Job hunt: 1994; career challenges for recent college grads - includes list of sources for more information - Special Advertising Section

Black Enterprise, Feb, 1994

If you're in your senior college year, you're approaching one of the most exciting and perhaps harrowing experiences of your life--the search for your first job. You're about to put yourself in charge of your own career, and what you do now will affect your life for years to come.

The fact is, though, job hunting is tough. You'll have lots of competition, both from your fellow graduates and, these days, from experienced professionals whose companies have downsized. It helps to have a well-thought-out game plan, a well-placed network and a presentation package designed to impress. Even if you're not graduating till June, now is the time to start.

Have you decided yet what field you want to enter? Ben McLaurin, director of career counseling and placement at Morehouse College in Atlanta, suggests that students forget about the current trend--what all their friends want to do--and think about what they really want. "The hardest thing," he says," is to get the top students to think about what they want, because they've always been told what they had to do. I ask them, "If you could dream and do anything you would want to do, what would that be?" He uses the example of an outstanding marketing major who admitted he didn't like numbers, but was a very good writer. McLaurin urged him to think about working in advertising or market research or at an insurance company translating technical language into layman's English.

A survey by the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University suggests that applicants with strong technical backgrounds will be better equipped for the job market than those with liberal arts degrees. High technology, engineering, health care, international business/law, environmental science and financial services will have entry-level job openings available and fewer graduates to fill them, while public relations and publishing will have many applicants for only a few entry-level jobs.

One of the "hottest" fields right now is high technology. Michelle Weinberger Glasser, manager of campus recruiting at Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Wash., says the future looks bright. "The software industry is growing; it's still in its infancy. There are new frontiers to reach. There are a lot of very interesting things on Microsoft's horizon and for the industry as a whole, and the people who are technical are the ones who will make it happen."

Pat Rose, director of career planning and placement at the University of Pennsylvania, sees many environmental career opportunities in waste management, pollution control, recycling and law. She also looks ahead to the expanding Field of interactive communication -- technology, telephone, cable, entertainment and electronic publishing.

Kimberly Goff-Crews, director of the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale University, says: "I get a lot of calls from banks, marketing firms and other financial institutions looking for students of color, and they express surprise and frustration that there are not that many applying for jobs with their companies." McLaurin agrees: "The latest trend at Morehouse is investment banking. The banks are spending a lot of time grooming students."

Gail Gordon, manager of diversity recruiting at the New York City investment bank J.P. Morgan, does not limit her recruiting to finance majors. "We will hire a history major who wants to work in finance, as long as that person has complemented that history curriculum with quantitative classes, such as statistics or accounting, anything that would let us know that this person is flexible."

Many students are postponing their career decisions, says Coff-Crews. "I've noticed that students are very disenckanted with the business arena when they see people ten years out or even younger having a hard time getting or keeping jobs. Many more students are going on to graduate school. Others are looking at industry jobs as stepping stones to corporate promotions or to further their own entrepreneurial enterprises. Many students also consider whether or not a company is supportive of employees who are interested in community service."

According to Charles Baquet, appointed (but not yet confirmed by the Senate at press time) to 6e deputy director of the Peace Corps, "I want to focus more strongly on minority recruitment in the Peace Corps. I know that there are people in the minority community who have the special skills that are needed overseas."

Baquet, a former Peace Corps volunteer, continues: "The Peace Corps is an extraordinary educational experience for the people we serve, and for the volunteers themselves."

Marcella Sampson, director of career services at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, says engineering students have a head start in the job search. "We could place as many engineering students as we could produce." However, she feels strongly that students should look at the government and other businesses that provide a structured training program. One of the best fields for graduate jobs, says Sampson, is insurance because insurance companies still have structured training. She doesn't feel the sales field is good for most students, because "it entails much more than the student is trained to do." The high income is tempting, she adds, but much of it is commission and therefore unreliable.