The turbulent 2009 economy has not deterred college students and recent grads from pursuing their goals. In its fifth year running, the results of our annual Placement Survey shed light on some of the employment trends surrounding the Class of ‘09 and their plans for the real world.

More than 630 Gen Y’ers completed the 2009 Placement Survey (dubbed “Share Your Success with Experience”) between the beginning of June and the end of September, and 63% of respondents said “yes” when asked if they were on their intended career path. At nearly two-thirds in the middle of a recession, that’s good news.

So what about the other 37%? Some just had change of heart and others (16%) modified their career paths due to the economy. Forty-three percent of students chose jobs because it was their field of interest and other reasons that followed were advancement opportunities (12%), company culture (9%) and lack of other offers (12%).

What made certain young grads stay on their original tracks and others switch? Obviously, the economy is a major factor—even though we’re finally seeing the light as the recession lifts, students are still moving away from fields such as Finance, which is down when compared to the results of our 2008 Placement Survey. Interestingly, industries like Accounting have seen an uptick in hires. Also in the same vein as last year’s survey, Education was one of the top industries young grads are gravitating toward with 8% of the total respondent base.

We all know that internships help the next generation workforce get experience and exposure to help them decide which career path to pursue. Interestingly, in 2009, roughly two out of five grads (42%) told us they never held an internship during school. On the flip side, nearly three out of five (58%) held at least one internship and, in some cases, more than that. Of those who held internships during school, close to half (44%) landed a job in their desired field.

Now more than ever, there is a direct correlation between students who take on internships and receive jobs and those who don’t. Bringing on interns for full time entry level employment is a great way to fill your pipeline with the right kind of talent in the most cost effective manner. If you hired an intern (paid or unpaid) and they ultimately applied for a full-time position within your company, odds are you’d lean towards your intern vs. other candidates.

One last thing to keep top of mind as you are looking for entry-level employees is that those students who will be graduating in 2010 are looking for positions NOW.  Top candidates are not waiting to get themselves set up for life after college. Follow their lead: promote your internship programs and entry-level openings to help position your company in the right place in the Gen Y world.

To get more insight, check out our Gen Y Insights whitepaper – Internships Becoming a Very Effective Sourcing Strategy – for tips on how to use internships to bring on the best new hires possible.

For the fourth year in a row, Experience took the pulse of Gen Y as they set out to find their first jobs after graduating from college. Our 2008 Job Placement Survey, which ran this past summer from mid May through September, polled close to 650 young professionals about the jobs they landed after graduation. We covered everything from job functions to industries and from salary range to reasons for taking the job in the first place. Given our current economic climate, and especially considering a related independent study also released recently, we’ve found some pretty interesting things.

Looking at the outcomes of job offers extended so far in 2008, we found that the top 10 industries that placed candidates – seen above with relative percentages – represented nearly 60 percent of all industries. With some slight adjustments, three of this year’s top five hiring industries (Education, Finance/Banking and Accounting) were also in the top five in our 2007 Job Placement Survey. In 2008, we’ve seen an increase in placement in the Technology and Healthcare verticals, as well as jobs at Non-Profits and in Government.

When it comes to the roles that they play, new hires in 2008 topped the job functions list with Engineering at close to 9 percent. Following were Teaching/Education (8.3 percent), Accounting/Auditing (6 percent), Finance (5.9 percent) and Sales (5.2 percent). Analysts also appeared in the top 10, as did marketers, researchers, consultants and administrative staffers. Compared to last year, 2008’s job functions signal a pretty drastic change, as the top two functions – engineering and accounting – each dropped in half, from 18.8 percent and 12 percent respectively.

So what does all of this tell us? Well, let me put it to you this way: of the 650 Gen Y’ers polled, nearly a fifth of them took jobs in education. A good number 20-somethings are teachers or hold related job roles in education. While it’s pretty much a given that finance/banking jobs no longer rule the sphere, our respondents’ job placements have validated macroeconomic trends – and as a result, they’ve actively pursued jobs outside the finance and accounting industries and are looking into other sectors.

As I mentioned in my Job Function Search Spectrum post from a few weeks back, employers in 2008 (and for the foreseeable future) should consider positioning their companies and their entry-level opportunities to a larger, more diverse Gen Y audience.

The numbers don’t lie. Finance and banking opportunities for young talent are dwindling, and the market is only getting tighter for young grads. Though employers are most definitely feeling the pinch all around, the glut of entry-level workers represents tremendous opportunity to move beyond industry lines and hire the best candidates possible for their job functions. And in this competitive landscape, job seekers must consider branching out as well.