This Week’s Hiring Trends: Business, Entrepreneurship and Consulting

Updated 9/4/2020

Given the rapid changes associated with the pandemic, we will be regularly sharing reporting trends in hiring sectors across the Chicagoland area in the Business, Entrepreneurship, and Consulting career community. This week, we interviewed Lamar Butler at Midwest Legacy Group on what students can do to stay competitive in their job search.

Interested in a career path in Finance? Make sure to follow Midwest Legacy Group on Handshake to learn about new opportunities, and make sure to register for Finance Spotlight Night to connect with employers hiring for opportunities in Financial Services.

What tips do you have for students conducting a job or internship search right now?

Patience, the current market has seen more layoffs than any time prior. I also recommend adjusted expectations. What we are seeing is a dip in salaries as the economy begins to recover slowly, this will take quite some time. Many that have been able to keep their jobs, take substantial pay cuts in the process. This has been seen in many industries during the pandemic.

How can students make themselves stand out to an employer?

What will be beneficial to stand out, is sharing some of your personal life experience and showing the human side of whom you are. Often, we just see the details of academic achievement and accolades and employers that may give credibility. What goes along with that is the person behind the resume who is actually being hired, so it would be good to show a portion of that in which you are comfortable sharing.

What advice do you have for students whose job or internship offer has been rescinded?

If an offer has been rescinded a key piece to remind yourself of, is that it was not something you did or controlled that lost it. hiring freezes are very common in tough economic times as companies go into a safe mode managing the books. Adversity comes in many forms throughout our professional careers. How we respond to it is what is more memorable. If you lose the opportunity, stay grateful and appreciative to have been considered in the first place. As employers look to re-open, that opportunity may have only been paused not lost and reaching back out as you see hiring begin again, you already have familiarity and an approval to leverage.

As you think about university recruiting now and going forward, what has changed?

The format of recruiting may possibly be altered forever. The idea of outside campus presence and exposure to heightened risk, I can not see administrators wanting to absorb that. The influence of technology will be an aide as the students we look to reach also change their platforms of communications. The scope actually will span much farther for those who may not be available on a campus visit event and feel disconnected. This is possibly more of a positive as it relates to reaching a bigger population of students more frequently by making information about employers digital and creating access to jobs even more shareable on devices than prior. Campus touches seem to be an antiquated approach that we will move from and see greater success for students to find the right employer.

Updated 8/20/2020

This week, we are focusing on the intersection of technology and business, and careers in logistics and supply chain. One of the largest news stories this week was Amazon’s expansion in corporate sector jobs. The tech giant announced they will be growing by over 3,500 new positions, and also made the interesting announcement to bank on in-office work through acquiring a New York City Fifth Avenue building from WeWork for over 1 billion.

Coronavirus has had a significant impact on the logistics industry, but recently, large companies like Echo Global Logistics are seeing a rebound, according to Crain’s Chicago. “Larger brokers like Echo and C.H. Robinson are in a very good position because they’ve been investing on the technology side, further widening the gap between themselves and some of the midsized players,” Seidl says. “Ultimately, they’re going to take over more market share and weed out that smaller to midsized brokerage space.” That’s good news for large companies, but smaller firms are feeling the pressure.

Employers recruiting at DePaul are starting to expand their positions posted on Handshake, with 1373 employers with active positions posted as of this week. As we are gearing up for fall, companies are hungry to meet with DePaul talent in virtual recruiting events! Our Fall Fair, Meet the Firms, and Finance Industry Spotlight Night are a few Career Center events to keep on your radar. Additionally, consulting firms like Huron, and public accounting firms like PWC have multiple events posted on Handshake to get to know you! Make sure to meet with your Business, Entrepreneurship and Consulting Career Advisor to make sure you’re ready for fall recruiting.

Updated 8/5/2020

This week, we will be focusing on trends in Accounting and Tax, as the global pandemic is creating some interesting ripple effects for companies and accounting expertise is important for navigating these murky waters. This Wednesday, the DePaul Business, Entrepreneurship, and Consulting Career community hosted alumnus James Mahon from Morrison & Morrison who spoke on some of the ways the pandemic is impacting the tax profession (Blog post on the event coming soon if you missed it! They are also hiring DePaul students for full-time jobs and internships).

