CAREERS NOW 03-18-09

Essential Help For College Seniors

DEAR JOYCE: My daughter will graduate from a small liberal arts college in the Northeast this year but hopes to work in her home state of Arizona. So far she has done virtually nothing about finding a job. I hoped she might spend her spring break looking toward her future but instead she is going with a friend to the Bahamas to stay at a free time-share condo. Speak to her, please. - D.D.

The numbers forecast a cold summer for new college graduates.

-- As a result of the deteriorating economic situation, employers expect to hire 22 percent fewer new grads from the college Class of 2009 than they actually hired from the Class of 2008, according to an updated study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the influential organization to which most college career centers belong. (naceweb.org).

-- This year's sharp decline ends a winning streak that new grads have enjoyed since 2004.

-- Graduating seniors can't count on campus recruiters scouting them out this year. The NACE survey reports that 66 percent of responding employers plan to lower or eliminate spring hiring. (Yikes!)

-- This fall will be noted more for autumn leaves than a hiring uptick. More than 46 percent of NACE-surveyed employers say they're unsure about their fall 2009 hiring plans, and 17 percent are already projecting that they expect to trim further their college hiring.

I sympathize with your concern for your student's future, especially if there's substantial student loan debt involved. Whether college seniors view this spring break as the last big fling of college life, or haven't yet gotten the memo about the challenges they face, isn't as important as what they do next.

PRACTICAL TIPS. Speaking to the college senior, you may well be able to Twitter your way into a good perch in the college afterlife with strategic networking efforts. But your very first stop should be at your college career center, where you'll find resources and specific advice for your major.

Yes, I realize that career centers may be overloaded with service requests this year, and that some counselors are more helpful than others, but do what you can to make your center's specialists invest in your success, even if it means bringing home-baked cookies. Additionally, ask favorite professors for job leads and written recommendations.

Next, focus on the fundamentals of a fruitful job search:

-- Engage in self-appraisal. Know what you can do best and want most, then choose several job targets by title. Even if you change targets, the process will sharpen your analytical skills.

-- Prepare persuasive promotional materials, such as strong resumes, cover letters, networking letters, accomplishment sheets and reference letters. Prepare typed thank-you letters that read like direct-mail pieces, not like handwritten "Dear Aunt Martha" thank-you notes.

-- Research the job market. Start with resources in your college career center. In working your way down the list of potential employers that interest you, most often you'll be contacting human resource specialists. But do attempt to identify and contact by name the people who have the power to hire you; it's the hiring managers whom you most want to meet.

In addition to masterful networking and stacking up ob leads from professors and your career center, don't overlook other basic building blocks of the comprehensive search - published ads in newspapers and online. Get organized with a free online job search manager, Jibber Jobber (jibberjobber.com).

-- Prepare for the all-important job interview. The actions described above are prerequisites to the big event: Flunk the interview, flunk the job effort. Study books (like my own "Job Interviews For Dummies") and online interviewing projects for good answers (Google "New graduates job interviews").

-- Do all you can to keep your spirits high; no one is attracted to Gloomy Gus or Sad Sarah.

-- Once you win the offer, stay put. At least until the economy revives.

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