It's a tough job market for students looking for their first full-time jobs. News reports are full of stories about people sending out dozens or hundreds of applications and receiving no response.
This year, employers project a 1.6% increase in hiring for the Class of 2026, compared with 7.3% growth last year.
Most graduates looking for a job are searching for a long-term career, WalletHub notes in a new report.
These first-time job-seekers want to pursue work they are passionate about that also offers a strong starting salary, opportunities for growth in both pay and responsibility and long-term stability. Their challenge, according to the personal finance website, lies in understanding how to achieve these goals in today's job market.
"An entry-level job won't necessarily be what you stick with long term, but it's certainly good to search for something you think can turn into a career," WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in a statement.
To identify the best and worst first-time jobs, WalletHub compared 108 entry-level occupations across these key dimensions:
— Immediate opportunity (40 points), including average starting salary, number of job openings and unemployment rate
— Growth potential (40 points), including probability of job being replaced with a computer, job and income growth potential and typicality of on-the-job training
— Job hazards (20 points), including fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 employees in the past three years and typicality of working more than 40 hours per week
Researchers evaluated these dimensions using 12 relevant metrics and graded each one on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for entry-level workers.
For students interested in entering the financial service industry, WalletHub identified three occupations in the upper half of its ranking of best jobs for first-timers: Underwriter (Life) I, Tax Attorney I and Financial Analyst I.
See the accompanying gallery for the five best and five worst entry-level jobs.
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