Two good news developments for colleges and their students: starting salary offers are up , and a new Facebook app to help career centers promote jobs officially launches.
First, the salary news.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers reported Wednesday that the average starting salary for newly minted college graduates is $51,018. That’s up 4.8 percent from last year’s $48,661.
It’s the third time the quarterly NACE salary survey has reported an increase. It contrasts with 2010, when average starting offers were below those in 2009.
“The steady increases in starting salary offers we’re seeing this year is a good indication that the job market for new college graduates is gathering strength,” says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director.
Engineering graduates saw some of the biggest increases — and biggest salaries generally. Petroleum engineering graduates got average offers of $80,849, up 8.1 percent over the summer 2010 survey. The average offer to computer engineering graduates rose 7.6 percent to $64,499.
While their starting salaries were much lower, even students in humanities and social science programs saw increases.
Average salary offer rose 15.3 percent over last year to $40,057. However, growth there may be slowing, since the summer average is only 1.3 percent higher than the $39,527 average in the Spring 2011 survey.
Still, English majors saw a 6.6 percent bump over last year to $39,611, while offers to history majors rose 8.1 percent to $40,051.
The full report is available free for NACE members or by purchase, but more details are available in the press release here.
While college counselors and the Class of 2012 digest the salary data, Work4Labs released its latest Facebook app, which it calls Jobs For Me. Its first app, Work For Us, simplifies the posting of jobs to company Facebook pages. Jobs For Me does that — and more — for college career centers.
The free app posts jobs from the career center to the school’s Facebook profile. A setting in the app can be adjusted to limit access to only those with a school email address.
Work4Labs has made the interface remarkably convenient. Clicking into a job opens it right in Facebook, rather than elsewhere. Click into the apply link and a popup opens that allows a student to upload a resume and cover letter. The popup, wisely, informs applicants that nothing from their Facebook profile will be submitted or accessible by others.
Students can also share jobs with their own network.
There’s a search tool useful for colleges and universities that have lots of jobs, and easy access for recruiters to post jobs.
Work4Labs says there’s a dashboard providing real-time and historic analytics on views, applies, likes, and sharing, among other data points.
The app had its beta launch in Europe, where Work4Labs was founded. The announcement says more than 100 universities there have installed it and some 8,000 companies have used it for their jobs.
Want to take a look at an example? Here’s the Facebook page for ESEI International Business School in Barcelona.