By the time Chester Bragado rolled into UC Riverside for his senior year, the 22-year-old business major had been wined and dined and taken to speedway races. He then received offers from three accounting firms.
Fully eight months before graduation, Bragado accepted a job with his most- persistent suitor, Deloitte & Touche, which offered him a signing bonus and perks such as a corporate credit card. His starting pay: more than $40,000.
"It's a lot of money," said Bragado, who has been holding down part-time jobs to help put himself through college.
But it's pretty much the norm for this spring's crop of college graduates, who are such a hot commodity in the booming economy that employers are pulling out all stops to sign up promising prospects.
Companies have boosted salaries--computer engineering grads heading into the work world can expect to earn $48,000 a year, up 5% over salaries for last spring's grads. In addition, employers are offering up such incentives as signing bonuses and stock options--even free use of a BMW for a year.
"It's unbelievable," said Kathryn Van Ness, career center director at UC Irvine. "There is no excuse for any student not to have something of value this summer. There are shortages everywhere, and I am being inundated with inquiries from employers everywhere for talent."
Although technology grads have been in high demand for years, the recruiting stampede has extended to other disciplines. Even liberal arts majors are juggling multiple job offers, college officials say.
"We are in our third consecutive year of some really aggressive recruiting, but this year it's for a wide variety of job openings that play to a wide variety of students," said Phil Gardner of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. "This has really captured everybody--liberal arts students as well as technical and professional grads."
About half of all grads this year have already lined up jobs, a number that would be much higher but for procrastinators who have dawdled because they are taking the healthy job market for granted, according to a survey by the National Assn. of Colleges and Employers.
"It all kind of feeds on itself," said Camille Luckenbaugh, employment information officer for the organization. "You have a good economy, tight labor market and businesses expanding. There's a need not just for high-tech people; people need to hire an array of graduates."
