Penn State students Amber Musser and Adam Veshecco both have jobs lined up for after graduation, which, according to a recent survey, is no big surprise.

According to the survey done by MonsterTRAK, 76 percent of employers will hire 2007 graduates to fill spring and summer positions, an increase of about 5 percent from last year.

"We're always looking for college candidates," said Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency representative Mike Reiber. "We're not looking to fill positions solely with people who have been in the workforce already."

Bob Orndorff, the associate director of career counseling and planning at Penn State's Career Services, said his indication of the increase was shown by the number of employers coming to campus to recruit.

"Career fairs are packed early on. We've had to turn employers away," he said.

The survey, which polled 985 employers and 2,545 students, found that while 89 percent of graduates expect to receive at least one job offer, each entry-level position will have about 70 applicants.

Because of this, 63 percent of employers said there will be no entry-level wage increase from last year, according to the survey.

Employers surveyed by MonsterTRAK said personal characteristics and previous experience are the most important things considered by employers when hiring candidates.

"Students put too much emphasis on GPA. When you're looking for your first job, there are things beyond GPA and educational skills that are important," Reiber said.

The survey showed a student's GPA is the least important factor to both employers and students.

Orndorff said employers are looking for people with good personalities and relationship skills because those are things that can't be taught in school.

"The top six things that employers report to us as being the most important characteristics have been the same for the past five years," he said.

He said these six characteristics fall under two umbrellas: personal skills (communication, teamwork and interpersonal skills) and character (honesty, strong work ethic and motivation).

Another finding of the survey was that one in five employers will check a potential candidate's online profile before hiring them, such as MySpace or Facebook.

Though Musser (senior-nursing) and Veshecco (senior-management information services) never changed their online profiles when they were looking for a job, 40 percent of graduates who have online profiles will alter information before starting their job search, according to the survey.

"You should be aware of it," Orndorff said. "Go back and look at your profiles and make adjustments on edgy things. If you look at an online profile, you get more of a picture of a student. Treat this new trend of recruiters looking at sites to showcase your qualities."