Career prospects for students graduating in 2012

[StatGuy2000]

Hi everyone. One of the recurring themes here in the Career Guidance section is how career prospects for physics graduates (or in fact any graduates) depends to a significant extent on when they have entered the labour force (e.g. students who have graduated in 1998 will have very different experiences to those who have graduated in 2008).

Therefore, I have posted a poll stating whether the employment situation/career prospects for students who have graduated in 2012 better, worse or about the same as those who have graduated in 2008/2009 (the height of the financial crisis). I appreciate any insights that all of you can provide.

 

[Nabeshin]

...who exactly do you expect to respond to this poll? Physicists who simultaneously graduated in 2008 and 2012?

 

[StatGuy2000]

...who exactly do you expect to respond to this poll? Physicists who simultaneously graduated in 2008 and 2012?

I expect anyone with an opinion about employment prospects in the US to respond. After all, we all have opinions (based on anecdotes as well as official statistics), so I would like to get a sense of where opinions within Physics Forums (or at least those who post on the Career Guidance section) lie as far as the question I posed is concerned.

 

[twofish-quant]

Having been on the other end of the hiring table...

It's been a really massive roller coaster ride. In 2007 and 2008, we didn't hire anyone, and we were actively *firing* large numbers of people. Since 2009, things have been episodic. People think that things are going well for a quarter, people get hired. Then something happens, and people think things are bad, and so there is no hiring for the next quarter.

Over the last three months, I've gotten the sense that things in the US are improving but things in Europe have gotten worse.

One reason I've given up trying to figure out what the employment picture is six years from now, is that I haven't got much of a clue what the employment picture is going to be like six months from now.

 

[boomtrain]

Hi,

I believe after graduating in physics, one has many options open to make a bright future. Physics as a subject has always been in demand. One can become a research worker, a scientist and can also opt for mechanical engineering.

Do you know people who have done those things recently, or is that just something you heard and started saying?