Additionally, the Big 4 Accounting Firms have a wealth of resources on how COVID is impacting industries. KPMG, EY, Deloitte, and PWC all have interesting data to browse through. Becoming knowledgeable on these trends will help you prepare for small talk in the upcoming fall virtual networking events and interviews. CPAs remain more important than ever in the current market. According to EMSI, there were 5,538 positions listing CPA as a qualification.

When it comes to recruiting at DePaul specifically, the number of employers with active job postings has increased from last week (1,238 employers on Handshake are actively hiring now, up from last week). We’ve seen a lot of employers in the Accounting, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Commercial Banking industries reaching out to our students. Want to make sure your Handshake profile is up-to-date? Make sure to meet with your Business, Entrepreneurship and Consulting Career Advisor to put your best foot forward!

Updated 7/24/2020

Key take-aways

Remote internships are a great way to build on your experiences in the classroom! Check out some of the awesome remote internships available on Handshake (examples below)
Industries are becoming leaner than ever before with multiple layoffs across the Tech, Airline, and Retail industries
Accounting employers are gearing up for fall recruitment, and are among the top companies actively messaging DePaul students on Handshake

This week, one of the most notable trends we’ve seen in the Business community is industries becoming leaner to stay ahead of the economic downturn. Tech giants such as LinkedIn recently announced a layoff of 960 jobs which equates to 6% of their global workforce. We’ve also seen plans for downsizing staff across the airline industry including American and Southwest, and layoffs in retail with J.C. Penny, Men’s Wearhouse, and Walgreens, surprisingly. According to EMSI, hiring is still down compared to last July, however, there are great opportunities in the entry level workforce. Around 40% of all job openings in the Chicagoland area in Accounting and Sales require less than 1 year of experience, and 58% of positions in Hospitality are entry level positions as well.

When it comes to recruiting at DePaul specifically, the number of employers with active job postings has increased from last week (1,178 employers on Handshake are actively hiring now). If you’re looking to build experience this summer and into the fall, make sure to take advantage of the awesome remote internship opportunities on Handshake. Epsilon recently posted a Human Resources Internship, the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce is looking for an Events and Marketing Intern, and Selection Capital is looking for a Private Equity Analyst Intern. If summer did not go according to plan, don’t rule out a fall internship as a great alternative to capitalizing on your experience and increased flexibility with remote learning.

As far as employers who are actively reaching out to DePaul students, Accounting is big right now. Ernst & Young, Crowe, and Wipfli are the top three companies messaging students, so make sure your Handshake profile is updated. Crowe and Wipfli currently have active positions on Handshake, and most employers in the Accounting industry will begin to post their positions soon before fall recruiting starts. Interested in applying for one of these positions? Make sure to meet with your Business, Entrepreneurship and Consulting Career Advisor to put your best foot forward!

Updated: 7/2/2020

Key Takeaways

Business industries (Accounting, Banking, Hospitality, Logistics, Market Research, and Sales) are showing continued negative growth in unique job postings across the Chicagoland area this week
A few key areas (Manufacturing, CPG, and Travel & Recreation) show positive growth compared to this time last month
There has been an increase in employers hiring on Handshake at DePaul, particularly in Analyst positions for full-time roles and Investment Banking Internships

Looking back on the month of June, how did the job markets fair with the launch of reopening in many states? Nationally the numbers are relatively unchanged from May, however there is positive growth in a few key areas in business.

Manufacturing (+47.8%), Consumer Goods ((+48.1%), and Travel & Recreation are all up compared to this May according to LinkedIn’s hiring report. These month-over-month gains seem large, however, hiring is still down from this time last year and we are still seeing declines in unique job postings compared to last year in the Chicagoland area in this week’s read of the EMSI report numbers.
According to EMSI, every area is down across unique job postings compared to this time last year, but Hospitality (-34.7%), Market Research (-41.4%), and Logistics (-43.1%) are hit the hardest.
The positive news is, the unemployment rate is declining slightly, from 13.3% in May to 11.1% in June according to the Federal Bureau of Labor statistics.

