| CAREERS NOW 02-14-07 |
| Forecast For 2007 College Graduates Looking Good |
DEAR JOYCE: I laugh when I read stories claiming that older workers are valued
when they're in competition with a younger crowd. At 60, with 10 years' experience in product installation training
in a corporate environment, I'm having trouble finding comparable new employment after my job was cut in a cost-saving
move at a shaky company.
My maturing industry is being swept by a wave of mergers and acquisitions. Companies that find themselves on thin
financial ice are deciding they can cut their training payrolls in half by hiring beginners straight out of college
instead of the innovative and seasoned implementation experts that they needed during the past decade when their
products were novel and no one knew how to use them. Age discrimination? No, cost reduction. Time to move on. Maybe
I'll start my own business. Your view? - Y.T.
You've got a good attitude about reinventing your career-self. I think you'll land on your feet and running to
a new livelihood. And you're right about a robust demand for new college graduates. Recruiters have been telling
me for several months of a hot trend to hire more new graduates, a projection that grads and parents facing huge
student loan debt hope is on the mark.
Not only do employers value starter workers because they're less expensive but they cite a familiar benefit to
hiring them over experienced candidates: It's an opportunity to mold the organization's future leaders, say more
than 86 percent of employers responding to the 2007 Job Outlook survey conducted by the National Association of
Colleges and Employers (NACE).
Other pluses of hiring new graduates noted by employers in the survey: high enthusiasm and motivation, fresh ideas
and cutting-edge skills.
The NACE survey projects new graduate hiring will be up 17 percent this year over last.
DEAR JOYCE: I want to alert you to a new product for women professionals that I just released: "The
Back to Work Toolkit: A Guide for Comeback Moms" (www.backtoworktoolkit.com).
The toolkit is an online workshop that includes a 91-page downloadable guide with the hands-on, how-to information
that I've successfully used with my private clients, as well as audio interviews with five nationally recognized
career experts. Unlike generic job search books, the advice, resources and strategies in this toolkit are all customized
to meet the unique challenges faced by professional-level moms returning to work as employees, entrepreneurs or
freelancers. - Nancy Collamer, career counselor and founder, www.jobsandmoms.com.
Because consumers are inundated with silly advertising pitches ("I work two hours a day at home and earn $20,000
a month and you can too"), I'm always happy to find competent and authentic advice offered to moms - and that's
what you supply in your $39.95 toolkit. I admire your work.
DEAR JOYCE: In my two-year job hunt I have dealt with many recruiters. For the first time, a recruiter has
mentioned a "one-year rule," stating that she cannot represent me to a client unless I have had no contact
with the client directly or through another recruiter for one year. What's the deal? - S.G.
The deal is that she's a contingency recruiter and is worried about collecting an earned fee for referring you.
The Fordyce Letter publisher and recruiting guru Paul Hawkinson further explains: "Recruiters don't like to
get involved in duplicate referral problems without an agreement with companies that they won't pull the "He's
already in our database" dodge or that another recruiter has already sent the applicant. Some companies will
honor such referrals but most won't since it makes their HR staff look stupid."
DEAR JOYCE: After getting a two-year associate degree at a private computer college four months ago, I am
working as a bagger at a big box store. I did get a call yesterday about a starting IT job and wanted to know how
much I should be paid. Help? - R.G.H.
Information technology (IT) professionals in the U.S. can expect a little bump (nearly 3 percent) in starting salaries,
according to the new "Robert Half Technology 2007 Salary Guide." Get the 28-page booklet for free by
calling 800-793-5533. The staffing company will stash your name in its database but the price is right for the
information you want.
A similar free booklet - "Office Team 2007 Salary Guide "- is available for administrative professionals
by calling 800-804-8367.
Email Joyce
Sorry, the volume of mail makes personal replies impossible.