Strategies For Recession-Weary Graduates

WSJ.Com's Collegejournal
Dale Buss

Even a year ago, Greg Harman's path to his first post-M.B.A. job wouldn't have been at all remarkable.

After spending eight years as a supply officer and logistician in the U.S. Navy, Mr. Harmon enrolled at Penn State University's Smeal College of Business. At a social event at a student logistics competition a year ago in Chicago, he met the director of business development for W. C. Grainger Inc. That contact led to an internship at the Chicago-based industrial-goods supplier last summer. One assignment was to improve the order-fulfillment process for the company's online catalog site.

"I also found out that they have a great executive commitment to developing their M.B.A.s," says the 31-year-old, who received a job offer to join Grainger after graduation in May.

Mr. Harman is one of the fortunate fewer these days. Recession-conscious American corporations expect to hire 20% fewer new college and M.B.A. grads this year than in 2001, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), a Bethlehem, Pa.-based group.

So new grads these days face a much more difficult task than their fortunate predecessors in the 1990s. For example, Brent Baker, like Mr. Harmon a veteran of several years in the Navy, in December graduated from the University of South Florida with a business degree, a 3.7 grade point average and membership in two honor societies. He has been diligently searching since last fall for openings in corporate finance or the securities industry via the Internet, classified newspaper ads, resumes and cover letters and the school's career center, without success. "I may have entry-level qualifications, but I'm not an entry-level fit," says Mr. Baker, who worries that his previous experience hinders as much as helps the marketability of his undergrad degree.

Tough times in the job market mean that new and recent grads need a strategic approach for an effective job search. "Even during recessionary times, there are jobs out there," says Paul Lynch, vice president of human resources for Unilever's home and personal-care unit in the U.S., one of the nation's larger employers. "It may take a little extra effort though. Employers aren't as likely to seduce [job seekers] as they have in the past."

Here are 10 strategies to harness that extra effort:

Take it seriously.

Successful job seekers "treat the job-search process as a job," says Steven Rothberg, president of CollegeRecruiter.com, a Minneapolis-based recruitment site. For example, Leena Pendharkar, a May journalism graduate of the University of California-Berkeley, hasn't found a full-time job yet but has been pursuing all sorts of relevant projects, including working as a freelance web designer at CBSMarketwatch.com.

Do your homework.

Find out everything you can about the job, the employer and the industry you've targeted "so that when you walk in, you'll know things about that organization that are unique," and can explain how you'll contribute, Mr. Rothberg says. If a specific location is important, "get immersed in what's going on in that community," advises Michael Israel, vice president of operations for ATS Professional Services Inc., a Jacksonville, Fla.-based career-consulting and executive-recruiting concern. Read the local paper, not just for the classifieds, but also to learn about companies and how their business is faring.

Expand your search

If there aren't a lot of jobs available in the advertising business in Atlanta, for example, start looking at the entire Southeast. And if, as now, advertising has taken an economic hit, "related industries might be more appropriate, such as publishing or newspapers," says Paul Perhach, director of career services for the University of Scranton, in Scranton, Pa. "It's a question of broadening your horizons and knocking on more doors."

But stick with your knitting.

While job seekers have to make realistic adjustments when their targeted field isn't hiring, resist taking a job outside of your education and experience just to generate a paycheck. "It's not going to be a good fit," Mr. Rothberg says. "You're either not going to do a good job and you'll quit or get fired and you're right back to where you started from -- or worse, because now you have a bad employment experience on your resume."

Gerry Browder, managing director of M.B.A. programs for Penn State's Smeal College, advises seekers to move very cautiously in such a situation. "View that first job as an important stepping stone. Fear and anxiety may drive you to make a decision to go into a job" that doesn't have the prospect to lead in the desired direction. She notes that students who have never experienced a recession "might be prone to move more quickly and make a decision simply because they don't have a frame of reference."

Tap into alumni networks.

While many college graduates may not yet be in a position to make major financial contributions to their school, "right now, alumni are even more cognizant of the fact that they need to help" in some way, says Judy Olian, dean of Smeal College, which will graduate about 85 M.B.A. candidates this spring. Penn State, in State College, Pa., has one of the more active alumni-associations -- 445,000 graduates, including 60,000 from Smeal alone. The school keeps in contact with as many of them, and will direct job seekers to particular alumni.
Try everyone.

