Job prospects brighten for Class of 2004

As spring approaches — along with thesis deadlines and final exams — seniors must increasingly face the dreaded question: what to do after graduation?

For some, like Caroline Yao '04 who received a job offer from Lehman Brothers after interning for them this past summer, the question is easily answered. For other seniors, uncertainty remains as they continue to complete job applications and wait for responses from organizations.

While the weak economy of the past few years has made the post-graduation job market more tenuous than that of the late 1990s, a January press release from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reported that more seniors may be in Yao's shoes this spring than in the past few years.

In August, a NACE survey said that employers expected to hire 12.7 percent more new college graduates in 2003-2004 than the previous year.

Surveyed companies, in a more recent December NACE survey, confirmed the projected increase, the first increase in new hirings since 2000-2001.

Despite the projected upswing, University Career Services was unable to comment about how University students have fared in the job market this year, Career Services Director Beverly Hamilton-Chandler said in an email.

Several seniors said they believe that the job market has improved somewhat for new graduates, though finding a job is still a difficult, uncertain process.

"I've seen a lot of mixed results from my friends' job searches but this year does seem better than previous years," Mike McFadden '04 said. "A bunch of my friends have ended up with jobs, but there are still a lot of friends without them." In addition to the projected hiring increases, another recent NACE survey reported the rise in starting salary offers among graduates.

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However, employers still seem to have the upper hand over new employees, with nearly 60 percent of employers surveyed in December reporting that they did not intend to offer signing bonuses to Class of 2004 hires.

"You can't really dictate the terms of hire like you could back in 2000," Yao said. "For example, the time limit they give you to accept an offer is often short, so for me I didn't have much time to look into other options."

Several seniors, including Yao and David Ginn, who will be working in Thailand through Princeton-in-Asia this coming year, pointed out that while "i-banking" and consulting firms recruit aggressively on campus, jobs in other sectors are less visible to Princeton students.

"There's a big problem with how easy it is to apply for corporate jobs," Ginn said. "With work in public service, those organizations don't have the money to come to campus to recruit, so many people who want jobs in the public service seem to have a harder time than those applying for more corporate-type jobs."

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While jobs in the public sector can be difficult to find, programs such as Princeton Project 55, Princeton-in-Asia and Princeton-in-Africa that offer one-year fellowships to graduating seniors remain popular alternatives for University students.

This year Princeton-in-Africa received 45 applicants for 15 positions, roughly equivalent to last year's numbers, and students' growing interest in African studies seems to bode well for the growth of the program, Executive Director Erin Ferenchick '00 said in an email.

Princeton-in-Asia received approximately 190 applicants — 70 percent of the applicants hailing from the University — for about 70 placements, Executive Director Philo Elmer said.

Project 55 Public Interest Program Manager Katherine Hande '02 said Project 55 has also seen tremendous growth in applicants over the past three years, with 128 people applying for fellowships this year.

"The growth is probably partly due to instability in the job market," Hande said. "Companies not hiring has made students think more broadly about job possibilities, and a yearlong fellowship provides a good transition year to figure out what you want to do in the future."

The success of these programs, along with the improving job market, seems to promise a variety of options for seniors as they consider their post-graduation plans.

"A lot of my friends have jobs but for those who don't, I don't think the problem is necessarily a lack a jobs," Yao said. "It's really a problem of people trying to figure out what they really want after graduation."