First Destination Report: 2016-2017 Undergraduate Degree Recipients for Whole University

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

First destinations: What grads are doing after graduation:

Number of Respondents %
Category
5660 Not Applicable Total Graduates
3897 69% Reported first destination / respondents

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

1619 42% No
1815 47% Yes, one to less than three full months
283 7% Yes, three to less than six full months
173 4% Yes, six months to less than a full year

FIRST DESTINATION AFTER GRADUATION

140 4% U.S. military service commitment.
140 4% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
47 1% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
1799 46% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
156 4% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
610 16% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
131 3% Plan to seek employment later.
646 17% Admitted to continuing education.
142 4% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
160 4% Both seeking employment and applying to continue education.
12 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

788 21% 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)?

93 13% Print information such as books or magazines.
511 69% Websites / online information.
447 60% Professors at Virginia Tech.
333 45% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
95 13% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
418 56% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
369 50% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
342 46% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
86 12% Career & Professional Development.
244 33% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
11 1% Other

Employment:

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

2040 52% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
1948 97% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
53 3% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

SALARY DATA for graduates who accepted FULL-TIME employment

1751 85% Number / percent of employed reporting salaries
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% make this amount or less): $45000
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% make this amount or less; 50% make more): $60000 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% make this amount or less; 25% make more): $68000
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?

1839 90% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
638 35% Yes
1201 65% 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): $5000 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% of bonuses were this amount or less; 25% make more): $7000
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?

1517 78% VERY related to career goals
424 22% 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?

1293 66% VERY related to major
484 25% SOMEWHAT related to major
171 9% 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?

502 26% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

89 5% Current or former employer.
62 3% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
177 9% Friend or family member.
45 2% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
29 2% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
29 2% Email or posted information from your academic department.
485 25% Career fair or job fair.
137 7% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
115 6% The employer's website.
123 6% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
4 0% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
107 6% 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 2016 graduates
99 31% During spring semester 2016 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
80 25% Summer 2016 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
99 31% September or October 2016 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
37 11% November or December 2016 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
8 2% January, February or March 2017 (0-3 months after degree completion)
0 0% After March 2017 (4 or more months after degree completion)
0 0% Not applicable; I obtained an offer without an active job search.
May and Summer 2017 graduates
913 46% Between July and October 2016 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
554 28% Between November 2016 and January 2017 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
344 17% February or March 2017 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
125 6% April or May 2017, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
24 1% May commencement to August 2017 (0-3 months after commencement)
8 0% September 2017 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.)

959 47% One
576 28% Two
341 17% Three
100 5% Four
78 4% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2016 graduates
101 43% Before September 2016
63 27% September or October 2016
57 24% November or December 2016
12 5% January, February or March 2017
1 0% After March 2017
0 0% Other
May - summer 2017 graduates
816 55% Before January 2017
281 19% January 2017 through Spring Break 2017
329 22% After Spring Break 2017 - May 2017
39 3% June, July or August 2017
11 1% After August 2017
0 0% Other

Career-related learning and experience during college:

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

3474 93% Yes
258 7% No

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

3452 89% 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+
1429 41% Volunteer work 401 303 242 88 396
1479 43% Part-time job 700 434 214 71 59
1655 48% Summer job 765 479 272 86 53
649 19% Unpaid internship 483 120 29 12 4
1997 58% Paid internship 1050 592 294 46 13
205 6% Co-op 135 48 13 7 2
840 24% Undergraduate research 575 159 63 27 16
431 12% Field study 319 94 9 4 4
131 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..

1291 35% Most job search skills I needed.
1611 44% Some job search skills, but not all I needed to know.
787 21% 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.

1149 35% Career & Professional Development programs, publications, website, advising, workshops, etc.
1391 43% Academic-credit course or seminar in your major department or college.
226 7% Not-for-credit programs or seminars in your major department or college.
1599 49% Advisors, professors or staff in your major department or college.
481 15% Other faculty or staff in the university, but not in your major department or college.
1982 61% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
1827 56% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
1344 41% Websites with job search advice (other than Career & Professional Development).
263 8% Books, magazines or other print materials.
152 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?

646 17% Never
566 15% Don't recall or unsure
2174 59% Yes, but not often
312 8% 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?

1532 42% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
2149 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...

774 36% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
1243 58% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
1084 50% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
873 40% Started my job search earlier.
515 24% Used more or different job search resources.
883 41% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
149 7% Other