"During the recession, banks laid off tons of analysts, and they obviously weren't hiring," Flynn said. "You're already swimming upstream, and if the banks aren't hiring it's going to make it extremely hard."

But Flynn is quick to add college students can't just sit back and wait for the job offers to flow in. Flynn flew to New York this semester to personally sell himself and his skills to his top job picks.

"The day after graduating, students come into the career center and say, 'Now what do I do?' he said. "If you want an extremely good job, you have to start in September of your senior year."

Crow said she hopes students don't take the bustling job market for granted and postpone looking for internships and contacts that will help them land their dream job.

At the U., Inman encourages students to come to the career services office during their freshman year to begin discussing what type of field they want to enter and plan a route to getting there.

"Being employed is not an issue, but if you want career advancement and the kind of income that sustains a family, then a college degree is the only way to achieve that," he said.

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com