Find a Job You Really Want In
If you’ve just graduated from college, now’s about the time you’re probably wondering–what next?
For most of you, the answer will be simple: find a job. And for many of you, the answer will be: find any job. Because we’ve all heard the horror stories of graduating and the pickings being slim, we’ve decided to go ahead and save you some trouble.
After some research and number crunching, we’ve determined the 10 best jobs for recent college grads in Massachusetts. Here they are:
- Business Analyst
- Cytotechnologist
- Teacher
- Counselor
- Sales Manager
- Technician Writer
- Programmer
- Laboratory Technician
- Financial Advisor
- Database Administrator
We know what you’re thinking–business analyst? Really?
You’ll want to keep reading to find out just how we came up with this list and why each job made the cut. Yes, even business analyst.
How we determined the best entry level jobs in Massachusetts
We’ve been talking to a lot of recent college graduates recently, so we have a pretty good sense of what they want in their first job. Their list normally goes in something like this order:
- ANY JOB!! (Availability of jobs)
- Location
- Pay
- Potential for growth
- Work life balance
Lucky for everyone, there’s data available from various sources for ech of the items on this list. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides data on pay by location, each state’s Department of Labor compiles job growth statistics, and ONet Online, another government source, has data on job requirements.
We combined data from each of these sources to produce a master database that contains information for every profession. Specifically, we looked at the following criteria:
- Location quotient. A measure of how common a job is a given state.
- Only for jobs in Massachusetts that require a college degree.
- Average annual entry level salary .
- Projected growth as an industry over the next 10 years.
By limiting the dataset to only those jobs that require a bachelors degree, we were left with 36 jobs to rank.
We then ranked each job on each criteria from 1 to 36 with 1 being the best.
Next, we took the average of each job’s rankings to create a “Job Score”.
Finally, we ranked every job’s “Job Score” from 1 to 36 with 1, again, being the best.
One Job Please
Just graduating from college can be a scary time–but don’t forget, it’s also exciting. You have so many options, so many jobs to pick (or not pick! Go travel!), and so many choices! The world is your oyster, and with this list, so is the job market.
Below is a more detailed look at the best jobs for recent college graduates in the Bay State.
Detailed List Of The Best Entry Level Jobs In Massachusetts For Recent College Grads
| Rank | Job | Growth % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Business Analyst | 7.21% |
| 2 | Cytotechnologist | 7.54% |
| 3 | Instructor | 6.33% |
| 4 | Counselor | 6.52% |
| 5 | Sales Engineer | 2.32% |
| 6 | Technician Writer | 3.49% |
| 7 | Programmer | 6.33% |
| 8 | Laboratory Technician | 7.68% |
| 9 | Finance Aid Advisor | 5.98% |
| 10 | Database Administrator | 5.79% |
| 11 | Radio Frequency Identification Device Specialist | 2.28% |
| 12 | Community Health Worker | 5.42% |
| 13 | Job Coach | 5.22% |
| 14 | Sales Representative | 2.04% |
| 15 | Resident Advisor | 4.99% |
| 16 | Systems Administrator | 4.86% |
| 17 | Web Developer | 4.73% |
| 18 | Epic Consultant | 4.48% |
| 19 | Process Engineer | -1.8% |
| 20 | Legal Assistant | 6.51% |
| 21 | Case Manager | 4.72% |
| 22 | Coach | 6.13% |
| 23 | Kindergarten Teacher | 5.99% |
| 24 | Interior Designer | 5.26% |
| 25 | Recruiter | 4.55% |
| 26 | Credit Analyst | 3.33% |
| 27 | Animator | 0.0% |
| 28 | Estimator | 4.2% |
| 29 | Account Executive | 5.63% |
| 30 | Network Technician | 3.67% |
| 31 | Event Coordinator | 4.4% |
| 32 | Insurance Agent | 4.72% |
| 33 | Camp Counselor | 3.67% |
| 34 | Designer | 0.0% |
| 35 | Tax Examiner | -1.85% |
| 36 | Mental Health Technician | -0.44% |
Author
Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.
