Hey N.J. grads: Good news in the job market

Sophia Traina began working at McDonald’s when she was 14, starting as a crew member and working her way up to be a manager.

As she accepted her diploma Thursday at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, she could finally turn her attention to the next step in her life: a full-time job she landed working in the accounting department for the New Jersey Devils.

“My goal was to be out of McDonald’s and have a job the day I graduated,” said Traina, 21.

The Class of 2015 is streaming into the labor force increasingly armed with what has been a rare commodity: a full-time job.

The offers not only have come in for high-in-demand skills such as engineering and accounting, but also for students who have leadership skills and a work ethic that employers crave, educators said.

For students such as Traina who can check off all of those boxes? It is smooth sailing.

“My sense is there’s improvement,” said Janet Jones, director of employer relations at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. “People were seeking advice on evaluating multiple job offers. That’s anecdotal, but I think it’s an indicator.”

Young people need jobs

For the millennial generation, it can’t come soon enough. The group, born between roughly 1980 and 2000 and raised in the digital age, was hit hard by the Great Recession, when then nation lost nearly 9 million jobs.

The recovery has been slow and 20-somethings have taken what they could get. Nearly half of students who graduated in 2013 and 2014 are underemployed or working in jobs that don’t require a college degree, according to Accenture, a management consulting company.

But that trend appears to be changing. The demand for college graduates has risen 10 percent the first part of the year. And the underemployment rate for recent college graduates since last June has fallen by about 2 percentage points, to 44.6 percent, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Courtney Locke, 21, graduated from Monmouth University in West Long Branch on Wednesday with a degree in software engineering. She spent her entire senior year with a job with Verizon Wireless in Bedminster lined up.

“I never really worried,” Locke said.

Sluggish job growth

Not that the Class of 2015 can automatically start with a fresh slate. New Jersey’s job market remains sluggish. It added 4,300 jobs in April, the state reported Thursday, but nearly all of the gain came in the public sector. The unemployment rate of 6.5 percent remained the same.

New Jersey graduates hope it picks up momentum soon. They still shoulder thousands of dollars in student loans and plan to move back in with their parents, despite their steps into the working world.

But the improving job climate means the money they spent on their education eventually will pay off.

Kathleen Brady, director of career services at Georgian Court, said new graduates need to come to grips with the idea that they won’t land their dream job right off the bat.

“Maybe it’s OK to take that job that’s a little lower paying to be in a point of entry, get in an organization and shimmy your way up,” Brady said.

There is merit in paying your dues. Just ask Traina. She never felt bad about herself for working at McDonald’s, and, looking back, she gained valuable skills.

She landed an internship with the Devils’ accounting department, which turned into a part-time job, which turned into a full-time job.

Working at the Prudential Center? With access to sporting events and concerts? It almost sounds like a dream job. But “I’m just happy to have a job offer that’s not McDonald’s,” Traina said.

Michael L. Diamond; 732-643-4038; mdiamond@gannettnj.com

NEW JERSEY EMPLOYMENT GROWTH BY MONTH

April 2015: +4,300

March: +1,900

February: +8,600

January: +5,600

December 2014: +200

November: +7,800

October: +4,600

September: +2,600

August: +600

July: +3,400

June: -3,200

May: +10,000

April: +15,000

Source: New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development