Don`t lost heart, graduates; there are jobs out there, and they aren`t all just flipping hamburgers.
That`s the good news. The bad news is that the jobs may not be exactly what you had in mind, or where you want to live. While some fields, such as retail and airlines, have virtually no openings because of bankruptcies and consolidation, most industries need to do some hiring.
”I know the general concept of the market is that it`s horrendous, but entry-level hiring exists out there,” said Joyce M. Short, president of the National Career Network, a New York-based company that attempts to link college graduates with entry-level professional jobs.
”The work still has to be done,” Short said. ”Firms, when they are cutting down their operating expenses, will look to hire the least expensive candidate. Many firms will, unfortunately, lay off and hire a less-expensive person.
”But hiring is very specific,” Short added. ”College graduates don`t really realize the firm has a very specific requirement for the program or position.”
In other words, it`s a seller`s market.
”They`re hiring, but the numbers aren`t big,” said Victor R. Lindquist, director of placement at Northwestern University.
Both agreed the majority of openings are with smaller-and often healthier-companies. ”There are going to be jobs out there, but they`re not going to be with the headline organizations, the Fortune 500 companies,”
Lindquist said. ”There are wonderful situations in small companies that are doing quite well.”
Here`s a rundown of job prospects in some key business areas.
Financial services
Widespread layoffs in financial services mean that job-seekers just out of school will be competing against people who graduated a year or two ago and have been laid off, Lindquist said.
”I frankly don`t know of a single financial institution that has higher hiring goals for the Class of `91 than they did for the Class of `90,” he said.
Within the financial services industry, here`s what the picture looks like:
– Banking overall looks pretty grim. However, small and medium-size banks are hiring, with New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas the hottest areas, Short said.
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At the University of Illinois in Champaign, recruiting by banks has been uneven, said Lois Meerdink, placement director at the College of Commerce and Business Administration. Some banks that usually interview on campus haven`t shown up this year, others have fewer jobs to fill, but a few are going strong. For example, ”Banc One has been talking a very positive picture,”
she said.
– Regulatory jobs have increased, Short said. ”All of these bank insolvencies have created a large mandate to hire and beef up the regulatory agencies that govern the industry,” she said. ”The Resolution Trust Corp., the FDIC, even the U.S. Department of Treasury have training programs for which they hire candidates with finance, accounting and general business degrees.”
– Financial exchanges are hesitant about adding staff, although anybody with the cash or credit to buy a seat is able to do so. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has eliminated 50 staff jobs from its 1,000-person payroll, and the Chicago Board of Trade has imposed a hiring freeze.
But some see change coming. The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor`s 500-stock index have soared, and there are predictions the recession will be short-lived. That would translate into more people looking at stocks and futures, resulting in more jobs in brokerage houses and exchanges.
– Accounting jobs are a mixed bag. Hiring by public accounting firms is down more than 10 percent this year, and starting salaries are flat, according to the firms and campus placement officials.
”New opportunities tend to be in managerial accounting,” both within corporations and at CPA firms, said John Hogan, dean of the school. ”Demand for accountants by other organizations is quite brisk,” he said.
Short said her network has been asked to provide candidates for corporate openings in cost accounting, financial analysis and inventory control.
Insurance companies may be a good source of accounting jobs this year. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the nation`s largest home and auto insurer, has stepped up its accounting hires at its Bloomington headquarters because of a program to improve internal accounting procedures, said Willie Brown, director of home office personnel relations.
– Insurance companies overall expect hiring to remain flat to sharply lower. Computer programmers and accountants seem to be the most in demand, followed by actuaries, architects and underwriters.
Short said that actuarial openings are among the hardest jobs to fill, because requirements to be certified are so difficult.
– Financial planning is a hot button for students, college placement officers say. But in many cases, openings billed as ”financial planning”
really are sales jobs in insurance or brokerage firms, most of which are pay on commission only, said Jean Callary, campus recruitment coordinator at Northern Illinois University. ”But students are interviewing in big numbers.”
Health care
There still is a dearth of nurses and other health professionals, such as physical therapists, occupational therapists, radiology technicians, respiratory therapists and medical technologists.
As of Jan. 1, there were 1,500 registered nursing openings in the Chicago area alone, according to Kevin Scanlan, director of human resources for the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, which represents 50 hospitals.
Science/technology
– Engineering is hot, job counselors agree. ”Right now there are lots and lots of electrical engineering graduates and fewer mechanical engineers,” said Leslie Andersen, placement manager at the Illinois Institute of Technology. ”It would appear that mechanical engineers are more in demand. The really hot areas are chemical and civil engineers. There are more jobs and fewer graduates.”
– Computer science also is fertile job ground, but employers are picky.
”It is those students with good grade points and some work experience who have the best opportunities,” Andersen said. ”Overall we`ve had a slight drop in on-campus recruiting this semester.”
Short said many of the computer-related jobs are not with the big-name hardware or software companies, but with corporations seeking qualified people to run in-house systems.
– Pure science gets plenty of lip service, but that`s not translating into jobs. Leon Lederman, a Nobel laureate, University of Chicago physics professor and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, issued a report earlier this year concluding that, while federal research funding has risen slightly in the last two decades, the number of researchers competing for money has doubled.
However, Warren Wessels, assistant dean of the University of Illinois`
College of Agriculture, said he`s seeing demand for agriculture scientists for research and development, especially for food firms.
Agribusiness
Agriculture graduates at the U. of I. also are being recruited by grain and seed companies that need to fill positions in merchandising, sales and management, Wessels said. However, there`s little recruiting by farm equipment manufacturers.
Food
Food companies traditionally are considered recession-proof, because people have to eat regardless of the economy. In general that`s true now, although the University of Illinois had at least one major food company, Nestle, cancel interviews after a hiring freeze was imposed.
But Kraft General Foods, General Mills Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co. appear to be recruiting as usual.
David Jaski, manager of staffing and organization for Kraft, said the biggest opportunities are in technical areas, including food science.
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Hospitality
This industry is growing, despite the slow economy. ”In Chicago, three hotels are opening up this year, and they all need to be staffed,” said Arnold Karr, executive director of the Hotel-Motel Association of Illinois. He said hospitality jobs have increased by 10 percent in the last five years,
”and I envision this to continue to grow.”