Job Prospects Good for Liberal Arts Grads

The employment outlook for liberal arts majors is at an all-time high, according to a recent report by ENTER magazine, a publication aimed at the age 18-35 market that examines career and workplace issues as well personal finance, lifestyle, health and entertainment news.

"With the demand so great for grads with strong analytical and computer skills, and the pool so shallow of computer science majors, we found that companies are requesting to interview liberal arts majors in record numbers,' said Andrew Vitale, publisher and editor-in-chief of ENTER.

The statistics were based on ENTER's second annual job Outlook, which involves interviews with some 100 business and economics professors, college career directors, human resource professionals and personnel managers. The results indicate that liberal arts majors are the second most sought-after major (after computer science) at nearly every campus around the nation.

One director of career services explained the odd match by noting that companies are looking for people they can train in programming, network administration and help desk support.

Majors in demand by region include:

• Northeast: computer science, liberal arts, general business, finance, accounting, environmental and related biological sciences, civil engineering, and advertising.
• West: computer science, liberal arts, bio engineering, engineering, accounting, environmental science, forestry and geological sciences.
• South (including Kentucky): computer science, liberal arts, finance, education, golf course management, engineers, landscape architecture, plastics and business.
• Midwest: computer science, liberal arts, education (primarily math, science, special education and counseling), health care, human resources and physical therapy.

Other information gleaned from the survey indicates that on-campus recruiting has jumped an average of 15 percent over last year and entry-level salary offers have increased three to five percent over last year.

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