Job outlook less encouraging for new college grads

In 1999, peace between Israelis and Palestinians seemed at hand. The economy was roaring as tech stocks drove the Nasdaq to dizzying heights. And college graduates had visions of dot-com windfalls and racy red Ferraris.

Four years later, the world - including the job market - has changed

In an attempt to gain insight into their career prospects, Long Island Business News reporters spoke to new graduates in several disciplines. Their profiles follow. Some have lined up jobs, others are still looking. But one point is clear: getting a job after graduation in a student's field of choice no longer is a given. And job hunting itself requires focus, discipline and persistence.

Marvin Reed, director of The Career Center at Hofstra University, said some graduates, dejected by the economic downturn, have simply given up the chase.

"We went from boom to bust," Reed said. "When these people entered college, jobs were more abundant."

Most notably, grads with dreams of landing big-ticket jobs on Wall Street are facing long odds. Since December 2000, New York City has lost more than 37,000 - or almost one in five - of its Wall Street jobs, according to a Securities Industry Association report.

Becoming a rookie investment banker is "not quite as hard as getting into the NBA, but it's almost as tough," Reed acknowledged. "Finance is a strong major at Hofstra and those folks are hurting."

Also suffering, he said, are applicants for media jobs, where advertising revenue is constraining spending for new hires.

But, Reed added, those who color graduates' employment prospects as uniformly bleak are missing a big part of the picture.

At Hofstra, recruiters from accounting firms have been active. Medical institutions, including leading hospitals, have been seeking management and financial help. Pharmaceutical companies have been looking for sales help.

The federal government also has the "help wanted" sign out. "Government recruiting has been up," Reed said, citing interest from the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Still, a new survey by the Bethlehem, Pa.-based National Association of Colleges and Employers found that employers projected hiring of 2003 graduates at about the same rate as in 2002, when graduates witnessed a sharp year-over-year decline.

Among respondents, 42.4 percent said they expect to cut college hiring, 36.3 percent said they plan to hire more grads than last year and 21.2 percent said hiring would remain stable.

All those bleak projections may have been self-fulfilling. When Wall Street firm Deutsche Bank came to Hofstra to recruit grads for positions in operations, the company got a tepid response.

"I think it's all those students who heard the market was bad and were sitting it out," said Reed.

While Hofstra graduates are encouraged to dream big, they can't expect to grab the brass ring fresh out of school, said Reed.

"You're not going to be sitting next to the CEO of Ford while you loan him billions of dollars."