The job hunt is on. But with an abundance of predators and not enough prey, University students are starting to feel the heat of the jungle.
Despite the mayhem, University Career Services is stepping up to provide support to increasingly anxious students.
According to Jennifer Hoffman, recruitment manager at UCS, students became used to a rosy job outlook in the past few years.
"We have become accustomed to the boom," she said. "It's hard for students to understand that the past few years have represented an atypical job market. We're closer to normal, now than we have been in the past four or five years."
An October article in U.S. News & World Report said, "the market for college grads isn't that bad. People are finding jobs - it's just taking more time and more pains."
Prince Agarwal, a fourth-year economics major, feels the pains, yet remains optimistic.
"Every week we get news of more companies canceling interviews," he said. "But [I predict] the job market is going to pick up in the spring."
This is how UCS sees the job market too.
University Career Services Director Jim McBride confirmed that "numerous indicators suggest that the economy may begin to rebound by the second or third quarter of 2002."
But that doesn't mean companies are handing out jobs on a silver platter.
"UCS recognizes that the economy is down, and they are working hard to help, but it is incumbent for students to work hard and come to us for assistance," said Leslie Williams, an associate director at UCS.
Several of the things UCS is doing to help ease anxieties are extending on-Grounds interviewing from March to May, increasing walk-in advising session times, scheduling more workshops and by sending mass information e-mails.
And students seem to be happy with the results. Last year, 74 percent of Commerce students surveyed said they found jobs with the help of career services.
According to Tom Fitch, director of Commerce Career Services, "Students will have to use other resources they haven't necessarily had to in the past, such as a lot of networking, Internet searches, job postings and initiating their own contacts."
Students relying solely on on-Grounds recruiting could find themselves at a large disadvantage.
Even though 300 employers per year visit Grounds at the undergraduate level, the employers coming to campus are only a small representation of the employers hiring. Typically only 20 percent of existing jobs get advertised. Particularly with the interview cancellations and postponements, students must turn to their own off-Grounds research and other tactics.
"It's going to be a different process, and we are here to assist students in making good decisions, no matter what path they may choose," Fitch said.
More and more students are choosing to opt for alternatives to full-time employment immediately following graduation. There is "definitely an upturn in grad school applications, and not just those right out of undergrad, but overall," said Lori Nicolaysen, assistant director for Graduate Career Services at UCS.
UCS also has been hearing a lot of different considerations from students with multiple back-up plans. Students are looking at paid summer internships they hope will turn into jobs, yearlong internships, and other short term options, including Teach for America and the Peace Corps.
Heather Terry, a fourth-year Commerce student concentrating in marketing and management, is looking into teaching abroad for a while after graduation.
"It's really tough to get a job in the field I want, which is not-for-profit advertising," she said. "I would never have normally considered teaching as a career field or going abroad were it not for the poor economy."
But the slow economy does not necessarily require students' paths to stray from the full-time employment route. According to the Oct. 12 issue of Business Week, the fields of education, nursing and government are hiring in record numbers.
According to Williams, the Office of Personnel Management in Washington, D.C., told UCS that, "within the next five years, one half of federal employees in the government's largest agencies will be eligible for retirement."
That's great news for Catherine Shaw, a fourth-year environmental sciences major.
"A lot of the jobs I'm looking at are private contractors that get a lot of government contracts," Shaw said.
She also recognized that government-affiliated sectors are more stable now. "Government is looking to spend more than the private sector," she said.
Yet, like many other industries, the environmental consulting agencies that Shaw will be interviewing with will not begin their recruitment practices until later in the year. Only the large employers, who can plan their hiring needs well in advance, like investment banks, are recruiting in the fall semester.
"A lot of companies are just not aware of their needs until closer to graduation," said Fitch. "Such interviews, like in marketing and advertising, will be held in the spring semester and beyond."
The different and more difficult job searches are not unique to the University. The whole nation has been affected. Yet, the University fares well in comparison to many other colleges and universities. While employers may have "cut the core schools at which they recruit from 60 to 20, U.Va. remains one of their priorities. U.Va. remains a priority, among many reasons, due to the performance and retention of students hired in the past," Williams said.
And it's still not too late to beef up that resume.
According to Fitch, now is the time to "dedicate time and energy, and take advantage of career services. Spend breaks and free time wisely. Have a definite plan of action in place to make your job search productive."
While departments like UCS and Commerce Career Services fight to provide opportunities to students, ultimately it is up to the students themselves to lay their career path. Be it full-time employment, graduate school or another alternative, the opportunities are out there. The challenge remains in taking "more time and more pains" to find them.
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