This week's University of Cincinnati e-briefing looks at the frantic job market and what that means for college grads now and for those who will follow them into the job market next year.


Table of contents
I. The future's so bright, pack your shades

A. National data roundup
B. A fool-proof future?
C. "Definitely, a student's market"
D. Perks for new hires: stock options and more
E. An engineering graduate's perspective
F. The riches spill over to nontechnical fields
G. Journalism majors can't write their own tickets

A. Not your father's career: less work, more leisure
B. The hire wire of risk
C. Consulting firms become aggressive recruiters
D. Consulting firms are driving up salaries
E. Caution: today's frantic demand will ease

A. Employers need to keep it personal
B. Signing bonuses top $10,000
C. Recruiting season shifts to an earlier start
D. The future of recruiting
E. Hold the Web phone! Tight market means more technology

Other NACE figures: salary offers to computer science grads are up 6.4 percent over April 1999 for a starting salary of $48,468. Information sciences and systems grads saw initial starting salary offers jump 12 percent over April 1998 to $44,096.

B. A FOOL-PROOF FUTURE?
Phil Gardner, director, Michigan State University's Collegiate Employment Institute, predicts that college grads can look forward to a healthy labor market not only this year but in spring 2001 as well. The number of jobs expanded by 10 to 15 percent for this academic year, and an equally strong market can be expected next year. "Even if the feds put a brake on the economy, employers have already absorbed all the current supply of labor. They'll still need the new crop of high school and college graduates next year. Even if they expand the number of immigrants permitted to work, we still wouldn't have enough labor." Gardner said that demand is highest among technology industries and among sectors like the hospitality industry. "The hospitality business field simply can't find enough people. Their hiring is way up." contact: 517-355-2211

C. "DEFINITELY, A STUDENT'S MARKET"
Steve Canale, program manager, Recruiting and Staffing Services at General Electric, Fairfield, Conn.: "With unemployment rates at 3.9 percent, it's definitely a student's market out there. It's very competitive [for employers]. The hottest fields are information systems, corporate finance and engineering. The explosion of the Internet adds a whole new dimension to recruiting. Many of the top candidates we look at have multiple job offers on the table...It is making life more challenging to say the least." contact: 203-373-2246

D. STOCK OPTIONS AND MORE
Camille Luckenbaugh, employment information manager, National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), says the golden job market for today's college graduates is a continuation of a three-year trend that may become a juggernaut in the next few years. "Employers are lining up for grads, not the other way around."

Anecdotally, Luckenbaugh is hearing that more employers are offering college graduates stock options and delayed starting dates in addition to some of the more traditional perks like signing bonuses, relocation expenses, casual business dress or flex time. "The stock option is an additional perk to get a student on board...and the late starts give the student one last summer to enjoy. Our surveys show that employers are using signing bonuses more readily. In a 1999 employer survey, more than 56 percent said they offered signing bonuses to selected new hires, up from just 15 percent in 1990." contact: 1-800-544-5272

E. AN ENGINEERING GRADUATE'S PERSPECTIVE
"They were falling all over themselves looking for people like me," exclaimed Olivia Nebel, recalling her recent job-hunting experience. Nebel is graduating with a degree in electrical engineering and has extensive experience in VLSI design, the ability to design "very large-scale integrated" circuits on microchips. "I had so many opportunities, mainly because of my co-op experience," said Nebel who spent cooperative education assignments at Silicon Graphics, Texas Instruments, and even the Hasbro Toy Company.

As treasurer for the UC student chapter of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), Nebel was able to track employment trends over the last few years. The chapter keeps records of job offers and salary/benefit packages. She said students who are into "hard-core computing" can demand the highest salaries with offers reaching the upper 50s. Other high-tech positions are drawing salaries in the low to mid 50s with government jobs at the low end in the mid 40s. Nebel said the highest salaries for computer programmers are attractive, but not enough to sway her from her career goals.

