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Spelman Spotlight
May 1985
ON THE CAREER FRONT
By Judith O’Flynn Kayser and
Virginia P. Ruths
The class of '85 is heading into
an improved job market.
Although the economy is still
feeling the effects of 1984’s
second half slowdown, the na
tion isn't likely to tip into a
recession any time soon. In fact,
most forecasters expect the
economy to pick up momentum
throughout the year.
A projected upswing in hiring
accompanies this improvement,
according to the College Place
ment Council’s recruiting activi
ty survey conducted last Oc
tober. Of the 399 respondents,
65% expect improvement in the
first half of 1985 from the second
half of last year. The accom
panying tables summarize this
year’s hiring expectations, com
pared with last year’s actual
number of hires.
Survey respondents anticipate
an 8% hiring increase overall,
although projections vary widely
by disciplines (see Table I).
Nevertheless, increased hiring
sparks greater competition
among employers to attract top
students, especially in fields such
as electrical and mechanical
engineering and computer
science. “This year, 80% of those
hired by our company will have
engineering degrees. In par
ticular demand will be electrical,
computer, systems and
aerospace engineers,” says
Robert Gammill, chief of college
relations at Martin Marietta
Aerospace in Denver, which
expects to hire 700 to 770 new
college graduates in 1985.
It also could be a good year for
top accounting students. “To
meet the needs of our expanding
practice, our hiring of new
accounting graduates will be up
more than 12% over 1984,” says
James C. Older, national coor
dinator of recruitment and
college relations at Deloitte
Haskins & Sells in New York.
Technical on Top
Technical graduates will be on
the top of the job market this
year, the survey shows.
Employers expect a 7% increase
in engineering hires, as well as an
11% gain in the science, math
and other technical categories.
“Hiring in 1985 is going to be up
slightly from 1984, with an even
heavier emphasis on technical
graduates," says Chester A.
Francke, director of placement
and college relations at General
Motors Corp. in Detroit. He
projects that "75% to 80% of new
college hires [at GM] this year
will be technical graduates.”
In the business-related dis
ciplines, employers expect to
hire 4% more graduates than last
year. At colleges and univer
sities, placement personnel
already are beginning to notice
the increased interest in these
graduates. “Demand is strong for
business disciplines. Oppor
tunities are increasing in accoun
ting and finance, and marketing
and sales have also improved,"
says J.W. Paquette, director of
commerce placement at the
University of Illinois College of
Commerce & Business Ad
ministration in Urbana, III.
A 1% decline was reported in
the other nontechnical category
(which includes liberal arts,
humanities and social sciences
majors), but these graduates
often find jobs with small
employers not represented in
the CPC survey. With the recent
small business growth prompted
by the economic expansion,
employment opportunities for
generalists appear to be expan
ding. "The overall recruiting
situation has improved since last
year. And we are getting more
inquiries from employers that
are not of the Fortune 500
variety—that is, employers that
are not very large,” says Elenora
A. Cawthon, dean of student
services and director of place
ment at Louisiana Tech Universi
ty in Ruston, La.
Victoria Ball, director of career
planning services at Brown Un
iversity in Providence, R.I., is
seeing the same thing. “We’re
getting more of a variety of
organizations [recruiting on
campus]. We work hard at
developing opportunities for
liberal arts graduates and are
having some success,” she says.
By specific type of employer,
the CPC survey categories show
ed increases in employment
opportunities across the board
with just two notable exceptions.
First, banking, finance, and in
surance reported a 5% decline in
hiring from last year. This drop
may reflect the industry’s uncer
tainty over the effects of
deregulation. Second, electrical
machinery and equipment
reported a 9% decline.
The good news is that the
chemical industry is slowly
beginning to recover from the
effects of the recession.
However, its projected hiring
increase of 23% must be viewed
in light of the unusually low
hiring level last year.
College recruiting will be
strong in the merchandising and
services areas, with employers
anticipating a 16% hiring in
crease. This trend reflects strong
consumer spending as well as
expansion among many retail
companies.
In the petroleum category,
several large companies are
significantly increasing their hir
ing, although as with the
chemical industry, any increase
is exaggerated compared with
the depressed situation last year.
Survey respondents also expect
to increase the number of inter
views. (See Table II.) The an
ticipated 6% gain over last year
indicates that some employers
are making a comeback from the
constraints of the recession.
Further, employers expect a 3%
increase in the number of cam
puses scheduled for recruiting
visits. “During the recent down
turn within the industry, we
continued to have a presence on
campus. However, this year, we
are increasing slightly the
number of schools we will be
visiting," says Mr. Francke of
General Motors.
Reports from colleges and
universities support employers’
projections of increased
recruiting activity. “Fall
recruiting was 12% to 15% ahead
of last year, and we are projec
ting that spring recruiting will
maintain that lead,” says Mr.
Paquette of the University of
Illinois. Charles W. Sundberg,
director of placement and career
planning at the University of
California at Los Angeles agrees
that things are looking up. "In
every regard, recruiting this year
is better than it was the last
couple of years," he says.
This may not be the best of
times, but the economy has
enough bright signs to make
most people — including
graduating college seniors —
feel good about this year’s
prospects. While hiring will
probably not rebound to
prerecession levels, the class of
1985 can look forward to better
opportunities.
A copy of the survey,
"Recruiting '85," is available
from the College Placement
Council.
Ms. O'Flynn Kayser is manager
of statistical services for the
College Placement Council Inc.
Ms. Ruths is a former assistant
editor for the CPC. Based in
Bethlehem, Pa., the CPC is a
national career planning, place
ment and recruitment associa
tion.
This article is reprinted by
permission of the National
Business Employment Weekly,
published by The Wall Street
Journal, ®Dow Jones & Co., 1985.
All rights reserved.
Table I
Number of Hires by Curriculum and Degree
Bachelor’s Master’s Doctoral Curriculum Total
No.
Hires*
1984-85
No.
Hires**
1983-84
9,
Change
No.
Hires*
1984-85
No.
Hires**
1983-84
%
Change
No.
Hires*
1984-85
No.
Hires**
1983-84
9c
Change
No.
Hires*
1984-85
No.
Hires**
1983-84
r <
Change
Engineering (incl.
engineering technologies)
20,103
(280)
18,776
(270)
+ 7%
2.829
0 38)
2.271
(138)
+ 25%
656
(75)
487
(61)
+ 35%
23.588
21.534
+ 10%
Science, Math,
& Other Technical (incl.
computer science, chemistry,
physics, etc.)
9,857
(263)
8,877
(255)
+ 11
1.902
(117)
1,453
(113)
+ 31
1.044
(75)
715
(71)
+46
12.803
11.045
+ 16
Business (incl. accounting,
marketing, business
management, finance, etc.)
21,062
(316)
20.276
(305)
+ 4
4,980
(168)
4,519
(177)
+ 10
43
(7)
27
(5)
N.A.
26.085
24,822
+ 5
Other Non-Technical (incl.
liberal arts, humanities,
social sciences, home
economics, etc.)
3.163
(156)
3.201
(165)
- 1
262
(29)
255
(49)
+ 3
27
(13)
51
(24)
N.A.
3.452
3.507
- 2
Degree Total
54.185
51.130
+ 6
9,973
8.498
+ 17
1.770
1.280
+ 38
65,928
60.908
+ 8
*Actual and anticipated hires.
** Actual Hires.
t ) Figures in parentheses are number of employers reporting hires in the category. A difference between
any two years results when employers indicate they did not hire in that category for one of the two years.
N.A. Not available because of small sample size.
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