What Are the Best Career Choices for Recent College Grads?
Some of the most promising career choices for recent college graduates may be found in engineering, computer science, medical science and health care during 2012. Positive prospects can be determined by potential salary or possible future job growth. Continue reading to find out what job positions may offer the greatest potential after graduating.
Best Career Choices for Recent College Grads
When searching for careers with the best outlook, you may want to look at the best salary and largest career growth potential. Science-based careers usually provide the greatest career potential, while communications, humanities and social science-based careers may provide the lowest potential. However, you may find that many of the highest-paying careers don't coincide with the highest-growing careers.
Engineering and Computer Science
In 2011, a salary summary by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) noted that computer science and engineering jobs offered the highest median salary out of all career fields (www.naceweb.org). The NACE estimated that the average salary for recent graduates looking for a career in engineering was $61,872. Engineering careers also held most of positions found on a 2011-2012 highest-paid career list found on Payscale.com.
If you are interested in a computer science career, NACE reported that the average salary for this field was $60,594. Computer science positions also fill five of 2012's top ten careers according to the U.S. News and World Report.
Health Care and Medical Science
The U.S. News and World Report also listed four health care positions that require a college education in the top ten best careers of 2012. The careers with the best salary and outlook prospects in this field are occupational therapists, physical therapists, registered nurses and pharmacists.
If you have a health science degree, the NACE reported that the average salary was $44,955 in this field. In 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimated that physician or surgeon careers earned a median salary of $111,570 (www.bls.gov).
Best Potential Job Growth
Among the top-paying careers listed above, the only careers that can be found on the BLS top-growing career list was physicians and surgeons with an expected 24.4% growth between 2010 and 2020. On the other hand, you may find several academic-related fields on their list, which can require that you complete a bachelor's degree program.
If you are interested in other fields with a high-growth rate that require an associate's degree, you may be interested in a career as a registered nurse, pre-school teacher or computer support technician. If you are looking at bachelor's degree programs and related careers, the College Board (www.collegeboard.org) identifies the following careers as having the highest job growth potential between 2008 and 2018:
- Computer analysts
- Research analysts
- Accountants
- Computer and network systems administrators
- Teachers
If you wish to pursue a graduate degree, you may want to concentrate your studies to start a career as a pharmacist, college professor, therapist, social workers or medical scientist.
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