Saturday September 15, 8:33 pm Eastern Time
Students Out in Cold as Firms Spurn Fairs
By Vivian Chu
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pity this year's crop of college graduates. As companies cut back job fair attendance around the country, recruiters are preparing for one of the grimmest seasons in memory.
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Just over a year ago, new grads had the luxury of picking from a slew of companies that flocked to job fairs, desperately seeking new recruits amid the exodus to dot-com startups.
Now, gone are the signing bonuses, free cars and other inducements offered to lure new hires -- gone, along with many of the companies themselves.
``We're seeing quite a drop in the number of companies who have traditionally come to recruit through our on-campus recruiting program,'' confirmed Patricia Macken, director of employer relations at Columbia University in New York, which holds its first career fair this Friday. So far, 80 employers have registered for the event, down from 93 who recruited on campus last year at the same time.
``Companies are telling us they're coming with fewer interview schedules, and the hiring numbers will be more similar to those seen before when the economy was not as strong,'' Macken added.
Fall is traditionally the prime recruiting season for investment banking, management consulting, engineering and technical firms. But the staggering economy has forced many companies to either cancel or postpone their recruiting plans until the spring, when they hope for signs of a recovery.
So far, the news isn't encouraging. On Friday, the (U.S.) Labor Department said the July unemployment rate had jumped to 4.9 percent, a near four-year high, driven by steep cuts in the manufacturing sector.
Employers expect to hire 19.7 percent fewer new college grads in 2001-2002 than they hired in 2000-2001, according to a survey conducted this summer by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). More than 44 percent of the 439 companies responding said they planned to cut the number of schools at which they will recruit this academic year to an average of 22 colleges compared to 25 last year.
``We are hearing those hated words 'hiring freeze' over and over again,'' lamented Kent Horsley, president of Collegiate Job Fairs (CJF) in Orlando, Florida, who has been organizing job fairs around the United States for eight years. ``It's really hurting us, because the economy is vastly reducing companies' ability to participate in collegiate events. This is by far the worst year I've ever seen.''
CONSULTING, IT HARD HIT
Consulting firms, which in recent years reaped big business from start-up tech companies, will be visibly absent on campuses this fall. In recent months, consulting giants such as Accenture Ltd.(NYSE:ACN - news) and A.T. Kearney have cut jobs and said they will recruit existing summer associates, rather than interview upcoming MBA graduates.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers has no plans to attend any management consulting recruiting events for the next three months, said a spokeswoman in New York. Last year it attended about two dozen.
``As far as our presence on campuses goes this year, we won't be recruiting full-time staff this season,'' she said. Consulting firms accounted for half of some 10 cancellations for the Fall 2001 Career Fair at Emory University in Atlanta in late September, said Michael Brock, assistant director of corporate recruitment. Attendance for the fair recently stood at 85 employers, down from 118 last year. The university had originally planned a three-day event, but changed it to a two-day fair instead because the response was so low, he added.
``There's a perceptible difference in the inertia of hiring this year. It's still happening but it's a lot more sluggish,'' Brock said.
Top computer and information technology firms, which in former years couldn't hire enough engineering students, have virtually disappeared from the recruiting map amid an unprecedented downturn in the PC sector.
``Sun Microsystems, Lucent, Compaq and Dell were always active participants in our PhD events, and none of them are with us this year,'' CJF's Horsley said. ``They were all paying top dollar for PhD grads, and this year they're not offering any positions at all.''
Spokespeople at Dell and Lucent confirmed they have reduced the number of target schools, but declined to disclose numbers.
Even companies that have set up booths at job fairs may not hold the promise of hiring anytime soon. Many recruiters encourage companies to maintain a presence at job fairs, so they will be better positioned to hire once the market improves.
``Companies are sending less people and trying to be frugal, since a big part of college relations is maintaining visibility on campus. But if they're not hiring now, we recommend them to tell that to students and be honest,'' Brock added.
FEW BRIGHT SPOTS
Despite the bleak economy, not all industries are scaling back their recruiting.
Health care is relatively immune from the downturn and remains a strong employer. Government-backed research labs and makers of medical devices and drugs are stepping up their hiring and attracting renewed interest from students, given the downturn in technology, according to Horsley.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc.(NYSE:PFE - news), which visited 21 graduate school campuses last year, plans to add schools to its recruiting list this fall, a spokeswoman in New York said. ``We have a number of openings available throughout the company and there's no reason for us to scale back,'' she said.
The U.S. government is also focusing its attention on upcoming grads. Government and nonprofit organizations project a 20.5 percent rise in college hiring this academic year, according to the NACE survey.
The federal government also plans to step up recruiting efforts to fill the ranks of employees who are ready to retire, Dave Herman of the Office of Personnel Management in Washington, D.C., said. Roughly 50 percent of 1.8 million federal employees will be eligible for retirement in the next five years, he said.
But students set upon a career in consulting or engineering have little else to do but hunker down and wait until the economy improves, recruiters say.
``In this economy, we're advising students they're going to have to network effectively and market themselves to people who make hiring decisions. And finally, they're going to need some luck,'' advised Jane Celwyn, head of career services at Barnard College in New York. |
