Issue Date: October 6, 2002
Finding a job
When the boom went bust, so did the market for new workers. Here are hints to help anyone's employment search.
Companies are hiring 36% fewer college grads in 2002 than in the past few years, according to a recent National Association of Colleges and Employers survey. Jobs have evaporated: In June, the latest month for which statistics are available, only 3.2 million positions were waiting to be filled, compared with 4 million a year before. Ouch.
"Five years ago, it was boom time," says Mark Oldman, founder of the career network site Vault.com. "Now it's the old adage 'The harder I work, the luckier I get.' "
With that in mind, here's a battle plan for all job seekers:
Know who's hiring. Overall, hiring is down, but a sector-by-sector look reveals it's not down equally or even across the board. The worst news is in the manufacturing sector, where companies are taking on nearly 52% fewer grads than last year. Likewise, service businesses and non-profits are making about one-quarter fewer hires. The biggest declines are in consulting, automaking and computer manufacturing. But the federal government is staffing up -- taking on 16% more new employees this year. And insurance companies are going gangbusters, increasing hiring by nearly a third.
What should you do with this information? "Stay open to working in a range of fields," says Terri LaMarco, associate director at the University of Michigan's career center. You may have planned on using that accounting degree to land a job with one of the now-beleaguered Big Five firms. Perhaps you could use it to get in the door of a big insurer instead.
Curb your salary expectations. Starting pay has fallen 6% for computer science majors, to $49,600, and 13% for psychology majors, to $26,500. But it's up 5% for nurses, to $38,500 (representative of the need for health workers). This is not the time to be greedy.
"Two or three years ago, there was almost a sense of entitlement. [Job seekers] were calling the shots," Oldman says. "Now, the quickest way to turn off an employer is to have unreasonable salary expectations." Once you've proved your worth, you have a better chance of negotiating for more money.
Get up and go. Recent graduates have a huge advantage in that they're typically not tied down by families or mortgages. If you're smart, you'll play Mohammed and go to the mountain rather than waiting for it to come to you. The Midwest has seen the biggest decline in job offerings; the South and West have the most openings. And the Internet has made cross-country hunting much simpler. "Searching for a job," Oldman says, "is almost as easy as doing a Google search."
Sell yourself -- and your ability to sell for the company. Before you write a cover letter or head to an interview, put together a sales presentation on yourself. "It's not tawdry; it's not cheesy," says Bradley Richardson, the author of JobSmarts for Twentysomethings (Vintage, $15). "When people coming straight out of school [begin to] understand that, things start to happen for them." Also, most companies are revenue-oriented. If they believe you can add something to the bottom line, they're more inclined to pay attention.
Don't wait on the sidelines. "The biggest mistake people make is that they say, 'I'll go to grad school and wait it out,' " says Richardson, who also manages "The Wall Street Journal"'s career site at careerjournal.com. "Not to downplay education, but many people go to grad school for the worst reasons." When you can't find a job in your chosen field, the most important thing is simply to get a job. Get your foot in the door: Take a job as an assistant; temp if you must. "Right now," Richardson says, "companies are more apt to grow someone from within. Rather than hiring someone as a true administrative assistant, they want someone to hone their skills and learn."
So be willing to adjust your time frame for a year or so. Then you'll have a track record when you finally search for your dream job.
Jean Sherman Chatzky is the author of "Talking Money" (Warner Books, $24.95). Additional reporting by Brian B. Reid.
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Yikes! What about those college loan bills?
As if job hunting weren't tough enough, new college grads also face an average $17,000 in student loan debt. If you can't make payments, you might be able to defer them for as long as three years. How do you know whether you're eligible? First, explain your situation to your lender. Then ask specifically about:
Unemployment deferment. If you're out of work and have a subsidized Stafford loan, the federal government will pay the interest during deferment. With other loans, interest continues to accrue, and you must pay.
Economic hardship deferment. You're eligible if you receive federal or state public assistance payments, or if you work full time and earn less than the minimum wage, or if your federal school loan payments exceed 20% of your monthly income.
In both cases, you'll fill out application forms and continue to make payments until those forms are approved. And you must reapply every 12 months.
"No party in the federal student loan program wants to see a borrower default," says Martha Holler of Sallie Mae, the No. 1 provider of school loans. "Your lender is there to help you find the best option."
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