College Grads Enjoy Stronger Job Market

After four years of college - and all the reading, writing and romance that entails - Northwestern University graduate Gretchen Biesecker did what many other students do when they can’t find the job of their dreams: Head back to school.

After two more years of business school at Indiana University, Biesecker was faced with the inevitable - getting a job. To her surprise, it wasn’t all that hard.

She had 25 on-campus interviews for brand-management jobs and received 10 second interviews. In late March, she chose St. Louis-based Ralston-Purina and received a large signing bonus, an increasing staple as companies try to lure top talent.

“I felt it was pretty impressive not to have to try so hard to find a job,” Biesecker said. “It just seemed like there was an awful lot of recruiting, and everyone was coming earlier this year to get us.”

Despite well-publicized corporate employment cutbacks, Biesecker’s good fortune is being echoed across the nation as college graduates enter the job market.

Employers expect to hire 4.7 percent more graduates this year, the third straight increase following four years of decline, according to an annual survey conducted by Michigan State University’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute.

James E. Challenger, president of job search firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., says there’s one reason in particular why college graduates have been benefiting from a better job market: “They’re cheaper.”

“Companies that have downsized might once have had three people doing jobs. They’ve cut two (people), given another person two jobs and are hiring college graduates to do the third, less difficult job,” Challenger said. “In the long run, they save money that way.”

Of the entry-level jobs being offered, 49 percent are in service fields that include accounting, consulting and computer software development - one of the nation’s fast-growing fields. Thirty-six percent of the offers are coming from manufacturers, particularly those in electronics, automotive, mechanical and computer equipment fields.

Students in other disciplines are likely to have a tougher time finding jobs, although a strong liberal arts education would make them good prospects for many firms, career services officials said.

“It really is a very good year for students in just about any field,” said William Banis, director of placement at Northwestern University.

Recruiting increased an average 17 percent at college campuses this year, although many corporations are asking schools to weed out the top prospects and send resumes beforehand, according to Dawn Oberman, director of employment information at the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

“They like to make sure they have students who they know are going to be the best prospects, particularly in computer, high-tech and software development fields,” Oberman said. “Those fields started taking off last year, and we’re really going full-throttle at this point.”

Recruiting executives at many companies say they want forward-thinking students who can jump into a job without taking a lot of direction.

Exxon Corp., based in Irving, Texas, increased its recruiting slightly over last year to hire about 300 graduates from the nation’s top engineering and science schools, said spokesman Bruce Tackett.

“We’re looking to hire people who know what they are doing without a lot of supervision, people who have the kinds of skills we want,” Tackett said. “When we get those people, the trend has been to keep them for a long time.”

And companies increasingly are doing more to reach such students.

Most major corporations have established World Wide Web sites on the Internet that give students access to information and, in some cases, jobs wanted.

“The activity in using the Web is clearly an emerging way in which students looking for jobs can find out both about employers and specific job opportunities,” said Robert Riesman, director of career and placement services at the University of Chicago.

The university normally attracts heavy recruiting from financial services, investment banking and management consulting firms looking to grab undergraduates who want to make their mark at a company without necessarily staying for the long haul, Riesman said.

Midsize and smaller firms also have stepped up college recruiting, particularly in high-tech fields. Some pitch their jobs as getting in on the ground floor of developing firms.

Spyglass Inc., a designer of World Wide Web software, last year began on-campus recruiting efforts and this year stepped up college visitation programs to make the company more high-profile to students, said Susan Tharp, Spyglass director of operations.

“The big companies come in and snap up the good candidates right off the bat, but we got a few good people and it turned out well,” Tharp said.

At Harvard, a growing number of students are finding smaller companies more attractive because of the lure of being an entrepreneur and because you’re no longer guaranteed, or necessarily want, a lifetime job at many larger corporations, said Bill Wright-Swadel, director of career services for the arts and sciences college.

“A small employer who has the right kind of opportunity that matches a student’s interest can compete quite well,” he said. “Increasingly, we’re seeing students who want to take charge of their life right away and see smaller companies as a way of doing that.”

Because of the increased competition, graduates in many fields will see bigger starting paychecks.

Starting salary offers increased 3.3 percent for some engineers, while health-occupation graduates will see paychecks jump 8 percent over last year, according to a survey of career services offices.

English, sociology and nursing majors will not fare as well, according to the survey. Starting salaries fell 1.6 percent, 7.5 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively.

Challenger had words of advice for all graduating students. “Don’t wait for your dream job to come along, take the one you can find and work at it,” he said.

He predicts the period of job growth for graduates is nearly over as companies complete downsizing and no longer need to fill spots.