When it comes to recruiting at DePaul specifically, the number of employers with active job postings is back up from last week (1,139 employers on Handshake are actively hiring now). Don’t forget to complete your profile, because employers (84 this week!) are actively reaching out to DePaul students!

In the BEC community, it’s good news for those who have strong analytical skills as we’ve had many recent Analyst roles posted at companies like Goldman Sachs, PL Marketing and NISA Investment Advisors. Additionally, internships in banking are a trend at DePaul right now as JP Morgan, NextGen Growth Partners, and TD Ameritrade recently began recruiting for their internship programs this week. Interested in applying for one of these positions? Don’t forget to meet with your Business, Entrepreneurship and Consulting Career Advisor to make sure your job search is on the right track!

Updated: 6/12/2020

Key Takeaways:

The decline in unique job postings in the business sector has plateaued across Chicago, and we’ve seen global trends indicate an economic rebound in China and France.
Accounting hiring has spiked to 11.1% across Chicago, which is significant positive growth.
Upskilling and reskilling are industry trends emphasized by the Human Resource industry, and job seekers benefit from highlighting adaptability and interpersonal skills.

With the prospect of reopening looming for many organizations, there is a lot of focus on the idea of upskilling and reskilling employees. Therefore, as a jobseeker, now is a really important time to highlight your transferable skills. Particularly, adaptability and interpersonal communication can both come to your advantage at this time.

HR leaders discuss the importance of combining business strategy and empathy for their employees, which is an important context for those of you who are currently in the interview process. Preparing scenarios for discussing a time where you had to have a difficult conversation at work, or a time where you had to take on a new project or overcome a problem that you weren’t expecting, could prove to be particularly valuable to a Hiring Manager.

In DePaul’s employer engagement, we’ve seen a few industries within business ramp up their hiring on Handshake.

Internet and Software, Accounting, and Manufacturing are the top industries with positions in business who have posted on Handshake within the last 10 days.
On a global scale, LinkedIn’s latest hiring report shows positive growth in the countries like China and France that have reopened.
In Chicago, we’ve seen decline plateau, with all 6 industries averaging out at a rate of .25% in positive growth. That average was brought up by the heavyweight Accounting hiring sector, which saw a sharp increase of 11.1% in numbers of unique postings since last June.
If global trends are consistent, Chicago will hopefully see growth in hiring soon.

Updated 6/5/2020

One of the new initiatives launched by the DePaul Career Center Marketing Communications Team that your organization should be aware of is our Senior 2020 Spotlight! We are compiling a list of DePaul graduates with unique skills, experiences and interests who are currently seeking employment opportunities. We’ve arranged this in easy-to-search industry sectors, and using this platform is a great way to quickly source available talent for your open opportunities.

Senior 2020 Spotlight Business, Entrepreneurship and Consulting Grads:

Lauryn Moses, Applied and Computational Mathematics Major
Reilly Hastings, Business Management Major
Dion Dennis, Business Management Major

Additionally, if you are looking to hire for positions, our DePaul students are actively utilizing Handshake at a higher rate. We’ve seen an increase in engagement at 39.4% with Alumni, and 9.7% with Undergraduate students. That’s great news for employers who are looking for candidates with more work experience for positions; our alumni are active!

Looking at the broader Chicagoland area hiring trends, recent updates in the EMSI reports show a unique posting decrease averaging at 6% across the Accounting, Banking, Hospitality and Retail, Marketing and Sales, and Logistics and Supply Chain industries. This is expected, with the uncertainty of the pandemic impacting hiring timelines. Another interesting finding is the commonality of top skills across the Business, Entrepreneurship and Consulting Career Community; organizations report Management, Communication and Leadership as their most sought after skills they are seeking in candidates. How do these skills align with your organization’s needs?

We’d love to have a conversation with you about how you can effectively engage with DePaul students and alumni during this time! Please connect with us at recruitstudents@depaul.edu or 312-362-5201 to learn ways to build your virtual brand and hire talented and passionate DePaul students.