First Destination Report: 2013-2014 Undergraduate Degree Recipients for College of Engineering

View results by whole university, by college, or by major

First destinations: What grads are doing after graduation:

Number of Respondents %
Category
1448 Not Applicable Total Graduates
954 66% Reported first destination / respondents

TAKING TIME OFF after graduation (more than 1 month, less than 1 year)

486 51% No
400 42% Yes, one to less than three full months
55 6% Yes, three to less than six full months
12 1% Yes, six months to less than a full year

FIRST DESTINATION AFTER GRADUATION

0 0% U.S. military service commitment.
0 0% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
7 1% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
650 68% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
11 1% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
108 11% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
4 0% Plan to seek employment later.
143 15% Admitted to continuing education.
18 2% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
6 1% Both seeking employment and applying to continue education.
3 0% Other having nothing to do with employment or continued education.

Continuing education: Graduate, professional school, or other:

View list by undergrad major showing cont. educ. degree / program / institution / location

161 17% Plan to attend OR have accepted admission.

ADVICE SOURCES about continuing education (check ALL that apply)

From what sources did you seek advice about graduate or professional school (or other additional education)?

15 10% Print information such as books or magazines.
86 58% Websites / online information.
120 81% Professors at Virginia Tech.
81 54% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
8 5% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
65 44% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
69 46% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
59 40% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
11 7% Career & Professional Development.
47 32% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
2 1% Other

Employment:

View list by undergrad major showing employer /job title / location

661 69% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
629 99% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
9 1% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

SALARY DATA for graduates who accepted FULL-TIME employment

596 90% Number / percent of employed reporting salaries
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% make this amount or less): $55000
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% make this amount or less; 50% make more): $62500 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% make this amount or less; 25% make more): $70000
Not Applicable Not Applicable (Percentiles not reported if fewer than 12 graduates reported salary)

BONUS WITH JOB OFFER

Did your job offer include a signing bonus?

611 92% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
251 41% Yes
360 59% No
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% of bonuses were this amount or less): $2500
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% of bonuses were this amount or less; 50% make more): $5000 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% of bonuses were this amount or less; 25% make more): $7500
Not Applicable Not Applicable (Percentiles not reported if fewer than 12 graduates reported a bonus)

Employment RELATED to CAREER GOALS

Do you consider your job to be related to your career goals and/or to be an entry-level avenue to reach your career goals?

457 76% VERY related to career goals
143 24% SOMEWHAT related to career goals
0 0% NOT related to career goals

Employment RELATED to MAJOR

Do you consider your job to be related to your college major?

462 74% VERY related to major
140 22% SOMEWHAT related to major
26 4% NOT related to major

JOB / EMPLOYER SOURCE

Which best describes the source of your first contact with the employer (organization, company, agency) whose job you accepted?

193 31% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

16 3% Current or former employer.
18 3% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
43 7% Friend or family member.
14 2% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
5 1% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
14 2% Email or posted information from your academic department.
160 26% Career fair or job fair.
63 10% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
34 5% The employer's website.
34 5% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
0 0% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
30 5% Other.

WHEN JOB SEARCH STARTED

About when did you actively start your job search for your post-graduation job?
(Asked of employed graduates and those with an offer or offers.)

December 2013 graduates
22 23% During spring semester 2013 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
20 21% Summer 2013 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
39 41% September or October 2013 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
7 7% November or December 2013 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
5 5% January, February or March 2014 (0-3 months after degree completion)
1 1% After March 2014 (4 or more months after degree completion)
0 0% Not applicable; I obtained an offer without an active job search.
May and Summer 2014 graduates
305 56% Between July and October 2013 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
125 23% Between November 2013 and January 2014 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
72 13% February or March 2014 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
21 4% April or May 2014, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
17 3% May commencement to August 2014 (0-3 months after commencement)
5 1% September 2014 or after (4 or more months after May commencement)
0 0% Not applicable; I obtained an offer without an active job search.

NUMBER OF JOB OFFERS

To the best of your recollection, how many job offers have you received?
(Asked of employed graduates and those with an offer or offers.)

273 43% One
188 30% Two
97 15% Three
36 6% Four
37 6% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2013 graduates
21 30% Before September 2013
22 31% September or October 2013
24 34% November or December 2013
3 4% January, February or March 2014
0 0% After March 2014
0 0% Other
May - summer 2014 graduates
265 56% Before January 2014
65 14% January 2014 through Spring Break 2014
100 21% After Spring Break 2014 - May 2014
32 7% June, July or August 2014
11 2% After August 2014
0 0% Other

Career-related learning and experience during college:

Did you have any kind of career-related experience prior to graduation (types listed)?

818 91% Yes
85 9% No

TYPES OF CAREER-RELATED EXPERIENCE (check ALL that apply)

808 85% Respondents to this question: number and percent of total respondents

What kind of experience did you have? (check ALL that apply)

How many of each?

Number of Respondents
%
Category
 1 2 3 4 5+
195 24% Volunteer work 61 43 30 8 53
198 25% Part-time job 105 58 24 5 6
281 35% Summer job 128 89 40 15 8
41 5% Unpaid internship 37 3 1 0 0
590 73% Paid internship 238 215 110 21 6
121 15% Co-op 67 27 18 7 2
262 32% Undergraduate research 176 66 12 6 2
10 1% Field study 6 3 0 0 1
35 4% Other Not Applicable

EXTENT to which graduates LEARNED JOB SEARCH SKILLS

Which best describes the extent to which you learned job search skills during college?
I learned..

366 41% Most job search skills I needed.
327 37% Some job search skills, but not all I needed to know.
200 22% Nothing or very little.

SOURCES of LEARNING JOB SEARCH SKILLS (check ALL that apply)

If you did learn job search skills,where do you believe you learned them? Please check all that apply.

342 45% Career & Professional Development programs, publications, website, advising, workshops, etc.
330 43% Academic-credit course or seminar in your major department or college.
42 6% Not-for-credit programs or seminars in your major department or college.
335 44% Advisors, professors or staff in your major department or college.
104 14% Other faculty or staff in the university, but not in your major department or college.
451 59% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
435 57% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
328 43% Websites with job search advice (other than Career & Professional Development).
82 11% Books, magazines or other print materials.
39 5% Other

USED CAREER AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DURING COLLEGE:

As best as you can recall: During college did you use any the resources provided by Career & Professional Development?

110 13% Never
104 12% Don't recall or unsure
521 62% Yes, but not often
109 13% Yes, often

Regrets:

If you had to do it over again, is there anything related to planning for life after college that you would do differently?

464 52% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
428 48% Yes. I wish I had done something differently.

If yes, please check ALL that apply. (Percentages are of "Yes" respondents, not total respondents.)
I wish I had...

129 30% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
246 57% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
169 39% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
176 41% Started my job search earlier.
116 27% Used more or different job search resources.
177 41% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
30 7% Other