"They're going to be banging out code for the rest of their lives," said Nebel, explaining why she went looking for a more "people-centered" job and found one at Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble. "It's working out wonderfully. I need to talk to people, and this is a manager position where I'll be working with all sorts of contractors. This is working out better than I ever thought possible." contact: 513-221-4475

F. THE RICHES SPILL OVER TO NONTECHNICAL FIELDS
Lisa Newman, adjunct professor and director of internships in UC's communication department, says the hot job market is affecting even nontechnical fields like communication and public relations where finding a good job has traditionally been more difficult. Though her seniors still have to look for work, they're finding jobs more plentiful and often, have to decide between more than one offer. Starting salaries have inched upward to $25,000 to $35,000. Graduates who combine good communication skills with Web skills are in especially high demand. contact: 513-556-4458

G. JOURNALISM MAJORS CAN'T WRITE THEIR OWN TICKETS
Former journalist Rosalind Florez, director of student media at the University of Cincinnati and a member of College Media Advisers Inc., says journalism students are generally finding the market as competitive as ever and won't find large starting salaries. However, hiring is heating up for online dailies, and the most successful job candidates have multiple skills that include reporting, editing and familiarity with the Web. contact: 513-556-5914

II. CHANGES AND TRENDS ON THE JOB SCENE<
A. IT'S NOT YOUR FATHER'S CAREER: LESS WORK, MORE LEISURE
Phil Gardner, director, Michigan State University's Collegiate Employment Institute, said that though need is great, starting salaries for college graduates in most fields will be only 3-4 percent higher than last year. Next year's grads will see starting salaries about 3-4 percent higher than this year's grads. "Though there is salary pressure, employers want to keep a lid on salaries to prevent inflation. Basic perks and a balanced lifestyle are much more important to today's college graduates. They're not going to work 80 hours a week like they saw their parents do. They want a balanced life, flexible schedule, telecommuting, vacation." contact: 517-355-2211

B. THE HIRE WIRE OF RISK
Debra Wilson, director of human resources for Business Integration Group, an application development consulting firm, says that with jobs plentiful, students are more willing to forgo "sure thing" offers. "A few years ago, if a student had a chance to get in with an established company...versus a brand new company, they would almost always go for the more established company." Now, students don't seem as concerned about what will happen if they choose the 'wrong' situation. contact: 513-723-1184, ext. 16

C. CONSULTING FIRMS BECOME AGGRESSIVE RECRUITERS
Katrina Jordan, associate director, UC's Career Development Center, says that consulting firms are becoming very aggressive recruiters. "The Big Five accounting firms all started arms that offered more broad-based business consulting such as how to apply practices from one industry to another, how to add value and innovation to a product line, technology-based business solutions...Now these consulting arms are spinning off, going on as independent organizations. They are increasingly strong and assertive in recruiting." contact: 513-556-0318

D. CONSULTING FIRMS ARE DRIVING UP SALARIES
Camille Luckenbaugh, employment information manager for the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), says consulting firms are pushing the envelope on salaries, especially for liberal arts grads. "Consulting firms are offering liberal arts graduates an average of $38,748 to start. They're putting salary pressure on everyone else. They've always been big players when it comes to recruiting; however, with the overheated economy, more and more businesses are outsourcing projects. Business has become far more time-critical, and so, outsourcing to consulting firms is increasingly popular for employers who may very well lack staff." contact: 1-800-544-5272, ext. 111

E. CAUTION: TODAY'S FRANTIC DEMAND WILL EASE
Linda Bates Parker, director of UC's Career Development Center, said that computer science, information systems, accounting, electrical and computer engineering are, indeed, in hot demand as are newly emerging fields like entertainment writing. In a couple of years, this could all change as employment needs are cyclical. "Fewer employers are now looking for chemical engineers whereas a few years ago, there simply weren't enough of them. Now the market as evened out for them." Bates Parker added that employers are looking for graduates with a variety of skills: "an engineer with good communication skills, an accountant who can solve business problems." contact: 513-556-0306

