This weekend, thousands of newly minted University of Arizona alumni will wake up and face the question before all new college graduates: What's next?

For some, the answer is already known. To date, 26 percent of respondents to UA Career Services' annual "career destinations" survey of graduating seniors say they have already secured full-time, post-graduation employment in their field. Another 17 percent say they have been accepted into graduate school.

For those who still aren't quite sure what the future holds, help is available from their alma mater.

"Graduating students still have access to all the resources Career Services has to offer," said Eileen McGarry, director of UA Career Services. "That includes a rich, very robust Web suite of resources and events."

For just $20 a year, UA grads can continue to access a variety of Career Services resources, including online job postings, career fairs, seminars, one-on-one career counseling, the opportunity to participate in on-campus interviews with select employers and more. For members of the UA Alumni Association, Career Services access is included in membership.

"If students haven't started looking for jobs or haven't had the success they wanted, there still is a lot to tap into," McGarry said. "Our staff offers career counseling by appointment. They also offer walk-in advice to help get that resume sharpened, help you enhance interview skills and learn how to reach market segments."

Career Services begins working with UA students early in their academic careers to connect them with valuable internship, research, leadership and employment opportunities.

In the 2012-13 academic year, the number of student internships posted online on the Career Services' Wildcat Joblink website jumped 90 percent from last year, with 2,100 opportunities targeting UA students. Meanwhile, full-time positions posted for students grew 20 percent to 3,100. In addition, University career fairs brought in 620 companies, while more than 210 employers engaged in active employee recruiting on campus, interviewing more than 3,600 students. 

McGarry notes that although the job market is improving for college graduates, it remains competitive.

Recent surveys by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, or NACE, suggest that employers plan to hire just 2.1 percent more new college grads from the class of 2013 than they hired from the class of 2012, with the top five hiring industries being educational services; professional, scientific and technical services; health care; federal, state and local government; and finance and insurance. The most in-demand graduates, nationally, include those with engineering, computer science, accounting and business degrees.

As students prepare to enter this competitive workforce, there are a few things they should remember in addition to tapping into Career Services resources, McGarry says.

No. 1: Be patient.

"Sometimes, depending on a student's experience, they have to start in a position they might not have envisioned was what they were going to do doing when they graduated, and then they grow from there," McGarry said. "But anytime I've seen graduates move in, they quickly move up because they're valued by employers, and that often propels them into leadership roles quickly."

Employer satisfaction surveys of companies that recruit from the UA show overwhelming satisfaction with UA graduates hired, especially with regard to their teamwork, communication and problem solving skills, McGarry said.

Also important for job seekers is face-to-face networking. McGarry says students should stay in touch with contacts like professors and UA staff as well as seek out new connections through professional networks related to their field or through UA Alumni Association chapters in their part of the country.

In today's digitally connected world, online networking also is essential. McGarry advises job seekers create a LinkedIn profile to highlight their professional accomplishments and connect with others in their field online. They also should be mindful of how they represent themselves on social networking platforms, such as Facebook, considering how information they share publicly might be viewed by a potential employer.

Of course, a good resume remains forever important. McGarry reminds students their resume should not just describe their past experiences, but rather highlight their specific accomplishments and how what they did had a qualitative or quantitative impact.

When it comes to actually interviewing for a job, candidates should be able to reflect in meaningful ways on their prior experiences and come prepared with a solid understanding of the company interviewing them. McGarry also advises following up with potential employers with "gentle persistence."

Finally, for graduates who have already landed a job, it's important to engage fully in the workplace culture while maintaining a long-term view, McGarry advises.

"Really tune into the culture and really listen to those that want to mentor you," she said. "Start with a mindset that you're really going to be committed to the environment and take a lot in. You also want to keep a long-term view, always – looking out further and having a long-term perspective in mind, not just what's happening right now."

Arizona parents tend to rely on a "patchwork" of child-care arrangements while many are looking for new options at any given time. In addition, many parents struggle to pay for child care – and many can't afford to pay for it at all, according to the Arizona Child Care Demand Study.

A statewide team of researchers from the University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University released a set of reports with results from more than 1,400 interviews with parents of children from birth to 6 years old from across Arizona to determine what they consider important factors when they choose child care for their children, how they find out about child-care options, and what is their demand for child care.

The Arizona Child Care Demand Study is the most comprehensive report on child-care demand that has been conducted in Arizona.

The lead researcher, Douglas Taren, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of public health at the UA Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, said the findings "are a valuable resource for child-care providers to determine what parents want when deciding who and where their children receive care."

The study was supported with funds from Arizona First Things First and several FTF Regional Partnership Councils. The study was conducted across Arizona and included parents living in areas served by 17 regional councils who were from urban and rural areas, border counties and on Tribal Nations. The 11-volume report provides statewide information on child care and 10 separate reports for targeted areas within the state.

Results indicated that when parents search for child care, their top priority is having a safe, secure and homelike setting, with a caring and experienced provider. As children get older, there is a greater emphasis on an educational curriculum, group experiences that help get children ready for kindergarten and a well-trained child-care provider.

According to Beth Blue Swadener, a co-director from ASU, "The results showed that the majority of families use a patchwork of child care, often including two or more different care arrangements, with the exception being those who use fulltime center-based care."

Findings showed that most families use more than one source of child care because of the diversity of family conditions such as having both parents working either full or part time. A majority of parents interviewed in several regions of the state preferred friends, family and neighbor care, particularly for younger children. Grandmothers were the most frequent family member to provide care, and a number of families used unregulated care. Parents most frequently used friends and family to identify possible child-care providers, followed by using popular media including the Internet.

Most parents reported making sacrifices to afford child care, which results in having cost influencing their decisions about child care. The families who appear to be most impacted by the cost of care are single or separated and divorced parents. In many cases, families determined that it was more cost effective to have one parent stay home, at least part-time. According to Mary Jane McLellan from NAU, "Results indicate that families often stay home and out of the workforce because the cost of care makes work impractical."

Parents also voiced their desire for more affordable child-care options in their local communities. Only a small percentage of parents reported receiving scholarships or DES-subsidized child care. Some families reported no cost for care, including those participating in Head Start, a federal program serving low income families.

Although about 50 percent of parents with infants reported a demand for child care, this was the age group that had the least demand compared to older children. The greatest demand was for parents with children 3 to 4 years of age, in which 70 percent were seeking child care for their children.

One of the major findings of the study was that enhanced public information is needed for parents to find child care and learn about some of the indicators of quality care, including greater promotion of free services for parents looking for care. Also, many parents of children with special needs were not aware of their child's right to diagnostic or early intervention services, particularly for children younger than age 3.

Overall, the Arizona Child Care Study found that there is a need to increase outreach and public awareness of services available for families who have concerns about their child's development or chronic health issues.

"This study shows that what parents want in child care is consistent across the state with the most important issues of safety and affordability being the primary reason children do not participate in early childhood education programs," said Taren. "I believe this indicates that we need to provide more financial support for parents so their children can access early childhood education programs. This will have an immediate return on investment by allowing parents to participate more in the workforce and long term returns by having children become more ready to enter school."