At a glance
Finding a job after graduating from college doesn’t have to be a challenge. In some career fields, employers cannot fill positions quickly enough, as the number of openings is much greater than the number of qualified, college-educated candidates available.
Finding a job after graduating from college doesn’t have to be a challenge. In some career fields, employers cannot fill positions quickly enough, as the number of openings is much greater than the number of qualified, college-educated candidates available.
Research from Georgetown University predicts that by 2020, 69 percent of all jobs in New York will require postsecondary education. Unfortunately, only 58 percent of New Yorkers aged 25 or older have earned that level of education. Nationwide it’s predicted that this skills gap will result in 5 million jobs remaining unfilled.
Elaine Morsman, director of the Career Development Center, said Alfred State’s emphasis on applied learning and real-world experience really gives students the skills they need when it comes time to enter the workforce, as does the college’s in-demand academic offerings.
“We’re consistently seeing terrific employment and continuing education rates among graduates throughout our 70-plus majors, whatever their related field’s job outlook is,” Morsman said, “but in those career areas that have more openings than graduates to fill them, Alfred State is certainly being a part of the solution by offering so many in-demand majors and by preparing students to be ready to work from day one.”
Alfred State offers numerous majors that continue to produce skilled, job-ready graduates who are helping to fill the skills gap in these high-need areas. By offering in-demand programs, Alfred State has a 99 percent employment and continuing education rate for graduates.
The following list shows 20 degree offerings that the college has identified in which there are employers ready to make more hires than there are graduates available:
Olojede, a nursing major from Bronx.
Associate:
- Agricultural business
- Agricultural technology
- Court and realtime reporting
- Culinary arts
- Culinary arts: baking, production and management
- Drafting/CAD
- Electrical construction and maintenance electrician
- Heavy equipment, truck and diesel technician
- Machine tool technology
- Veterinary technology
- Welding technology
Bachelor’s:
- Architectural technology
- Construction management
- Electrical engineering technology
- Financial planning
- Information technology: applications software development
- Information technology: network administration
- Mechanical engineering technology
- Nursing
- Surveying and geomatics engineering technology
According to studies by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, the degree clusters which have seen the greatest number of jobs created in the past several years are business management (1.6 million), and health-related professions (1.5 million), followed by technical occupations (966,000). When looking at percentage increases in new jobs, health care, and STEM jobs are among the fastest-growing occupational clusters. These trends show how a wide variety of Alfred State’s programs are directly aligned with the occupational needs of tomorrow.