"Network like crazy," advises Mr. Rothberg. "Call or meet with every friend, every family member, every relative, every acquaintance -- and tell them you're looking for work; describe the kind of work you want and ask for their help. It's incredibly unscientific and difficult -- and for a lot of people, stressful -- but there's no better method of finding employment."

And if your contact doesn't know about a suitable opening, ask for the names of two or three other people who might, diligently follow up those leads, and keep repeating the process. Recently laid off 2000 Purdue University graduate Jeff Klonowski puts a lot of his energy into networking. One gambit: wearing Purdue insignia whenever he can. One fellow alumnus noticed it at the YMCA recently and put Mr. Klonowski in touch with his son, a computer programmer. He's also passed out his resume to his family's neighbors, explaining, "It may be a needle in a haystack, but the more needles you put in there, the better your chances are."

Bob Johnson, director of public relations for St. Bartholomew's Church in New York, recently overhead a couple of young job seekers on an elevator discussing trying to get into public relations. Mr. Johnson told them he was in the field, gave them his e-mail address and invited them to contact him in case something turned up. They didn't respond. A day or two later, Mr. Johnson heard about an opening for an entry-level communications job. "I wish they had e-mailed me, because I would have gotten no greater thrill than being able to get someone a job," he says.

Nab an internship.

More and more companies consider internship experience -- with them or elsewhere -- a significant indicator of job potential. In addition to grades, companies want to know "what else have you done," notes Mr. Israel. In this market, "they can be more selective now."

Temporary work also can help. Catherine Berlen has temped for four years at Prudential Insurance and other financial-services firms in Binghamton, N.Y., while attending State University of New York-Binghamton to get a degree in philosophy, politics and law. Her experience working with the hiring process helped her nab a position with KPMG, the global consulting firm, in its international executive-services department handling tax-related questions for expatriate employees. "I had lots of hands-on experience that many students don't get because they're working on getting a 4.0," says the 21-year-old, who still managed a 3.0-plus GPA.

Don't count on the Internet.

A few years ago, one could slap a resume up on Monster.com or HotJobs.com and wait for the interview requests to come rolling in. "It's good to have your resume online, but don't expect a lot from it at this point," Mr. Israel says. "There are just so many resumes out there, it's almost too daunting for most companies."

One way to make a Net posting more visible is to update it frequently, because some sites list the freshest resumes first. "Resumes on Monster.com go stale faster than day-old bread," says Don Westbrook, a May M.B.A. graduate from the University of Redlands (California) who got a job with United Technologies Corp. in October but was laid off in December. Back in the employment market now, Mr. Westbrook says that by keeping his resume up to date, he's gotten it viewed by employers more than 400 times on Monster.com.

While online, Mr. Perhach suggests, visit the Web sites of specific companies to look at their current job openings. That approach "makes it more personalized and narrows the field," he says.

Display your uniqueness

It's times like these that favor the differences in job candidates, Mr. Lynch says, "rather than the traditional kind of graduate with finance or brand-management backgrounds." For example, he says, Unilever will look more closely now at "graduates who've made some significant contribution to society, like taking a year off and working with a charity, or working in a start-up operation -- even if it was a failed dot-com. Many graduates we meet, in fact, have learned more through failure than success."

Employers want well-rounded candidates with visible communication skills, not just good grades, says Marilyn Mackes, executive director of NACE. A recent survey also employers also cited honesty, integrity, teamwork, interpersonal skills and a strong work ethic as important personal qualities and characteristics of new hires.

But check your appearance.

In the heady days of the tight labor market and the dot-com boom, an applicant could almost show up with tattoos, nose rings and grungy garments and declare, in effect, "Hire me the way I am, or I'm moving on." But a little dress-code strategy may help these days. If you land an interview, call ahead and ask about sartorial expectations. When in doubt, err on the side of formality. "Dress for the interview the way you would dress on your first day on that job," Mr. Rothberg says. "It's important not to make the interviewer feel uncomfortable. And if you're greatly over- or under-dressed, that's exactly what you'd be accomplishing."

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REPORTERS & EDITORS: For more information, please contact Wyatt DuBois in the Smeal College of Business Media Relations Office at 814-863-3798 or wed112@psu.edu .

Penn State's Smeal College of Business offers highly ranked undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, Ph.D., and executive education opportunities to more than 5,500 students at all levels. Featuring academic departments of accounting, finance, marketing, insurance and real estate, management, and supply chain and information systems, the college is also home to major research centers such as the Center for Supply Chain Research, the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, the eBusiness Research Center, the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Center for Global Business Studies, and the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change.

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