College hiring continues to surge as employers responding to NACE’s Job Outlook 2022 Spring Update survey report that they plan to hire almost one-third (31.6%) more new college graduates from the Class of 2022 than they hired from the Class of 2021.

This is a climb of 5% from last fall, when employers responding to the Job Outlook 2022 survey indicated plans to hire 26.6% more new graduates from the Class of 2022 than they did from the Class of 2021. (See Figure 1.)

Driving the surge is the fact that hiring increases are not limited to several industries; rather, they are planned by all industries that had at least five respondents. Furthermore, while some data are limited within certain industries, 28 of the 174 total respondents that provided their hiring numbers also plan increases of 100% or more. The oil and gas extraction industry is doubling its college hires and has the largest projected increase at 105.9%.

Almost 56% of respondents to NACE’s Job Outlook 2022 Spring Update survey indicate that they will increase their college hire numbers and an additional 41% will maintain them. Less than 4% will decrease their number of college hires.

Other highlights from the Job Outlook 2022 Spring Update report include:

• Respondents anticipate that 42% of their entry-level positions will be fully in person, 40% will be in a hybrid modality, and 18% will be fully remote.
• The overall percentage of respondents that screen candidates by GPA has fallen to its all-time low of 43.5%. This is a significant drop from the high-point of 2019, when 73.3% of respondents were screening by GPA.
• Fall 2022 recruiting looks extremely positive for the upcoming class of graduates. Almost 90% of respondents indicate that they will be hiring for both full-time and intern/co-op positions at that time. The remaining 10% of respondents will also be hiring, but either for full-time or intern/co-op positions only.

Each year, NACE surveys employers regarding their hiring intentions for the graduating class; this is conducted in two parts—fall (Job Outlook 2022) and spring (Job Outlook 2022 Spring Update). The Job Outlook 2022 Spring Update was conducted from February 2 – March 11, 2022. Of the 196 total respondents, 160 were NACE employer members, representing 19.8% of eligible member respondents, and 36 were nonmember companies. The Job Outlook 2022 Spring Update report is available to NACE members in MyNACE.

Source: Job Outlook 2022 Spring Update, National Association of Colleges and Employers