By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – More than 5,500 students graduated from the University of Arizona on Friday night at Casino del Sol Stadium in Tucson.
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Graduates reflected on four years of work as they prepared to enter the job market.
“At the end of the day, I found my best friends; they are absolutely great guys, and I couldn’t be happier with the situation,” said Hayden Hallett, a member of the Class of 2026.
Many graduates expressed uncertainty about entering the workforce.
While students like Delaney Jacobs said she plans to stay optimistic. “I think staying optimistic is like the key and not getting down about if you can’t get a job, so just hopeful to get a job,” she said.
Graduate Charlie Baker said he is not ready.
“I’m absolutely not ready whatsoever, and I wish I could stay another four years, but we are going to try our best,” he said.
A similar sentiment for students like Cooper Good who worry about the state of the current job market.
“The job market is kind of dim right now, so it’s a little bit scary, especially for social behavioral sciences,” she said.
However, officials with the university’s Career Readiness Center said research shows over a 5% increase in early talent hires this year.
“It’s higher than the last two years, and it’s higher than we thought things were going to look like when we started the academic year this fall,” said CRC Executive Director Emily McCarthy.
McCarthy said there is a larger increase in companies with more than 100 employees.
Research firm HireVue shows professional services, engineering, and finance are some of the top industries for new hires.
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McCarthy also said the graduating class has more resources than ever.
“I think most students are more ready and more prepared than they think they are,” she said.
The university and the CRC focus on job experience before and after graduation.
“We really coach students towards experiential learning, that could and internship, that could be a research experience, it could be a student employment experience,” McCarthy said.
An approach that helped students like Hudson Greenberg.
“The university definitely prepared us for the best, I mean, the real world is hard, but this place really throws all the obstacles at you, and we are ready for whatever,” he said.
While there was a lot of celebration throughout the evening, the mood shifted during the keynote speaker’s speech.
Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, faced boos throughout his commencement speech.
Schmidt had been under fire from students for weeks regarding a sexual assault allegation from a former business partner, and Schmidt allegedly being named in the Epstein files.
Boos rang throughout the stadium before he reached the stage and continued during his introduction and speech. The crowd clapped at only two moments during the speech rather than booing.
Boos intensified during his focus on AI and data centers as well.
Schmidt addressed the boos at certain points of the speech, calling on the freedom of expression.
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