In what could be perceived as a never ending cascade of bad news on the job front, this year's graduating class could use some good news. And I've found it! The National Association of Colleges and Employers reports that starting salary offers for the class of 2009 have remained stabled. (Applause)

NACE’s Summer 2009 Salary Survey report shows that the average starting salary offer for new college graduates now stands at $49,307. That’s off less than 1 percent from the average $49,693 that 2008 graduates posted last year at this time

As a group, graduates with bachelor’s degrees in the business disciplines saw their average offer nudge up less than 1 percent to $47,239. Accounting majors did better than the average, and posted a 1.9 percent increase for an average offer of $48,993.

Conversely, the average offer to business administration majors fell 2.1 percent to $44,944. (One factor in the decline: Many of their offers came from retail/wholesale firms, which offered an average starting salary of $40,220—down 6 percent from the average offer of $42,758 retail/wholesale employers offered business administration graduates just one year ago.)

Economics graduates also saw a decrease to their average salary offer, which fell by 1.3 percent to $49,829.

It's about time we saw some good news for recent grads. We've got more good news and helpful advice in The Links ...

Brazen Careerist Daniel Bowen Doesn't Think Anyone Cares About Your Resume: "No one wants to read them, not even recruiters. It’s a chore that takes time, and realistically the last time you did read one (instead of glance at it) was when you were writing your own." And he's right. He then tells you how to fix that.

College Recruiter Found Free Education: "If you are looking to experience a free undergraduate or graduate education at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), it's only a mouse click away. MIT and their Sloan School of Management, through their OpenCourseWare website, offer over 1,900 courses in the sciences, management and humanities for free." I think this is a great resource for enhancing your education.

The Career Doctor Says The Follow Up Phone Call is Still Important: "When we say it’s important to follow-up, we mean to follow-up. Employers often say “no phone calls” because they don’t want hundreds/thousands of people calling them to apply for the job. That wording does not mean, however, that a week or so after you have applied, that you cannot follow-up to be sure they have received your application." It's also acceptable to send along an email.

Jibber Jobber Offers LinkedIn Profile Advice: This is an in-depth and quality breakdown of an existing LinkedIn profile and offers a very useful comparison to your profile. There are some useful tips about upping your connections, adding more recommendations and avoiding grammar mistakes. Helpful stuff.

Careers That Don't Suck Helps You Avoid Identity Theft in the Job Search: "According to Javelin Strategy & Research’s 2009 Identity Fraud Survey Report, 9.9 million people were victims of identity theft in 2008. The Federal Trade Commission’s February 2009 report revealed that 46,950 were the victims of employment-related identity fraud. Both reports reveal a growing trend that you may already be aware of–identity thieves increasingly targeting job-seekers with identity theft scams." Good post on how to avoid it.

"Money" photo courtesey "AMagill" via Flickr Creative Commons