More companies seeking recent college grads

College and university representatives in the Chicago area are starting to see an uptick in employers seeking recent graduates.

Representatives say a 15 to 20 percent increase in job postings by employers during this school year alone appears to correlate with a decrease in the national unemployment rate. The 11 percent unemployment rate in the Chicago metropolitan area is higher than the national rate by more than 2 percentage points.

"We think employers are getting more comfortable in providing opportunities for our students," said Jaime Velasquez, assistant director for the Office of Career Services at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Employers know that a recent grad is going to accept the entry-level salary as opposed to someone who's been in the workforce for a while."

Velasquez said the success of recent UIC career fairs is another sign of an improving economy.

"If you combine all the fairs, we've had more than 100 employers who've expressed interest in participating," Velasquez said. "We've had around 80 employers in recent years."

However, the economy still has a long way to go, Velasquez said.

"None of (the recent career fairs) compare to 10 years ago, when we had well over 150 employers at our fairs," he said.

Although there tends to be a variety of companies for the students to choose from at the fairs, a large number of job opportunities generally tend to be in accounting and finance, regardless of the state of the economy, Velasquez said.

"If the economy's good, somebody needs someone to count the money, and if it's bad, we need someone to show you how to save and make money," he said.