LA'IE — Graduates of some O'ahu colleges and universities are landing jobs before they graduate at a higher rate than the national benchmark — in one case outpacing Mainland schools by more than 16 percentage points.

In some cases, they're also beating the numbers from past graduating classes. Officials are citing a push to place students in undergraduate internships and a strong economy for the increased job placements.

Based on surveys last spring of graduates, local institutions reported that 57 percent to 66 percent of their students had jobs lined up before commencement. The national average is 49.8 percent, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, said Kim Austin, director of Career Services at Brigham Young University-Hawai'i.

BYUH reported 62.4 percent had jobs waiting for them before commencement, up from less than 20 percent in 2003.

Job placements for Hawai'i Pacific University students increased from around 36 percent to 57.3 percent last spring, said Lianne Maeda, director of HPU Career Services Center.

Chaminade University of Ho-nolulu had the highest percent of graduating students with jobs lined up, 66 percent, an increase of 16 percent over the spring 2005 survey. This represents bachelor's and master's graduates who said they had a job at the time of graduation or would have immediately following it, said Kapono Ryan, university spokeswoman.

"It's a good time to be graduating, at least in Hawai'i," Ryan said.

'WASN'T LIKE I WAS LOST'

Area institutions survey students upon graduation to determine who has a job, who will continue with their education or what other plans they may have.

Joshua Din, a BYUH graduate, said securing a job with CBIZ /Mayer Hoffman McCann PC, a benefits firm, before graduation helped him focus on school and gave him confidence to move forward in his career.

"As I was approaching graduation, I was getting excited about my future," said Din, who now lives in Los Angeles. "It wasn't like I was lost."

The University of Hawai'i-Manoa doesn't track student job-placement rates. University spokesman Jim Manke said individual colleges track placement rates of their graduates. Overall, however, he thought the placement rate would be just as high for UH students because the economy is so robust.

Richard Varley, with the UH Business College, said nearly 60 percent of business students who are seeking jobs have secured employment before or immediately after graduation. But the numbers are surprisingly low, given the calls from employers seeking workers, Varley said.

"There's a lot of opportunities out there right now and they are desperate to fill these positions," he said.

Four years ago, the career adviser in Varley's office was swamped with students seeking jobs. "What we're seeing is a dwindling of those numbers. The assumption is they're finding work and they don't need us."

Carl Bonham, director of the University of Hawai'i Economic Research Organization, said he hasn't studied the job placement trend but said he thought the numbers were high for several reasons.

"Clearly, Hawai'i's economy has been producing more job openings on average for the last three years than the U.S. economy," Bonham said. "Hawai'i had the lowest unemployment rate in the country for many months."

LOW UNEMPLOYMENT

Hawai'i's unemployment rate fell to 3.0 percent in July from 3.1 percent in June on a seasonally adjusted basis, the state Department of Labor reported yesterday.

That compared with an increase in the national unemployment rate to a seasonally adjusted 4.8 percent in July, from 4.6 percent a month earlier.

With low unemployment, competition for skilled labor is strong, workers are switching jobs more often and employers are having a difficult time filling positions, Bonham said.

"It makes sense that one thing businesses would do is actively recruit people coming out of college," he said.

Another reason for the placements is the effort universities are putting into getting internships for students. Some internships provide for a stipend and college credits, but the main purpose is to gain experience and on-the-job training.

Some students are hired immediately after their internships, while businesses benefit by having an employee in this tight job market, Bonham said.

INTERNSHIPS HELP

The UH Business College used to place 25 students a year into intern positions. Now it places 200, Varley said.

Ethan Lee, a BYUH graduate, said he was hired before graduation as a forensic accountant and after completing an internship at CBIZ/Mayer Hoffman McCann PC in Los Angeles.

"The internship is the reason that I landed the job," he said.

Lee said that the school's Career Services office was instrumental in helping him prepare for his career search.

Peggy Badstubner, who graduated in June from BYUH with an accounting degree, said she wanted to work for one of the Big Four accounting firms and live in California, but some of them didn't even recruit at BYUH.

Badstubner credits the BYUH Career Services office for helping her land the job at KPMG, one of the largest accounting and tax firms in the world. She now lives in Belmont, Calif., making about $49,000 a year.

Austin, of BYUH, said like other college career centers, the office helps students develop the skills they'll need to manage their careers.

"But a lot of people are involved and ultimately it comes down to the students being able to get the jobs for themselves," she said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.