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The best IT jobs for new college graduates, and what skills are required

According to a recent survey of more than 250 IT hiring managers across the US conducted in March 2017, organizations are showing a heavy preference for generalized IT degrees over specialized, where in the future they can develop the skill set of a capable individual to fit their own specialized requirements.

The survey, conducted by TEKsystems [1], the IT staffing arm of privately -held staffing firm the Allegis Group, conducted primary research into hiring trends so that TEKsystems can advise clients on what they should prepare for when it comes to attracting and hiring top talent.

The company researched the factors related to the top IT jobs for upcoming graduates along with the key elements hiring managers look at when considering entry-level IT candidates.

“Those graduates entering the IT market in the next several months are in the enviable position of seeing high demand for their skills, depending on their specific qualifications,” said TEKsystems Research Manager Jason Hayman. “In fact, our research shows that truly exceptional candidates stand a good chance of being offered a 10 percent premium above what has been budgeted for a specific position.”

Hayman noted, however, that it is still true that graduates are most likely going to be offered the types of junior/entry level roles where they’re primarily being asked to maintain, update or fix currently deployed software programs.

“Organizations are showing a heavy preference for generalized degrees over specialized, where in the future they can develop the skill set of a capable individual to fit their own specialized requirements. Newly graduated job seekers may be surprised that it’s not about the name recognition of an expensive school or a cutting edge degree that gets you in the door, it’s more about experience, skill sets, programming languages, and making yourself a valuable member of whatever team or project you get the opportunity to work on,” he continued.

More Key highlights from the Survey

According to the survey, developer roles provide the best job opportunities.

Q: What skill sets provide the greatest opportunity for recent college graduates searching for entry-level positions and how difficult are they to source? Select all skil sets that apply.
Job Percentage Ranked by Difficulty in Sourcing as of Q2 2017
Applications developer 60%  

1*

Technical support 54%  

4

Business/systems analyst 52%  

8

Web developer 48%  

NA

Network/systems administrator 39%  

11

Network/systems engineer 37%  

NA

Database administrator 35%  

10

Quality assurance engineer 27%  

14

*Includes Programmers and developers (i.e., Java, .NET, web, etc.)

According to analysists at TEKsystems, IT hiring managers recommend applications developer roles as the best opportunity for new college graduates. This experience provides a foundation for future growth in a more specialized area of software development.

Coincidentally, developer roles are consistently difficult roles to fill—a result of the sky-high demand for qualified tech professionals across the industry.

Technical support, business analysts and web developers are also mentioned as good opportunities for new graduates with generalized degrees.

“Digital transformation will continue to create significant opportunity for new IT professionals as organizations take on more and larger IT projects,” noted analysists. “These initiatives will require a small number of highly skilled and experienced individuals to design, but a larger number of junior or entry-level workers to implement.”

According to the company, hiring managers should note that those skill sets representing the most opportunity for recent college graduates are not necessarily difficult to source. Network/systems admins, database admins, and quality assurance engineers are, relatively speaking, easier to source than some of the other skill sets identified as representing the most opportunity for recent graduates.

(Next page: Types of IT degrees favored; work experience and salary)

Generalized IT Degrees Preferred Over Specialized Degrees

Q: For most entry-level positions, which type of degree is most applicable for recent graduates? Select only one.
Type of Degree Percentage
Generalized/traditional degrees (e.g., CIS, computer science, computing, software engineering 83%
Specialized/new age degrees (e.g., data analysis, human-computer interaction, AI, game development 17%
Q: Which of the following programming languages are most difficult to find? [select the top-3 languages that are most difficult to find]
Languages Ranked Most Difficult to Least Difficult
.Net 1
SQL 2
Python 3
Java 4
JavaScript 5

*Perl, C++, C# and Ruby on Rails all tied for 6th. **Scala and PHP tied for 9th.

The vast majority of hiring managers, more than 8 in 10, say a generalized or more traditional technology degree is more applicable for new college graduates, say analysists.

Hiring managers often prefer several years of experience when filling specialized roles, while certain organizations internally develop individuals for specialized roles requiring unique skill sets.

“The distribution of programming languages seems to indicate that to advance as a programmer or developer, new IT pros would do well to develop fluency over a range of languages as opposed to specializing in just one,” said the company.

Work Experience and Internships Dominate as Top Factors for Hiring Over GPA and School Attended

Q: When considering a recent graduate for a position, how important are the following factors? Stack rank from most important to least important.
Rank Factor Percentage (ranked 1 or 2)
1 Work-related internship/experience 86%
2 Referrals/references 50%
3 GPA 24%
4 School attended 18%
5 Extracurricular activities 11%
6 ROTC or Military Reserve Program 10%

When considering recent college graduates for entry-level positions, IT hiring managers are adamant that work-related internships or experience is the most important factor, ranking it twice as high as the next factor, referrals and references.

“This is significant as it has implications for both hiring managers seeking candidates, as well as students themselves: experience trumps potential, and work-related internships and experience, along with referrals and references, are better predictors of performance for first-time graduates than either GPA or the particular school attended—especially in the fast-paced, ever-evolving industry of technology,” said analysists.

They noted that it could also speak to an increased focus on finding the right cultural fit versus technical fit, where the decisive criteria in competing candidates with less proven backgrounds would be practical experience and an ability to assimilate into an existing team. A more “build versus buy” approach.

Salary Still Tops, but Workplace Flexibility More Important Than Healthcare

Q: How much do you expect FULL TIME & CONTINGET IT hiring to change (as of Q2 2017)?
Change Full Time Contingent
Increase 35%  

31%

Stay the Same 49%  

54%

Decrease 16%  

15%

Q: In terms of a hiring package, which factors do you consider most attractive to a recent college graduate when offering them a job?
Rank Package Percentage (ranked 1 or 2)
1 Salary 85%
2 Workplace flexibility (i.e., ability to telecommute, flexible work schedule 68%
3 Healthcare 26%
4 Tuition reimbursement (on-going education) 16%
5 Retirement/401k 5%

Not surprisingly, IT hiring managers say salary is the most attractive aspect of a hiring package for recent college graduates.

Hiring managers are well aligned with the desires of IT candidates when thinking about the most attractive pieces of the hiring package puzzle, ranking workplace flexibility as the second highest factor—even above healthcare.

“Although salary is important to job seekers, and no company can compete for IT talent with salary bands below market value, an increasing trend among new job seekers in IT talent is workplace flexibility,” said the company. “It allows them the freedom to structure their own working hours, which in turn, can offer a better work-life balance, time to pursue further training, or accomplish other goals.”

Hiring managers who wrap flexibility into their employee value proposition should stand out in the competitive IT job market.

For more information about the survey, contact Nathan Bowen at nabowen@TEKsystems.com [2].

Material from a press release was used in this report.