Career Centers Working Overtime at Many Schools
by John H. Tucker
There have been worse economic times to graduate than today. In 1933, when the unemployment rate hit an all-time high of 24.9%. Even in May 1983, graduates faced an unemployment rate of 10.1 percent, worse than now.
That is small comfort to newly minted graduates. So this year, the University’s career centers are in overdrive, searching high and low for employers that are actually hiring.
“There are fewer jobs available and more competition for each one of those jobs,” says Kavita Sharma, dean of the University’s Career Center for Education, which services Columbia’s three undergraduate schools, along with four graduate schools on the Morningside Heights campus.
Sharma and her team of 32 career counselors and specialists in employer relations and outreach saw the signs of a softening job market last summer. So in addition to the recruitment fairs, résumé workshops and networking receptions that regularly take place, they strategized on what would work best this year.
Sharma first turned to Washington. A new presidential administration meant that hundreds of government jobs may soon be available. Because of budget restraints, government recruiters couldn’t visit New York often, so the center launched its first “virtual career fair,” for Washington recruiters. In February, 1,700 students accessed a Web portal where they networked in chat rooms with more than 50 employers.
The staff also reached out to the nonprofit industry, which was receiving more job applications after President Obama’s call for civic engagement. A public-service job fair this year drew more than 1,300 students, up from last year’s total of 900.
While the recession has hit certain industries harder than others—business, journalism and law, for instance—many industries are thriving. These include education, health care, engineering, Internet technology and green technology, along with others receiving government-subsidized stimulus money, says Al Spuler, executive director of the career center.
“We’re encouraging students to be flexible, creative and proactive.”
At some schools, that meant more recruiters visiting campus. Forty-five employers attended the Mailman School of Public Health fall job fair, up from 30 last year, says Tanya Cobbs Leslie, assistant dean and director of Mailman’s Office of Career Services. Leslie says that government opportunities have increased in anticipation of Obama’s new health care plan.
The School of International and Public Affairs saw a 17 percent jump in the number of recruiters, says Meg Heenehan, executive director of the school’s Office of Career Services, the upside of a recent trend of federal government retirements that is expected to continue, she says. To date, 35 percent of students have landed post-graduation jobs, about the same as last year.
It isn’t just this year’s graduates looking for job help. Hundreds of recently laid-off alumni are returning for guidance, too, and the Center for Career Education has seen a 50 percent spike in not-so-recent graduates coming in for assistance. Heenehan’s office at SIPA hosted four alumni recruitment presentations this year, up from one last year.
“Our alumni can access everything students can,” says Sharma, noting that the relationship works two ways: Alumni are ideal mentors for undergraduates seeking advice and even jobs. “During a financially challenging time when you aren’t able to give donations,” says Sharma, “what better way to give back to your alma mater than to hire a fellow Columbian?”
Students will find jobs, if they stay flexible, Sharma says. But “flexible” may mean leaving New York, an unpopular option given that a survey of seniors last year said that 70 percent wished to stay in New York after commencement; 58 percent actually did.
Other students are broadening their career scope. In the past, finance and consulting services have been among the leading professions for young Columbia grads. Now, says Spuler, “Students with an eye to Wall Street are finding luck pursuing finance-related positions in other fields or pursuing other industries altogether.”
Sharma encourages graduates to have patience. “This too shall pass,” she says. “History shows us that these cycles come to an end.”
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