The potential effect of survey timing on information about teaching employment rates for teacher education program graduates was studied. It is possible that the low rates found by some surveys are more a result of the time of the survey than of low response rate. A secondary purpose was to obtain information about the hiring practices of school systems with regard to when prospective teachers are first offered employment and when graduates prefer to be surveyed. Questionnaires were sent in the spring to 280 students who completed initial teacher preparation programs at the University of Tennessee and became eligible for employment in 1993. Questionnaires were returned by 182 of these graduates (65%). All but 35 of these graduates had returned an earlier survey in the fall. Of the 182 respondents, 121 taught the entire year, 35 did not teach at all during the year, and 26 taught for some portion of the school year. March was the month in which the highest number was employed in teaching. Results of the two surveys show that graduates are more likely to be employed in the spring, but that they are easier to locate in the fall after graduation. Identification of those not yet teaching may be a benefit if faculty and staff know who is still available as vacancies occur. Graduates preferred the fall survey. An appendix contains the cover letter and data collection forms. (Contains 3 tables and 13 references.) (SLD)