A new IES Abroad study of recent college graduates has found that studying abroad may be one of the best ways for college students to find jobs sooner after graduation related to their majors.

The survey, conducted by IES Abroad, a not-for-profit provider of study abroad programs for U.S. college and university students, showed that nearly 90 percent of IES Abroad study abroad alumni found their first job within six months of graduation, as compared to only 49 percent of respondents in a recent survey of the general college graduate population who had found work within a year of finishing school.

Respondents in the IES Abroad survey graduated from college between 2006 and 2011, a period that fell in the middle of the Great Recession, when it was particularly difficult for recent college graduates to find employment in their area of study. 

The 2012 IES Abroad Recent Graduate Study was conducted in March 2012 to assess the impact study abroad has on a recent graduate’s prospects in securing employment and/or attending graduate school directly after earning a degree from a four-year college or university in the U.S. A total of 1,008 alumni responded to the survey. 

For more information, please visit: https://www.iesabroad.org/IES/About_IES/IES_News/Articles/newsArticle0199.html.