LIM’s Office of Career and Internship Services recently released its Class of 2020, Life After LIM College report, a comprehensive look at the Career Outcomes Rate for all graduates who earned associate, bachelor's, or master's degrees in the previous year.*
The report reveals that within nine months of graduation, an impressive 94% of LIM’s 2020 graduates were either working in fashion and its related industries or continuing their education.
Below, Nina Fiddian-Green, Assistant Vice President of Career and Internship Services, answers questions about what graduates have gone onto as their next career step and what this says about the value of an LIM education.
Q: Where are LIM’s 2020 graduates currently working?
NFG: Graduates are working in many different aspects of fashion and in a lot of different positions. There are over 300 different companies—in apparel, accessories, footwear, beauty, marketing, entertainment, media, and many more—at which our 2020 alumni are working.
The types of jobs they’re getting are very indicative of where the world is today. 29% are working in sales, with double-digit percentages in Marketing, Advertising/Media/PR, and Operations. Roles include everything from buyers to bloggers to event assistants to brand managers, and much much more.
Q: How has LIM adapted its educational approach to meet current challenges and prepare students for the careers of today and tomorrow?
NFG: Our focus is supporting student success with future-ready career education, personalized coaching, and internship and cooperative learning experiences. As the business of fashion went digital, the Office of Career and Internship Services reimagined LIM’s experiential education program to match the changing workplace, evolving technologies, and the global marketplace. With support from the Office of External Relations and Alumni Affairs, our staff and faculty enabled the Class of 2020 to envision career paths, experience “a day in the life” of these professions, and graduate with experience and resumes tailored to their goals.
Q: How do these impressive stats reinforce the overall value of an LIM education?
NFG: LIM fosters a unique connection between real-world industry experience and a rigorous liberal arts and business curriculum with industry knowledge. This “learning by doing” approach has been firmly rooted since our founding and is essential to helping our students be more ready to hit the ground running and realize their full potential as fashion’s next generation of trendsetters, entrepreneurs, and business leaders.
Q: What is your overall takeaway from this report?
NFG: It's truly inspiring what our Class of 2020 has been able to accomplish, given the uncertain and rapidly changing working world they suddenly graduated into. They demonstrated their passion and perseverance in pursuit of career success in the global business of fashion and its related industries. The job market for LIM College graduates remains strong.
* Students were surveyed via Handshake, LIM's job and internship search platform, and the statistical data is derived from voluntary, self-reported results, in accordance with NACE guidelines. Information was recorded for 438 students who earned either an associate, bachelor's, or master's between January 1 and August 31, 2020. Additional data was collected through phone surveys, faculty or staff reporting, LinkedIn, and other public sources.
