Career Guide 2000: Prestigious companies vie for future employees

An underlying anxiety and apprehension pervades the career search and student recruitment process these days. Yet it is not the students who feel this uneasiness, but rather the companies pursuing them.

The quest for University students has become an aggressive race involving companies that all seek the same thing: "bright, articulate individuals [who will] help the organization move forward," according to Beverly Hamilton-Chandler, director of Princeton's career services office.

"[Consulting firm] McKinsey describes it as a war for talent," she said.

With the strong economy, students are showing a growing interest in i-banking and consulting, as well as in advertising and public relations — to name a few.

And University officials say the competition for prospective employees is fiercer than ever.

According to Hamilton-Chandler, the salaries and benefits offered to students taking jobs in consulting and i-banking are "very generous, more so initially than anywhere else."

Yet she noted that money usually is not the deciding factor for students choosing a career. She said students typically take jobs on the basis of what interests them.

As more companies clamor for students' attention, the career services office is often besieged by firms trying to attract their prospective applicant pool as soon as possible.

According to Rosanne Sonatore, assistant director for recruitment and employer relations at the career services office, recruitment efforts seem to begin earlier each year. This year, firms began contacting the University and some students as early as August.

Career services officials must also determine where they will host interview and information sessions. On busy days, recruiters and interviewers use all available rooms at the career services office, as well as those at the Nassau Inn and Prospect House, Sonatore said.

"We are booked for every room for the whole semester," she said. "We would like more rooms."

The dilemma now falls to students, who must deal with the bombardment of information coming at them from the myriad of potential employers. Indeed, Sonatore noted students "have a lot to do in a short period of time," and she recommended they start early and remain organized throughout the long and complex job-hunting process.

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Both Sonatore and Hamilton-Chandler said, with the strength of the economy, increasingly efficient technology and the range of options available, it is an exciting time to be a student looking for a career.

"There is a real hunt for talent," Sonatore said.