First Destination Report: 2015-2016 Undergraduate Degree Recipients

College of Engineering

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

The number of respondents (N) and percentage of respondents (%) are shown for each topic and question.

Response Rate
%
1603 Total Graduates
1069 67% Reported first destination / respondents

Taking time off after graduation (more than 1 month, less than 1 year)
%
449 42% No
543 51% Yes, one to less than three full months
57 5% Yes, three to less than six full months
19 2% Yes, six months to less than a full year

First destination after graduation
%
37 3% U.S. military service commitment.
37 3% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
9 1% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
638 60% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
23 2% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
153 14% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
14 1% Plan to seek employment later.
139 13% Admitted to continuing education.
25 2% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
19 2% Both seeking employment and applying to continue education.
4 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
%
164 15% Plan to attend OR have accepted admission.

Advice Sources About Continuing Education

From what sources did you seek advice about graduate or professional school (or other additional education)? Check all that apply.
%
16 11% Print information such as books or magazines.
77 51% Websites / online information.
118 79% Professors at Virginia Tech.
92 61% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
7 5% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
69 46% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
61 41% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
63 42% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
9 6% Career & Professional Development.
47 31% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
3 2% Other

Employment

View list by undergrad major showing employer /job title / location
%
691 65% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
672 99% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
4 1% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

Salary Data for Graduates Who Accepted Full-Time Employement

%
620 89% Number / percent of employed reporting salaries
25th percentile (25% make this amount or less): $58000
50th percentile (50% make this amount or less; 50% make more): $65000 (Median)
75th percentile (75% make this amount or less; 25% make more): $72000
(Percentiles not reported if fewer than 12 graduates reported salary)

Bonus with Job Offer

Did your job offer include a signing bonus?
%
634 92% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
291 46% Yes
343 54% No
25th percentile (25% of bonuses were this amount or less): $2500
50th percentile (50% of bonuses were this amount or less; 50% make more): $5000 (Median)
75th percentile (75% of bonuses were this amount or less; 25% make more): $9000
(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?
%
532 81% VERY related to career goals
123 19% 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?
%
486 74% VERY related to major
136 21% SOMEWHAT related to major
34 5% 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?
%
201 31% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.
Referral or contact through:
%
15 2% Current or former employer.
8 1% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
48 8% Friend or family member.
5 1% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
4 1% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
12 2% Email or posted information from your academic department.
222 35% Career fair or job fair.
53 8% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
27 4% The employer's website.
15 2% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
2 0% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
28 4% Other.
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 2015 graduates
%
18 23% During spring semester 2015 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
17 22% Summer 2015 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
31 40% September or October 2015 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
8 10% November or December 2015 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
4 5% January, February or March 2016 (0-3 months after degree completion)
0 0% After March 2016 (4 or more months after degree completion)
0 0% Not applicable; I obtained an offer without an active job search.
May and Summer 2016 graduates
%
347 57% Between July and October 2015 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
158 26% Between November 2015 and January 2016 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
76 12% February or March 2016 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
22 4% April or May 2016, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
7 1% May commencement to August 2016 (0-3 months after commencement)
1 0% September 2016 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.)
%
286 43% One
190 29% Two
109 17% Three
33 5% Four
41 6% Five or more

When Offer Received

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?
December 2015 graduates
%
24 32% Before September 2015
23 31% September or October 2015
21 28% November or December 2015
5 7% January, February or March 2016
2 3% After March 2016
0 0% Other
May and Summer 2016 graduates
%
302 56% Before January 2016
102 19% January 2016 through Spring Break 2016
121 23% After Spring Break 2016 - May 2016
8 1% June, July or August 2016
2 0% After August 2016
0 0% Other

Career-Related Learning and Experience During College

Did you have any kind of career-related experience prior to graduation (types listed)?
%
933 92% Yes
79 8% No

Types of Career-related Experience

What kind of experience did you have? (check ALL that apply) How many of each?
% Number of Experiences
1 2 3 4 5+
226 24% Volunteer work 66 55 28 10 66
269 29% Part-time job 158 63 29 5 14
333 36% Summer job 176 90 46 9 11
67 7% Unpaid internship 59 7 0 1 0
676 73% Paid internship 298 228 108 35 7
171 19% Co-op 96 38 24 8 5
295 32% Undergraduate research 184 71 23 5 11
20 2% Field study 18 0 2 0 0
42 5% Other

Extent to Which Graduates Learned Job Search Skills

If you did learn job search skills,where do you believe you learned them? Please check all that apply.
%
426 43% Most job search skills I needed.
433 44% Some job search skills, but not all I needed to know.
135 14% Nothing or very little.

Sources of Learning Job Search Skills

If you did learn job search skills,where do you believe you learned them? Please check all that apply.
%
444 50% Career & Professional Development programs, publications, website, advising, workshops, etc.
406 46% Academic-credit course or seminar in your major department or college.
69 8% Not-for-credit programs or seminars in your major department or college.
401 45% Advisors, professors or staff in your major department or college.
106 12% Other faculty or staff in the university, but not in your major department or college.
508 57% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
502 57% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
371 42% Websites with job search advice (other than Career & Professional Development).
83 9% Books, magazines or other print materials.
49 6% 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?
%
122 12% Never
100 10% Don't recall or unsure
677 68% Yes, but not often
103 10% Yes, often

Regrets

If you could start over in college, is there anything you would do differently related to career planning

%
481 48% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
511 52% Yes. I wish I had done something differently.

If yes, please check all that apply. I wish I had...

%
153 30% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
284 56% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
201 39% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
202 40% Started my job search earlier.
142 28% Used more or different job search resources.
200 39% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
41 8% Other