Recruiting and job interviews have dropped nearly 50 percent at the University of Colorado at Boulder, a trend that university officials are observing across the country.
"This year we're experiencing a more than 40 percent decline in employer participation in the recruiting process," said CU-Boulder Career Services Director Gordon Gray. On-campus interviews have declined 48 percent from fall 2000, and job fairs are no longer full of companies aggressively seeking graduates.
"The companies are telling us that it's certainly not a reflection of CU or its graduates, but rather an economic consequence," Gray said. Employers told school officials that they'd be back to campus when they resume looking for new recruits.
College counselors across Colorado and nationwide are reporting the same grim job outlook, according to Gray. There have been worse job markets, but this year's graduating class has lived through economic plenty in recent times, so the situation may seem tougher to them, he said.
"There is still a diversified job market out there, but not as many opportunities, meaning the applicant has to take more initiative and be more persistent," he said.
Teachers remain the most recruited graduates. Candidates are in such high demand that school districts are arranging for provisional teaching licenses for new hires who don't have all the required training, Gray said.
Those hoping to work in a computer-related field after graduation will find employers ready to make offers, but not at the fever pace of two or three years ago, he said.
Mary Banks, director of career development for CU-Boulder's Leeds School of Business, said that jobs are out there for enterprising MBA grads.
"I'm cautiously optimistic about opportunities that are coming up for our MBA graduates," Banks said. "I think they're going to need to be aggressive and creative to home in on the hidden opportunities." Sun Microsystems recently interviewed eight MBA students for a finance position, she said.
IBM, Hewlett Packard, Seagate, Lehmann Brothers, Coors, Sterling Rice and other corporations are looking for summer MBA interns from CU-Boulder. Most of the companies told school officials that they felt some full-time positions would become available within the next six to eight months, according to Banks.
Boeing, Ball and Lockheed Martin continue to actively look for aerospace engineers from CU-Boulder to work on projects that include building jet fighters and satellites, the College of Engineering's Dave Kalahar said.
Aspiring engineers won't escape the economic downturn, but their skills will keep them in demand, he said.
"I don't expect the numbers of graduating students securing employment in the industry to be as good as they've been the last four to five years, but compared to other majors, we won't be affected as much," Kalahar said.
For those in less heavily recruited fields, there are still opportunities with less visible employers. The federal government is in need of new recruits who hold either graduate or undergraduate diplomas. A number of federal agencies attend CU-Boulder career fairs, and while their recruiting is not as overt as private companies' efforts, good jobs do exist in government, Gray said. Social service agencies and construction firms also are interviewing at CU, he said.
Gray stressed that student internships are even more important as a tool to make connections and develop job prospects in a tough economy. CU-Boulder students and recent graduates can take advantage of resources at the campus Career Services office, which actively attracts employers, facilitates job and internship interviews, and prepares students for the job market.
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