies are looking for people who can solve immediate problems and get right to work in their field.

Q. What kinds salaries are you seeing in these fields?

A. Typically, our engineering grads today are seeing $40,000 to $53,000 starting pay, with the biggest jump over previous years coming for electrical and chemical engineers.

Q. What other fields are showing big compensation gains and good starting opportunities?

A. I’d have to say nursing and several other allied health professions, especially physical therapy, occupational therapy and clinical lab science. We graduate approximately 100 nurses per year, but the market needs more nurses than programs such as ours and others are graduating. Here is where the aging population---us Baby Boomers---is a huge factor in the employment outlook. There’s absolutely no doubt about it---registered nursing is a major opportunity area. Employers are still coming to us with unmet needs, but there are very few, if any, graduating nurses who are still seeking employment at this point. We’re seeing this across the health field.

In addition to the aging Baby Boom generation, another major factor behind this demand---and rising compensation---in the allied health professions, especially nursing, is the increasing number of specialized clinics that are coming up. Right here in Grand Forks, we’ve got a brand new facility dedicated solely to cancer. They’re going to need more nurses---more specialized treatment means more qualified nurses. Starting pay for nurses is $40,000 to $45,000 per year. RNs on average nationwide are making close to $60,000 per year.

Starting opportunities and compensation in nursing, as in many other professions for UND grads, depends upon a student’s geographic mobility. If you’re willing to move, you’re likely to see bigger salaries compared with North Dakota. It’s just simple economics---a small town in North Dakota doesn’t have the demand or the compensation levels that you’re going to find, say, in Minneapolis and other urban areas where the population is growing. More population means a greater demand for services. Urban centers need and attract a greater volume of opportunities for new grads, especially in the health professions and related areas, such as insurance administration.

Q. You mentioned “allied health profession.” Anything in particular stand out?

A. Yes, physical therapy is very strong. That also is the direct result of an aging population. There’s a growing need for PT to help people impacted by accidents and with health problems to live longer, healthier, more active lives. At UND, we have a doctoral program in PT (DPT). This is important because it clearly reflects that many occupations are raising their standards, so our grads are ready to meet this demand. Starting pay varies widely, from around $50,000 to $70,000 a year.

Q. There are many other well-known majors at UND, for example accounting, which has a long tradition of producing students who have little trouble finding good employment in their field. What’s going on here?

A. Well, overall, I can say that we’re having trouble getting students to our career fairs to visit with employers. That clearly tells me that students generally know that the job market is “strong.” A number of our academic programs, including accounting, offer out-of-area experiences such as internships and co-ops, and these students are getting early job offers and are accepting those offers long before graduation.

Accounting has been a steady major at UND over the years, with strong job offers coming in every year for our grads. I’d say that’s mostly a function of the reputation of the UND accounting program, which has a strong emphasis on the CPA. We graduate 50 to 60 accountants per year. Compensation for these grads this year starts in the upper $30,000 to the upper $40,000 range. We attract the big four public accounting firms every year, as well as regional and local firms. Also we get a lot of public and private entities looking for accountants, and accountants with finance backgrounds. We get companies such as Cargill regularly looking for our accounting grads.

Q. Demographic evidence suggests that some areas, especially fast-growing urban places such as Las Vegas and Phoenix, need more teachers. What are we seeing at UND as far as opportunities for education grads?

A. The numbers are good, real good. A strong area of demand is secondary education, especially for teachers with English, language, math and science preparation; music also is strong. It’s not quite as strong for the social sciences and physical education, but there are opportunities across the board, especially in high-population areas which need to replace retiring teachers and hire additional teachers to meet the educational needs of their growing student numbers.  In addition, special education is strong and will continue to be strong with the growing need to assist students who have educational challenges.

Q. That’s pretty much good news on the job front. Are there any weak spots?

A. Well, there are always opportunities for people who know where to look and who are persistent. That being said, it looks like the job market is a bit less glamorous for non-job-specific majors, such as liberal arts and social science majors. The market there is a little more competitive, that is, it’s a bit harder to get really good jobs because companies just aren’t recruiting as heavily for non-job-specific majors

Is that a problem? No, not really. It’s why I always suggest to students that they follow their passions rather than chasing the latest “hot career” or “hot job markets.” Students need to pursue their own interests and work hard be the very best in their chosen academic area. For example, engineering may be hot, but to get through engineering you need very specific and sophisticated skills, and, it follows, a strong interest, in mathematics and science. If you don’t have the right preparation, it will be a real challenge to pursue a career in engineering, because, ultimately, you may not be successful in completing the program.

Similarly, I’d say that if you love communications, journalism, public relations, go for it, even though it’s a very competitive market. That means there are lots of people chasing jobs and employers aren’t falling over themselves recruiting. Employers always tell us that they’re looking for good communicators. Another challenge for us is pointing out alternative opportunities in growth markets, such as retail and food service. Employers such as Target are looking for management trainees and they pay well. They’re looking for good communicators with people skills, not necessarily for students with a business degree.

Q. Any last-minute advice for graduates (or the many other students who’re looking ahead to graduation in the next few years)

A. You bet: please come to see us at Career Services; start early in your college life, and come often. If you haven’t started the job search or career research process, come see us. We’re open all summer, regular hours and we’re eager to work with students. That’s what we do. I tell students it’s never too soon---and surely never too late---to begin planning where you want to go with the rest of your life. There are lots of opportunities that we can show students, such as internships, co-op experiences, and more. I can tell you that employers love to hire from an existing employment base, and that includes interns and co-ops. So we want to see students even after graduation, after they’ve completed their degrees. Current students are our primary focus, but we also assist alumni.

Q. Is there other career/job search assistance available on our campus?

A. Yes, in addition to our office, career/job search assistance is available in Law, Medicine and Aviation.

Check out Career Services online at http://www.career.und.edu/. You can also access the Career Services site from the UND Home Page at www.und.edu by clicking on the alphabetical listing under “C.”