ALLENTOWN, Pa. — College students graduating in December and
May are likely to be the first in a generation to enter a job market featuring
double-digit unemployment. That has colleges and universities across America
scrambling this fall to revamp their career-placement offerings to help new
grads land jobs.
Autumn is one of the crucial recruiting seasons, especially
for students who want to find employment at Fortune 500 companies.
But the outlook for coming college graduates is decidedly
grim. On top of a 22 percent decline in college-grad hiring last year,
employers expect to chop those entry-level hires by an additional 7 percent
this year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
“What we’re seeing is they’re really being
cautious,” said NACE spokeswoman Andrea Koncz.
That dismal hiring forecast is even worse than hiring plans
following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when hiring came to a virtual standstill.
Average starting salaries for 2009 grads dropped 1.2 percent from the year
before, to $48,633.
Those facts are why career counselors across the Lehigh
Valley have worked to shift the mind-set of soon-to-be grads entering the work
force. The basic message: You’ll have to bust your butt to land a job in this
lousy job market.
“What students did years ago isn’t enough today,”
said Amy Saul, director of career development at Moravian College in Bethlehem,
Pa. For example, today’s students are encouraged not only to participate in an
internship program, but in two or three to boost their chances of being hired.
“Competition is much more fierce than it has been in
the past for entry-level candidates,” she said.
And the tough economy has created a distressing paradox.
Just as students most need career-placement services, many colleges are cutting
budgets in their career centers as part of their own belt-tightening.
About 55 percent of college career centers nationwide are
cutting their 2009-10 spending plans, according to preliminary results of a
survey being conducted by NACE. Lehigh Valley college career centers haven’t
made sharp cuts, but some are running leaner.
Worse yet, career-services departments are now catering to
more than just current students. Recent grads who haven’t found work or were
laid off are returning for help. In fact, some alumni are returning decades
after graduation to use job-placement services.
For Kate Hunter, director of career services and internships
at DeSales University, that meant she had to brush up on techniques to help
people land mid-career jobs. “Sometimes, we’re combing through 20 years of
experience on an old resume to find skills that are transferrable to the
current job market,” Hunter said.
To cope with the bad job market — unemployment is 9.8
percent nationally — local colleges are launching new programs, revamping old
ones and tapping alumni for help.
At Lehigh University in Bethlehem, job postings dropped off
a cliff in the spring. The career center started e-mailing alumni who might
help. That doesn’t sound extraordinary, except that for the first time it
e-mailed every single living alumnus it had an address for — an estimated
10,000, said Donna Goldfeder, director of career services. Goldfeder
corresponded personally with every alum who offered a job lead. The result?
Some 300 job opportunities for Lehigh grads, she said.
“We broadened our net with employer outreach too, but
to be honest, that didn’t have nearly the effect of reaching out to the alums
did,” Goldfeder said. By the spring semester, the career center plans to
have a new online database to help students contact alumni directly.
A sampling of new efforts:
Moravian started a pilot program this fall called Career
Connections. It matches students with advisers based on their interests and
targeted professions. It also has “Lunch and Learn” events, including
recent and upcoming ones with recruiters from Major League Baseball and Mars
Inc., maker of M&Ms and Juicy Fruit.
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Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., is tapping more than 600
volunteer alumni and parents to participate in mock interviews over the phone
and in person. Students are using InterviewStream, an interviewing practice
tool that allows students to record mock interviews using a webcam for later
critique.
Northampton Community College has launched a job club that
will offer advice on such topics as resumes and job fairs, networking and
interviewing techniques.
Muhlenberg College plans a new program on effectively using
the online professional networking site LinkedIn, said Cailin Pachter, career
center director. Muhlenberg ramped up efforts to help students apply for jobs
with the federal government, a notoriously arduous process. The Allentown
college also puts together an electronic book for employers and alumni that
contains seniors’ resumes. Usually assembled in the spring, it is being
assembled now.
DeSales adjusted its one-year-old Senior Success Series,
which contains eight programs. Changes included starting job searches earlier
and incorporating a strong networking component, Hunter said.
While new efforts and programs are more newsworthy, many
colleges are re-emphasizing tried-and-true job-search techniques: writing
resumes and cover letters, making contacts and developing a firm handshake.
“It’s career searching 101,” Goldfeder said.
Using such high-tech resources as LinkedIn and online job
postings are important, but they don’t replace old-fashioned face-to-face
networking, career counselors say. That has college students throughout the
Valley practicing their elevator pitches — describing their value in the time
it takes to ride an elevator.
Muhlenberg even hosts “speed networking” events to
practice those 30-second spiels, followed by an alumni networking reception
where they use those networking skills for real.
“It’s not about going online and looking for jobs
anymore,” said Hunter of DeSales. “It’s about getting your face out
there and getting your resume into the right hands. It’s going to take a lot more
legwork.”
While some strategies can be taught in groups, there is
increased demand for individualized advice, counselors say. Lehigh University
dramatically expanded the number of hours it offered for one-on-one career
counseling, Goldfeder said.
Sometimes, part of that counseling is adjusting
expectations. The reality: Some students might not get the ideal job in the
ideal location right now. “We’re telling them there are opportunities out
there, but you might have to reshape what you’re thinking,” Saul said.
With the rough job market, Muhlenberg has seen an increase
in student interest for non-traditional jobs, such as the Peace Corps and Teach
for America. And, of course, a dearth of jobs always makes graduate school more
attractive.
For those with time before graduation, internships are among
the best foot-in-the-door tactics to land work. In 2009, 23 percent of students
who interned had a job in hand at graduation. For those without internship
experience, just 14 percent left college with a signed-sealed-and-delivered
job, according to NACE.
But in 2009, employers cut college internship positions by
21 percent, NACE says.
Career counselors say today’s college students understand
what they’re up against, and they’re generally willing to work harder-to-land
employment.
“I do sense an anxiety,” Pachter said. A recent
program at Muhlenberg, Job Search for Seniors, had twice as many students
attend as last year. “Our students understand how tough it is going to be
this year, and they’re trying to get an early start.”
While on-campus recruiting has waned, the number of job
postings recently has come back toward normal levels, counselors say.
“I take that to be a very good sign — that we’ve gotten
over the worst of it,” Goldfeder said. “We had a tough spring, but I
think we’re back in the game. I’m very optimistic, actually.”
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
