Recruiting Trends 2016-2017 - Brief 4 - Hiring by Degree

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob

Recruiting Trends 2016-2017, Brief 4, summarizes key findings on how employers hire based on academic degree and discipline. Using a convenience sample from nearly 200 career service centers and information from about 4,350 employers, the brief describes employer size, recruiting role (full-time vs internships/co-ops), and where companies recruit. It also explains how respondents allocated expected hires across disciplines and how willingness to consider candidates outside a specific academic discipline varies across hiring categories.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Meet the Completers

Company Size

Role in College Recruiting

Institutions Where Companies Recruit Talent

Active Recruiting by Region

Key States

Key Economic Sectors

Brief 4: Hiring by Degree

Composition of the hiring pool

Willingness to consider candidates across disciplines

RECRUITING TRENDS 2016-17 46th Edition BRIEF 4 Hiring by Academic Degree Key findings from 2016-17 arepresented in this research brief. We have broken the release of employer information into a series of short briefs that will be made available over the next six weeks. You can download the briefs from the Collegiate Employment Research Institute. Recruiting Trends 2016—2017 is published by Career Services and the Collegiate Employment Research Institute and copyrighted, © 2016- 2017, by Michigan State University. All rights reserved. This electronic version is for individual use only. No part of this electronic report maybe reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without written permission from the Institute. Users are not permitted to mount this file on any network servers or distribute this report by email without written permission from the Institute. Material from this report can be used in classrooms and newsletters with proper citation of Michigan State University and the Collegiate Employment Research Institute. Meet the Completers We generated this convenience sample from employers currently seeking college talent through their interactions with college and university career services offices. Nearly 200 career service centers from around the country invited their employers to participate in this study. Approximately 4,350 employers provided information useful for understanding recruiting trends and practices. We will use information provided by those recruiting talent for full-time positions, internships, and co-ops for these research briefs. Readers can use the following key sample characteristics to determine how applicable our survey results are for their campus employer base. Company Size Very small > 9 employees 9% Fast-growth Small Midsize Large Very large 10-100 employees 101–500 employees 501–3,999 employees 4,000–25,000 employees> 25,000 employees 30% 23% 20% 10% 8% Role in College Recruiting Full-time positions 71% Internship or co-op positions only 12% Short-term hiring 7% Experienced hiring 10% Institutions Where Companies Recruit Talent Two-year public college Four-year public college Four-year private college Two- & four-year for-profit institution Institution with bachelor’s & advanced degree programs Institution with advanced degrees only Historically black college & university Hispanic-serving institution Asian, Asian-Pacific serving institutions 28% 53% 40% 22% 69% 10% 17% 15% 14% Active Recruiting by Region International 5% Entire U.S. 25% Regional recruiting only 69% Key States Massachusetts 10% Michigan 9% Arizona, California, Florida, Ohio & Texas 6% Key Economic Sectors Professional, business & scientific services 22% Manufacturing 13% Educational services 10% Finance & insurance 8% Government 7% Healthcare & social assistance 7% Nonprofits 7% ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Recruiting Trends 2016-17 is made possible by the efforts of many dedicated and generous colleagues, friends of the institute, and corporate sponsors. We thank all the colleges and universities who encouraged local, regional, and national organizations to participate in our survey and for their confidence in our contribution to research on college recruiting. Please visit our web page, Consortium For Student Transition Studies, for a complete list of participants. We also thank our editor, Stephanie Schlick. We extend special appreciation to several people whose special insights contribute to CERI’s research activities: Jeff Beavers (CEO 3sevenPartners), Duncan Ferguson (Managing Director, Vantage Leadership Consulting), and James Spohrer (Director of University Programs Worldwide [and numerous other titles], IBM Almaden Research Center). Brief 4: Hiring by Degree We have been experimenting with different ways of presenting

FAQs

What data source and sample size does this brief use?

The brief uses a convenience sample from employers interacting with college and university career services offices. Nearly 200 career service centers invited employers, and approximately 4,350 employers provided information for the study.

How do employers describe their recruiting across company sizes and roles?

Employers are grouped by company size (from very small to very large) and by recruiting role, including full-time positions and internships/co-ops. The brief reports the distribution of employers across these categories.

How is hiring by academic degree/disciplines measured in Brief 4?

Respondents report the percentage of hires expected from different academic disciplines, and they indicate whether employers would consider candidates regardless of academic discipline. The brief then details the resulting composition patterns for hiring pools.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob