Seniors worried about finding jobs after graduation may have less difficulty than they imagine, according to Sylvia Robinson, executive director of the MBNA Career Education Center. Robinson reported considerable improvements in the job market for the class of 2005.
“I think seniors in the class of 2005 will have less difficulty finding jobs than seniors did in the past few years,” she said.
According to Robinson, the number of companies participating in on-campus recruiting this fall has increased 8.5 percent over the past year, and employers are telling her that they are planning on hiring more students this year.
Robinson said the hiring market was also stronger last year compared to the year before.
“We are in the process of completing the Senior Survey for the class of 2004,” she said. “Preliminary numbers show that last year’s seniors had a stronger employment market than did seniors in the classes of 2003 and 2002.”
Robinson attributed the strengthening job market to an improving economy.
This fall, 71 companies are scheduled to visit campus to recruit students for positions at their firms. The Career Center has not yet scheduled recruiters for the spring semester.
Large employers with the resources to maintain a college recruiting staff are likely to comprise a substantial portion of the companies that will visit campus, Robinson said. These groups include investment banks, accounting firms, consulting firms, retail companies and government agencies.
Industries that generally cannot project their hiring needs in advance are underrepresented among the campus recruiters.
Non-profit agencies, media companies, art galleries, advertising and public relations firms, colleges, universities and health care companies usually do not participate in on-campus recruiting. The non-profit organizations Peace Corps and Teach for America, both of which are popular with Georgetown students, are exceptions to the rule and do recruit on campus.
Roughly a third of the senior class participates in on-campus recruiting.
Christine Lamb (COL ’05), who recently attended a Teach for America information session, said she is apprehensive about her job prospects after graduation. She said she is focusing on applying to the Peace Corps and Teach for America.
“There were a lot of students there,” Lamb said. “Based on talking with other people, I think many students are deciding to apply for Teach for America and the Peace Corps because they are worried about getting jobs.”
Georgetown produces the second-highest number of Peace Corps volunteers for a school of its size. Approximately 50 students, twice as many as usual, turned out for a Peace Corps information session in the Leavey Program Room last night.
“This is the most I’ve had at any session,” Robyn Mofsowitz, Peace Corps recruiter, said. “I was pleasantly surprised for a Thursday evening on a college campus.”
The Peace Corps, however, is not one of the programs hiring more students this year, according to Mofsowitz. Peace Corps officials plan to hire roughly the same number of students as in previous years.
