A national study by the College Placement Council has found that salary offers for new graduates are higher than last year.

CPC representative Dawn Oberman said the reason for the higher salaries was a stronger recruiting season. The report covered the period from September 1, 1987 to June 6, 1988.

NIU campus recruiting coordinator Jean Callary said, “NIU grads are holding their own, if not gaining in popularity, in the work world. There was a more active campus recruiting season this year.”

She said some students accepted job offers as high as $30,000. Most jobs in the liberal arts and business start at around $17,000 but graduates can expect to earn salaries in the mid-$20,000 range in three to four years.

NIU’s own follow-up report from 1986-1987 stated jobs in the financial services, data processing, accounting, sales, retailing, public school teaching and health areas showed the greatest gains.

Smaller and medium-sized companies seemed also to be doing more hiring than other companies, especially the Fortune 500 corporations, whose hiring patterns seemed to stay the same or decline. Follow-ups for the 1987-1988 school year are being mailed out now.

Gary Scott, NIU director of Career Planning and Placement, said the report could be misleading because job offers are subject to “supply and demand. Starting salaries are dictated by this. Where there are fewer jobs, the pay will be higher.”

Scott said the number of recruiters coming to NIU this past spring was “close to the highest in recent times. NIU is competitive with other institutions.” He said 475 private companies, 90 school districts and 40 social services sent recruiters to NIU.

He said there are jobs available for everyone, in good economic times and bad, but the jobs are not always what the student wants to do. Students sometimes have problems finding a job because they are not willing to relocate. “Students need to be mobile,” he said.

According to the report, students are more relaxed about finding employment than in other years. They schedule fewer interviews and are more choosy about those they decide to attend. Graduates also seem to be less concerned about finding employment and more concerned on finding the right job for them.

The report indicated the job market is unstable compared with the 1985-1986 report. The changes were caused by the weakening of the dollar abroad, “foreign competition, uncertainties in the domestic economy and the threat posed by corporate raiders.”

The responses were broken up into several categories: full-time employment, graduate/professional school, part-time employment, not employed but seeking a job and not employed/not seeking.

The report indicated that 72 percent of the students who responded were employed full-time, nine percent attended graduate or professional school, six percent were working part-time, 10 percent were unemployed but looking for a job, and one percent were not only unemployed but not searching for a job.