After four or more years of school, thousands of dollars in tuition and hours upon hours of studying, graduates expect to leave college and find a job in their area of expertise. But students entering a high-tech job field may have to look past Ohio’s borders.
Gov. Bob Taft has called for a Commission on Higher Education and the Economy to deal with issues pertinent to college students, including attracting high-tech companies to Ohio.
“The commission will identify how to make our higher education system more productive and best prepare our students for the jobs of the Third Frontier,” Taft said at the 2003 State of the State address.
The commission calls for increased efficiency and a bigger return on the investment of higher education.
In comparison with the overall job market, high-tech jobs have a more grim outlook.
According to the “Employment Outcomes for Graduates” report produced by the Ohio Board of Regents, “Seventy-five percent of graduates were known to be either employed in Ohio or continuing their schooling in Ohio in the year after graduation.”
According to the report, in the area of engineering, only 61 percent of graduates were able to find work in Ohio or continue their education.
Forty-eight percent of chemistry majors were retained, and only 38 percent of physics majors stayed in the state.
“Usually about 50 percent stay in Ohio,” said Rosemary Hill, director of Engineering Career Services.
Data from the 2000-2001 academic year showed 51 percent of all engineering students moved out of the state for employment.
Computer and information science majors saw 78 percent of graduates leaving the state, and 65 percent of electrical and computer engineers went outside of Ohio for employment.
In fact, of the 20 majors in the College of Engineering, only seven had a higher-percentage chance of staying in the state than leaving.
2000 and 2001 were unusual years in U.S. history, Hill said. There was a huge draw to the West Coast because of the dot-com revolution.
Ohio did not go as crazy with dot-com, she said.
“If you’re interested in chips, you’re going to the West Coast,” Hill said.
In data collected by ECS for the 2001-2002 academic year, 42 percent of graduates from the College of Engineering stayed inside the state, but 45 percent reported moving outside of Ohio, she said. Thirteen percent did not report.
“I think that as different industries are exerting more demand on the economy, there is a change on where students go after graduation,” Hill said.
Hill points out that the numbers do not identify the number of international students in each school.
“To them, Ohio is no different from Montana,” she said.
Hill said she is also puzzled by the “brain drain,” a theory about the large number of graduates leaving Ohio. She said the figures used do not account for out-of-state students who are more likely to return to their home states.
Ohio State is faced with an interesting dilemma, she said. The state wants to be a top-25 university, but in being a top university, big companies will find the students more appealing and are more likely to take them out of the state.
“The higher your ranking, the more big business you bring here,” Hill said.
If students have internship roots in Ohio, they are more likely to stay in the state after graduation, she said.
The percentage of employers in Ohio the ECS works with is much higher proportionally, she said.
There is a good amount of opportunity, but there is a disconnection between employers and students, Hill said.
Some employers do not know how to go about hiring students, Hill said. The ECS works to bridge the gap and act as a link between students and companies.
Lexmark, located in Lexington, Ky., is one of Fortune magazine’s “Most Admired Companies” and Business Week’s “InfoTech 100.” Lexmark was spun out of IBM in 1991.
“I would recommend that they would be open to relocation,” said Kris Robinson, a representative for university relations and student programs with Lexmark International. He was referring to the students having to relocate to be hired for a job.
“There aren’t as many entry-level spots out there right now,” he said.
Most of Lexmark’s hiring comes from the eastern United States. Location is an asset, Robinson said.
“I do feel that it gives us a little better advantage,” he said. “Students seem to be very willing to relocate.”
If students have interests in companies, they should start by looking at their Web sites and visiting their college’s career services offices, Robinson said.
Many big companies offer relocation plans for both co-op programs and full-time positions, he said.
Students preparing to enter the career world have differing views on the number of high-tech jobs available to them in Ohio.
“There are a good selection of jobs in Ohio, I think,” said Marianne Poch, a senior in computer science engineering.
Poch interviewed with 20 companies and got two offers. About 75 percent of the companies were from Ohio.
“I was looking mainly in Ohio. My family is all here,” she said.
The competition to get interviews was heated, Poch said. Students with previous internship experience and a high grade point average have a much better chance of acquiring a job after graduation.
“Comparing with California or Texas, no, we don’t have as many technical jobs,” Poch said.
There are technical jobs out there in the Ohio market, but in this economy, most companies are looking for people with three to four years of experience, she said.
When someone enters college in a computer science field, they just assume there will be work for them, Poch said.
Other students have a different view of the job market.
“Since OSU is such a reputable university, the Ohio high-tech companies should be coming here recruiting, but that is not the case,” said Jason Hurley, a senior in computer and science engineering.
“It seems as though my friends from other disciplines have no trouble,” Poch said.
But not everyone who graduates in Ohio wants to stay here, she said.
“I think with the way the market was, I was willing to move,” Hurley said.
“I wanted to stay in Ohio, but my options were open,” he said.
There are decent opportunities, but students might have to work a little harder to find them, Poch said.
“I was under the impression that engineers always were needed,” Hurley said. “I thought I’d be able to find a job whenever I wanted.”
“There are a lot of places here in Ohio that you don’t even realize exist, but they are nice companies to work for,” Poch said.
Companies are not only looking for people but a high GPA with no leadership experience. They are looking for the full package, she said.
The job search begins about three quarters before graduation and is a time consuming event, Hurley said.
“It ended up taking a lot more time than I expected,” he said. “It really was like taking one or two extra classes.”
Both Poch and Hurley have found jobs in Ohio.
