In its first-ever ranking of colleges, published on Oct. 29, 2015, the Economist ranked APU in the 92nd percentile for most hirable and highest median income-earning graduates.
“The reality is that APU students receive an excellent education that develops them as whole people who can step into the marketplace and compete, not only with technical skills but with soft skills,” Center for Career and Calling director Philip Brazell said. “Students should walk in confidence through their job search and application processes, knowing that they can contribute to work in meaningful ways.”
Brazell said he believes students should be confident in the training and development they get while they are at APU and that their experience makes them leaders and difference makers.
“These are numbers that speak to the breadth and depth of the students who are attracted to APU and the students they become when they graduate,” Brazell said.
Brazell encourages graduating seniors to use the office in light of their post graduation job search to connect with alumni, employers and recruiters.
“We have a team of career consultants that desires to help students be ready to step into an interview, have an excellent résumé and represent themselves and APU well. We would love to help in this process however we can,” Brazell said.
Academic coach for the Office of Academic Advising and Retention Peter Smart said the Economist ranking may influence students while they are still in school.
“Students can take this statistic into consideration not only in their future career life but also into their current academic life,” Smart said. “By knowing that they will be hirable in the future, they will want to apply themselves more so into their school work now.”
Junior applied exercise science major Zoe Wilkens said she was comforted by the results of the Economist’s ranking of APU.
“It definitely gives me confidence because jobs after college sometimes aren’t secure, and since I will be graduating in a year and a half, it gives me some relief that we are highly looked at,” Wilkens said.
The office will host an event called No Opportunities Wasted (NOW) on December 12 from 9 to 11 a.m. for December undergraduate students to help them with job searching, résumés and interviewing.