Special Section

Staying or Going: jobs for graduates

V1 Staff |

UW-Eau Claire
UW-Eau Claire

By the numbers, a healthy share of college graduates stick around Eau Claire after they’re done with school. Typically, colleges send out surveys to recent grads every year to keep track of things like how long it took them to find a job, whether or not they’re attending grad school, and where they end up geographically.

According to the most recent UW-Eau Claire survey of students who graduated in December 2012 and May and August 2013 (in which 63 percent of grads completed the survey), 55 percent of the respondents are still in Wisconsin and 25 percent are still in the Chippewa Valley.

“I’m happy with that number,” said Staci Heidtke, associate director of Career Services at UWEC. “But I think we could always improve upon that.”

“One of the things that Eau Claire has going for it is that is has a really nice hometown feel with family-run businesses and employers that really value their employees, and I’m not sure that doesn’t happen in the Twin Cities or Chicago, but I’m really positive it does happen here.” – Staci Heidtke, UW-Eau Claire Career Services

To some extent, it goes without saying that nearby cities such as Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, or Madison tend to have more job opportunities than the Chippewa Valley does – but that’s in terms of sheer volume. More economy, more businesses, more workers, more people – it’s cyclical.

Heidtke was quick to put a lid on the suggestion that those places are empirically “better,” though.

“One of the things that Eau Claire has going for it is that is has a really nice hometown feel with family-run businesses and employers that really value their employees,” she said. “And I’m not sure that doesn’t happen in the Twin Cities or Chicago, but I’m really positive it does happen here.”

And she said a lot of students who walk through her door for job counseling and advice are looking for community-focused employers, and they place a generous value on community citizenship.

Now, it’s difficult to bring up jobs – with a capital “J” – and not mention the economic development happening in the Chippewa Valley, and specifically in downtown Eau Claire.

Heidtke singled out the Confluence Project and JAMF Software as two big examples of having the massive potential to give downtown the economic power drink it needs to start creating capital-J jobs. Of course it’s somewhat speculative, but having those opportunities so close to home could keep post-grads and young professionals working in the area, instead of giving in to the pressure of the wide open job boards in cities 10 times our size.

So what needs to happen in the meantime? Heidtke said it starts with capital “I”: internships.

“Part of the internship process or the first job after graduation is to get a better understanding of what it means to have a full-time professional job, and what are the demands of an employer, and what’s typical,” she said.

If those internships happen while they’re here, they get students off campus, getting comfortable with the Chippewa Valley’s professional environment, and networking within the area so that come graduation, maybe sticking around is neither jolting nor a tremendous letdown.

It shouldn’t sound like trickery, because it isn’t. Either way, students are only going to stay in the Chippewa Valley if they want to stay in the Chippewa Valley.

Some plan to get jobs based solely on location, while others leave it open-ended. In the end, there’s no pressure on students to stay if that’s not their plan.

“I certainly don’t steer any one person to stay here if they don’t want to. But I certainly encourage them to explore all different options,” Heidtke said. “(But) the more students that we can keep here that are bright, educated young people that are motivated to affect their community, the better.”

How Many Grads Stick Around?

CVTC:

91% of Grads are Employed Within One Year of Graduation

69%  of Those Find a Job in the Chippewa Valley

91%  of Those Find a Job in Wisconsin

UW- Eau Claire:

94% of Grads are Employed Within One Year of Graduation

25% of Those Find a Job in the Chippewa Valley

55% of Those Find a Job in Wisconsin

UW- Stout:

97% of Grads are Employed or Continuing Education

50% of Those Find a Job in Wisconsin