With just three months before they graduate, many Boston University seniors said they are still unsure about their occupational futures, in large part due to the recent economic recession.
“Any time seniors are graduating, it is a climactic time because it’s their first time in the job field,” said Director of Career Services Richard Leger, who acknowledged the economy is currently a setback. “Right now the job market is slower for sure, but it’s not a disaster.”
Many seniors are finding themselves with no definite future at this point, and this does not sit well with some members of the graduating class.
“There’s been a nervousness out there about knowing the economy’s been difficult and hearing some employers aren’t hiring or hearing that employers are waiting to see what happens before they decide that they’re going to be hiring,” said Dale McLennan, assistant director of Undergraduate Career Services at the School of Management.
“It seems like people are worrying about it,” said College of Communication senior Melissa Whitcumb. “A few of my friends that graduated last year just found jobs and they’ve been looking constantly since they graduated in May, and that was before [Sept. 11].”
Whitcumb said she is currently unsure about her near future following graduation. She hopes to travel to Europe, California and possibly Australia before settling into a job.
“I have an internship right now at an advertising agency, so I’m kind of working with that right now to see if I can network that way,” Whitcumb said. “Before I leave I want to try to find out if anyone has any contacts that I can get in touch with because getting into the advertising business basically depends on who you know.”
In contrast to previous years when employers heavily recruited graduating seniors, McLennan said this year’s seniors are realizing “they need to go after the employers because it’s really the employers’ market as far as the jobs go.”
“There are fewer employers on campus this year than there were last year,” Leger said.
COM students have been feeling the employment crunch, according to Joyce Rogers, senior specialist of the COM Career Center.
“At the beginning of the year, 35 companies planned on coming in for recruiting,” Rogers said. “By Winter Break, 32 of those companies had canceled.”
According to Leger, many major companies, including Motorola, General Electric, Eastman Kodak and Merrill Lynch, have undergone mass layoffs.
College of Arts and Science senior Tim McBride admitted he was nervous about finding a job, especially when considering the recent reduction of the workforce.
“A lot of people that have been hired recently have been laid off, and they have the experience that I won’t have when looking for a job,” McBride said.
But Leger doesn’t believe the layoffs rule out students’ chances to land jobs where they want.
“Even companies that have had layoffs may still be looking at new college grads, though not as many as a year ago,” Leger said.
Even with the job market hardships, McLennan encouraged seniors not to be too worried.
“There certainly are a lot of employers that are hiring and some that are even increasing hiring over previous years,” she said. “It’s just harder to find. You have to pay attention to it.”
SMG senior Dana Mavica, who has not yet found a job, plans to utilize headhunters.com, a job search website. She is also using her resources through SMG.
“I’ve been using my connection with SMG through professors and I’ve tried networking that way,” Mavica said. Also through the school, Mavica has used a program called E-Recruiting, which she says is “kind of like a requirement” in the school.
Leger, McLennan and Rogers all emphasized networking as an important strategy to finding jobs.
“That’s one of the most critical things,” McLennan said of networking. “It always is, but particularly now where it’s just more competitive to find jobs.”
“Spring Break is a great time for informational interviews and to do some networking,” Rogers advised.
Leger suggested that graduating seniors apply in specific regions.
“The best advice I can give to students is to know as best as they can what skills they want to use and to look at several different geographic areas,” he said. “I would say that to students every year, regardless of how the economy is doing.”
Mavica said she’s looking for “whatever I can find and whatever will make me happy.” She mentioned she’d be willing to look outside of her college major if it gets her into an interesting field and gives her the possibility for more networking.
McLennan supports this strategy for career searching.
“If you want to do something specific, look at a field related to that and realize that sometimes one job can lead to another,” she said.
Many seniors have been considering graduate school as a way to postpone searching the job market and get more specific experience in their career interests.
“There are a lot of people that I know that have already applied and have been accepted to graduate schools,” McBride said. “Some of them just decided to go to graduate school in January, and they’ll be starting next semester.”
McBride is planning on attending graduate school, but not before entering the working world first. He is looking into the Peace Corps or Teach for America as possible pursuits for the near future.
“I’m going to work before graduate school because I’m not sure of what I want to do there specifically,” McBride said. “Plus, most graduate schools want you to take time off before you come back anyway.”
“I’ve certainly heard more questions in appointments where students have asked if they should consider going to grad school,” McLennan said. But he does not advise students to attend graduate school just to delay finding a job, and recommends working first before going back.
“You should have a really good sense of what you want or why you want it before you go into [graduate school] rather than doing it to wait things out,” McLennan said.
Many students said they are confident the economy will soon find its way out of the recession.
“I think it will be hard for a while, but I think that as time goes by things will get better,” Whitcumb said.
“Recruiters are coming back on board,” Rogers said. Of the 32 COM job recruiters that had canceled their visits in December, four have already returned.
“I think we’re already seeing slight improvements,” Rogers said. “Every day we seem to be taking two steps forward and one step back, so that means we’re making progress.”
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