III. THE ABCs OF RECRUITING
A. EMPLOYERS NEED TO KEEP IT PERSONAL
Linda Bates Parker, director of UC's Career Development Center, said that because of the booming economy and limited number of available workers, employers are giving solid benefits to new hires: signing bonuses, relocation benefits, and even tickets to the World Series. "Smart employers are maintaining and carefully nurturing relationships during the recruiting process so someone else doesn't steal a hot prospect away." More than ever, students need to do their research before going on the job hunt as mergers, acquisitions and spin-offs are occurring at a dizzying pace. Students need to sell their skills to meet the specific needs of an employer. "Yes, Microsoft recruited here and the line was out the door all day long with students who wanted to meet the recruiter. The recruiter mentioned afterward that very few were telling her specifically about how they design software...they kept the focus too broad, discussing general skills." contact: 513-556-0306

B. SIGNING BONUSES TOP $10,000
Shelly Cole, recruitment and staffing specialist for the Maytag Corporation, Newton, Iowa, says her company has the daunting challenge of luring young workers to Iowa. "This is one of the better places to raise and educate children, but new graduates are not really interested in coming to the central United States." Cole added that hiring perks can include signing bonuses with the size of the bonus dependent on the position being filled. "Ten thousand dollars is not an extraordinary bonus any longer, but that would be for people with master's degrees or some experience. I've seen director level positions that could double or triple that bonus figure."

She warned that students should do their homework before heading to an interview. The best way to ruin an employment opportunity is to arrive unprepared. "Understand what the organization does, what is their corporate value. Get on their Internet site. We feel good about people who come in and ask intelligent questions." contact: 515-787-8512

C. RECRUITING SEASON SHIFTS TO AN EARLIER START
Camille Luckenbaugh, employment information manager, National Association of Colleges and Employers, says that though many employers still recruit in the spring, the majority have moved into recruiting in the fall as well. "That shift has come because too many employers have been burned by waiting. Now, the college students go home at Christmas with job offers in hand." contact: 1-800-544-5272, ext. 111

D. THE FUTURE OF RECRUITING
Phil Gardner, director, Michigan State University's Collegiate Employment Institute, said college grads won't be flocking to the "dot.coms" right out of college. The Internet will, however, become far more vital in the job hunt of the future. Employers are looking for the most cost-effective means of finding employees. "The technology will allow interactive feedback immediately when a resume is e-mailed...and career fairs allow employers to meet a large pool of candidates. The traditional college recruiting interview will dwindle in importance." contact: 517-355-2211

E. HOLD THE WEB PHONE! TIGHT MARKET MEANS MORE TECHNOLOGY
Andrea Dine, assistant director, UC's Career Development Center, specializes in technology-assisted recruiting. For the past two years at UC, Dine has organized a week-long Virtual Career Fair each February where employers from across the country and UC students/alums screen one another via the computer screen. (Dine landed her position at UC after conducting an online job hunt from Jerusalem.)

If the job market remains tight over the next several years, Dine predicts that the currently underfunded and understaffed human resources departments will receive more funding and staffing, and thus, improve on the current use of technology. "There are companies now that only accept resumes on line. If the current strong job market persists, employers will be forced to use more sophisticated programs to more efficiently search these resumes. In addition, they'll add more staff so that the response time on an e-mailed resume may be 24 hours rather than two weeks."

She also predicts that real-time, face-to-face videoconference interviews will become much more common. "A few years ago, there was a push for videoconference interviews via the PC that was a huge flop. It was too expensive. But as Web phone prices come down and home computers are increasing in capacity, this will change. When Web phones (a small camera and microphone that attaches to the PC monitor) become more widespread, they will be a great tool for, short, initial interviews. Think of the time savings it could mean for a company I know of that conducted a total of 1,000 interviews (initial and follow-up) to fill 60 positions." contact: 513-556-0315



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