Seniors Join School of Hard Knocks

She read about it in textbooks and discussed it in class, but only when college senior Blanca Loza began job hunting did she really learn what a recession is all about.

“It’s slowing down. There are less jobs,” said Loza, a 25-year-old business major who will graduate from Cal State Los Angeles in June. The East Los Angeles resident hopes to land a job by then, but two months of interviews with corporate recruiters and visits to career fairs and conferences have failed to turn up solid offers.

While Loza contemplates giving up her job search and applying to graduate schools, other graduating seniors--humbled by the worst job market since the recession of the early 1980s--are lowering their sights.

And colleges, eager to get their alumni into the work force, are boosting efforts to lure reluctant recruiters to campus.

“I hear it from students. They are finding it tough,” said Jerry Houser, director of the Career Development Center at USC. “Where they may have found three or four offers in the past, they might find one or none.”

Companies are expected to hire about 10% fewer graduates than they did last year, according to an annual survey conducted by Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. That fall follows a 13.3% cut in hiring last year.

Uncertainties triggered by the Gulf War and the recession have forced many employers to say, “This is a time you have to hesitate,” explained Patrick Scheetz, director of the institute. “You can’t go (hire) like gangbusters.”

Recruiters for once-robust fields that now are on the ropes--among them banking, retailing, consulting and real estate--have retreated from past hiring levels or dropped out of the college hiring scramble entirely.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo Bank, for example, expects to hire 250 to 300 college graduates this year, compared to the 400 it usually picks up, according to spokeswoman Kathleen Shilkret. Most of the openings will be in marketing, sales and branch operations. Plum positions in commercial lending or on the corporate staff are unavailable.

The hiring cutbacks have been felt everywhere from the Ivy League schools to state colleges:

* At UC Irvine, the number of recruiters has fallen about 20%, said Bruce Riesenberg, associate director of career planning and placement. Firms in such industries as aerospace, banking and retailing made noticeable cutbacks.

* At Cal State Los Angeles, the loss of engineering job offers from aerospace firms is being offset somewhat by offers from utilities and firms involved in public works projects, according to Clemencia de Leon, director of the Career Planning and Placement Center.

Still, “our recruitment program is slower,” De Leon said. “Employers are being conservative and careful. Second interviews are coming in slower, and the job offers might take longer.”

* At USC, some students have given up finding a job this year, Houser said. “There is a good chunk of folks that are sort of postponing it,” he said. “Some might be going to graduate school.”

* At Yale University, the number of recruiters visiting the New Haven, Conn., campus dropped slightly from last year, said Susan Hauser, director of career services. However, Hauser said most Yale students find jobs by contacting employers directly.

Company recruiters have had to change their ways in light of corporate belt-tightening.

In the past, a student who was less than top-notch--but showed the potential for success--might get an offer, said Jim Banks, a Hewlett-Packard Co. manager who recruits at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

But during the past year, Banks said, “we did and continue to reject some candidates that could be very successful at HP . . . because they are not the top candidates. They need to be some of the top candidates this year if they want to be placed.”

Banks worries that the hiring slowdown will make it tougher to find new talent once the economy returns to normal.

“New blood in the company is very critical,” said Banks, whose Palo Alto firm is a high-technology leader. “People who are coming out of schools have the latest technology training. They bring in a new view.”

In two or three years, companies that cut back now on recruiting may “need personnel for promotion and will find a (gap) in the pipeline,” said Scheetz of Michigan State. “They won’t have as many middle managers to chose from.”

Weaker demand for their graduates has forced many colleges this year to try new strategies to help their students find jobs.

At the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, officials faced a steep decline in recruiting from investment banks and consulting firms that traditionally hired large numbers of MBAs. To offset the loss, Stanford did some recruiting of its own, attracting consumer products and entertainment firms, nonprofit organizations and government agencies to campus to interview graduating students.

Stanford also shopped its students around the nation. In a first for the business school, groups of students were flown out to meet with employers in Chicago and Washington--cities in regions where relatively few Stanford MBAs found jobs in the past.

A Stanford MBA will still receive multiple job offers, said Maureen McNulty, director of the business school’s Career Management Center. But, she acknowledged, “our number of scheduled interviews is down somewhat. The staff is concerned but fairly comfortable.”

Students have responded to the tough job market by becoming more flexible about the jobs they are willing to take.

Many realize they don’t have a choice.

Renee Cambra, a business major at San Diego State University, says her “ideal job” would be with a strategic marketing firm in Southern California. But if the tight job market dictates, Cambra, a graduating senior, will relocate and consider a sales or public relations job if it’s “the right opening.”

Cambra has been called for follow-up interviews by several companies but still finds the job search tough going.

“It’s very hard,” she said. “There is a lot of competition and very few openings.”

Times staff writer Greg Johnson in San Diego contributed to this story.

Lower Expectations Percentage change from previous year in the number of college graduates that companies planto hire, for years beginning Sept. 1. *Estimated Source: Collegiate Employment Research Institutue, Michigan State University