Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
Job-hunting tips from the October 10, 2005 issue of
QuintZine.
More women than men are pursuing higher education. Statistics show that 57 percent of college students are women, and the number is
predicted to increase. Educators say several factors are contributing to the growing gender gap between male and female
students.
Looking at what to major in as you enter college? Here are some areas with strong growth potential, according to
Donna Rosato, of Money magazine:
Auditing: Thanks to the post-Enron Sarbanes-Oxley Act,
which makes executives sign off on financial statements, more and more number crunchers are joining corporate
payrolls. Few are more sought after than internal auditors, whose starting salaries are up about 10 percent over what they
were in early 2004. "They can write their own ticket," says Dave Richards, head of the Institute of Internal Auditors.
Corporate law: Sarbanes-Oxley and merger mania are fueling
demand here too. Lawyers who specialize in securities and corporate transactions are getting signing bonuses for the
first time since the dotcom days, says Marcia Newell, CEO of Washington, DC, legal search firm NewinCo. She just helped
a Houston law firm recruit a 28-year-old attorney who specializes in technology outsourcing; a $20,000 signing bonus and a faster
track to partnership sealed the deal for the whiz kid.
Construction: Still-low interest rates continue to fire up the
home-building industry, but a commercial building boom is further igniting competition for architects, engineers and contractors.
San Francisco recruiter Mary Breuer says most of the heat is in hospitals and health-care facilities, colleges and universities,
and high-end hotels both in the U.S. and overseas.
Health care: As the nation's 76 million baby boomers age,
the number of health-care jobs grows. Nearly a million will be added in the next three years, predicts Global Insight. Most in
demand: nurses, pharmacists, and physical therapists.
This thought is a little depressing for our College Bound issue, but it also can help you prepare for the future: CollegeGrad.com
recently released its survey results on how long college students anticipate it will take them to pay off their student loans, and 46 percent of
student-loan recipients say it will take them more than 10 years to pay off their student loans.
With the rising cost of a college education, students are being faced with larger student-loan bills upon graduation and a lengthier
payback period.
With only a six-month grace period before having to begin payments on their loans, it is critical for graduates to quickly begin earning a
steady income. Graduates are faced early-on with the "real world" of bills.
Students often receive loans from a variety of institutions; upon graduation, they are then faced with not just one student loan bill,
but a set of multiple bills. A popular student response is to consolidate their loans, which will roll all of their high-interest
payments into one lower-interest monthly bill.
Students have an opportunity to start of on the right foot by having a job offer in-hand before they graduate.
More women than men are pursuing higher education. Statistics show that 57 percent of college students are women, and the number is
predicted to increase. Educators say several factors are contributing to the growing gender gap between male and female
students.
