First Destination Report: 2013-2014 Undergraduate Degree Recipients for College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences

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

First destinations: What grads are doing after graduation:

Number of Respondents %
Category
1053 Not Applicable Total Graduates
566 54% Reported first destination / respondents

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

308 55% No
183 32% Yes, one to less than three full months
45 8% Yes, three to less than six full months
28 5% 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).
5 1% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
244 43% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
10 2% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
87 15% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
20 4% Plan to seek employment later.
128 23% Admitted to continuing education.
25 4% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
19 3% Both seeking employment and applying to continue education.
3 1% 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

153 27% 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)?

20 14% Print information such as books or magazines.
109 74% Websites / online information.
87 59% Professors at Virginia Tech.
55 37% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
17 11% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
73 49% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
74 50% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
68 46% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
5 3% Career & Professional Development.
50 34% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
1 1% Other

Employment:

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

274 48% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
216 85% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
38 15% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

SALARY DATA for graduates who accepted FULL-TIME employment

172 62% Number / percent of employed reporting salaries
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% make this amount or less): $30000
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% make this amount or less; 50% make more): $35000 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% make this amount or less; 25% make more): $45000
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?

197 72% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
13 7% Yes
184 93% No
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% of bonuses were this amount or less): $3000
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% of bonuses were this amount or less; 50% make more): $5250 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% of bonuses were this amount or less; 25% make more): $9000
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?

136 68% VERY related to career goals
63 32% 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?

104 42% VERY related to major
95 39% SOMEWHAT related to major
47 19% 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?

68 28% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

22 9% Current or former employer.
8 3% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
36 15% Friend or family member.
4 2% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
8 3% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
2 1% Email or posted information from your academic department.
12 5% Career fair or job fair.
6 2% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
30 12% The employer's website.
24 10% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
1 0% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
20 8% 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
12 21% During spring semester 2013 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
10 17% Summer 2013 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
19 33% September or October 2013 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
13 22% November or December 2013 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
4 7% January, February or March 2014 (0-3 months after degree completion)
0 0% 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
56 23% Between July and October 2013 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
69 28% Between November 2013 and January 2014 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
64 26% February or March 2014 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
31 13% April or May 2014, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
23 9% May commencement to August 2014 (0-3 months after commencement)
1 0% 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.)

131 52% One
65 26% Two
41 16% Three
4 2% Four
10 4% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2013 graduates
9 27% Before September 2013
5 15% September or October 2013
8 24% November or December 2013
10 30% January, February or March 2014
1 3% After March 2014
0 0% Other
May - summer 2014 graduates
44 26% Before January 2014
29 17% January 2014 through Spring Break 2014
65 39% After Spring Break 2014 - May 2014
27 16% June, July or August 2014
2 1% 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)?

494 93% Yes
40 7% No

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

484 86% 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+
290 60% Volunteer work 70 67 40 19 94
290 60% Part-time job 123 80 61 16 10
317 65% Summer job 109 106 64 24 14
211 44% Unpaid internship 137 47 14 6 6
124 26% Paid internship 83 28 10 3 0
4 1% Co-op 3 0 0 0 1
78 16% Undergraduate research 56 11 8 2 1
133 27% Field study 82 46 4 0 1
19 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..

144 28% Most job search skills I needed.
220 42% Some job search skills, but not all I needed to know.
155 30% 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.

161 40% Career & Professional Development programs, publications, website, advising, workshops, etc.
188 46% Academic-credit course or seminar in your major department or college.
28 7% Not-for-credit programs or seminars in your major department or college.
210 52% Advisors, professors or staff in your major department or college.
74 18% Other faculty or staff in the university, but not in your major department or college.
250 62% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
229 57% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
160 40% Websites with job search advice (other than Career & Professional Development).
66 16% Books, magazines or other print materials.
10 2% 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?

114 23% Never
67 14% Don't recall or unsure
292 59% Yes, but not often
22 4% 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?

219 42% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
303 58% 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...

120 39% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
170 55% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
167 54% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
132 43% Started my job search earlier.
88 29% Used more or different job search resources.
123 40% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
15 5% Other