Employment Picture is Strong for Recent Middlebury Graduates

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Seventy percent of the graduates in the Class of 2018 have reported that they are now gainfully employed, with another 13 percent actively searching for jobs and 12 percent continuing their education in post-baccalaureate programs.

The data stems from the annual “outcomes” survey conducted by the Office of Institutional Assessment and Research (OIAR) and the Center for Careers and Internships (CCI). The survey offers a reflection of what Middlebury College’s most recent alumni were doing three months after graduation. The response rate to the 2018 survey was 93 percent with 609 seniors responding from a class with 656 members.

Leading the way for Middlebury’s 2018 graduates are social impact-related careers (21 percent), followed by financial services (15 percent), consulting (12 percent), technology (11 percent), healthcare and science (10 percent), and communications and media (8 percent). The percentage of the class employed – 70 percent – is the highest percentage reported in the past 10 years, CCI data shows.

By comparison, the Class of 2017 three months after graduation reported that 58 percent were employed, 23 percent were searching, and 14 percent were continuing their education. For the Class of 2016 three months after graduation, 60 percent were employed, 22 percent were searching, and 10 percent were continuing their education.

“The data speaks to our strategy of creating a career-education planning experience that is woven into our students’ undergraduate years,” said CCI Director Peggy Burns. “We look for students to be partners in the process of preparing for career readiness, to engage with CCI early and often, and to understand that planning for their future needs to be an integral part of their Middlebury journey.”

Burns notes two interesting trends in this year’s data. First, the number of Middlebury students graduating with tech-related jobs has grown by 55 percent over the last three years, a reflection, in part, of the increased interest in computer science as a major. Burns said another noteworthy trend is the growing number of graduates who go into fields that reflect their sense of social justice, finding employment in not-for-profit, education, and environmental fields. Twenty-one percent of the class found a job in one of those areas.

OIAR and CCI also conduct a survey six months after graduation to update the data from those who are currently searching or did not respond. For example, while the Class of 2017 reported after three months that 58 percent had jobs, that same cohort after six months reported that 77 percent were employed. For the most recent class of graduates the six-month data will be tallied in January.

The Middlebury alumni network also plays a key role in the graduates’ success, says Burns. “Our alumni are vested in supporting our students as they contemplate life after Middlebury by providing mentorship, advice, internships and jobs, or practice interviews,” she said. “In 2017-2018, 425 alumni were involved in on-campus and off-campus career-related programming.”