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The Six-Second Solution
Job market rewards the resourceful as first impressions
can make or break a job opportunity
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Business New Haven
6/10/2002
By: Lori Green
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To ardent new job-seekers, the state's employers can appear to be a fickle bunch. After all, with one hand they're signing pounds of pink slips, while with the other they're beckoning a fleet of fresh college graduates at job fairs and campus recruitment drives.
What's a rookie job-seeker to think?
Well, for one thing they ought to understand that even though economic recovery may be in the air, it isn't yet in the water. So not everyone is getting it. Therefore, career expectations need to be adjusted accordingly, which is to say, downward.
Employment specialists maintain that Connecticut offers ample opportunities in nearly all career fields. But employers are still skittish about staffing up to what could turn out to be unsustainable levels. At the same time, nearly all economists predict that the business cycle is going to rise again soon, either in the form of a sharp “V” curve comeback or a more gradual “U” curve return to growth (see related story, page 8).
That's why this year's wave of college grads are finding employers putting out welcome mats out for entry-level workers, even as they continue to shed existing employees.
Connecticut's labor market river is flowing; it just doesn't provide the cascading whitewater of a few years ago.
Institutions of higher learning are working to stay ahead of employment developments to help students face the ambiguities and challenges of landing that first job.
“We do know anecdotally that students are struggling in terms of finding employment - or at least employment that's at the level they expected,” reports Cynthia F. Jones, the University of Connecticut's director of career services. “Last year wasn't great, but this year is even harder. The students who are at an advantage are the ones who've had internships or taken cooperative-education programs. These people are the first to get offers from employers.”
Yet many employers are evincing a wait-and-see attitude with regard to hiring strategies and timelines. “They can't really give us much of a firm projection,” notes Jones.
Patricia Nielsen, director of career services at Quinnipiac University, agrees. “Finding the right job is more difficult today than it was two years ago, but it depends on what type of job you're seeking. Nursing, for example, is still very strong. But in the business sector, students need to be a lot more assertive - and a lot more creative.”
However, at the state's Department of Labor (DOL) the view is decidedly more upbeat than it is from the job-seeking trenches. According to Steve Dombrowski, market analyst with the DOL's Office of Job Development, the light at the end of the tunnel is clearly visible and bright.
“We just had a job fair in North Haven and over 2,500 job-seekers walked through, with over 70 companies recruiting for positions, “says Dombrowski. “Financial services, business, technical services, and engineering were all there looking for entry-level individuals.”
In spite of - or perhaps because of - Arthur Andersen's demise, accountants are in strong demand. Says Dombrowski: “Just because one accounting firm may be laying people off, others may be looking to expand their markets by hiring more personnel. Twelve different [non-financial] organizations were at the fair seeking accountants.”
Although the state's unemployment rate in March 2002 was 3.8 percent, vs. 5.7 percent nationally, the numbers still present a hazy picture of recent job growth.
According to current DOL data, year-over-year changes in Connecticut's non-farm employment reveal mixed trends among the major industry divisions. Connecticut continues to lose manufacturing jobs, while the largest growth sector - government - attributes most of it gain to local government, education and the Indian tribal-owned businesses.
However, in March, the average weekly wage in the manufacturing sector showed some strength at $689.61, rising $11.12 over April 2001.
Year-over-year gains of 1,600 jobs in April 2002 were reported in the services sector. Government services accounted for most of those jobs, rising 1,400, followed by transportation, communications and utilities, up a total of 700. Finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) added 100 positions.
Meanwhile, wholesale and retail jobs declined by 1,500 positions. Construction and mining lost 1,300, and manufacturing shed 900 jobs since April 2001.
Let's face it: Not many employers want to be the first out of the gate to take on the cost of large numbers of new hires. Explains UConn's Jones: “Recruiting on campus has been erratic and recruitment activity is at a much lower level than in the past. Companies have scheduled and cancelled or cut back altogether. This is especially so in the technology area; although students who have combined MIS business skills with technology studies are doing better.”
In general, job opportunities are out there - but these may not be with the top-tier, brand-name companies that ambitious grads are courting. For now at least, many will have to settle for less prestigious firms.
The greatest hiring momentum is in the education sector, and demand for health-care workers is mushrooming.
Career professionals are encouraging students not to discount temporary services, since sometimes the best way to break into field is to take a temporary assignment with a desirable employer. Graduates would also do well to intensify their networking efforts, and cast a net farther out regionally as well as across a wider spectrum of industries.
After a relatively lackluster first quarter, analysts at the Office of Job Development are now tracking a clear uptick in hiring activity.
Says Dombrowski: “In New Haven, for example, the finance and real estate sector is up about 200-300 positions over last year. In fact, there is just as much opportunity now as there was last year, if not more. Companies like Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and other biotech companies are looking for workers.
“Of course,” Dombrowski cautions, “some of these very companies lay off and hire at the same time, but I would never discourage someone from going to an HR department to ask what's available - even if you just read in the newspaper that they're laying people off.”
Dombrowski's office hosts 12 job fairs each year in the fall or spring, servicing the entire state. The DOL also conducts educational forums for educators and job developers to inform them about what's going on in various career fields so they can keep their curricula reality-based.
In addition, the DOL hosts a free Web-based job bank, accessible also by phone, and it operates 18 career centers around the state.
What's Dombrowski's sage advice to newly minted workers? There's nothing like the old-fashioned meeting with an employer face-to-face.
“HR people are trained to size people up in six seconds,” he says. “Creative networking and introducing yourself directly to recruiters is the best way to show your worth, unless you have a lifetime of experience on your résumé that you can submit to a Monster-type job board.”
Contrary to some beliefs, graduates should not feel that summer is bad time to job search. While many decision-makers are away on vacation, the summer is a good time for making initial contacts within an organization and following up as the season unfolds.
And how do employers feel about job candidates these days? The latest survey results from a number of state employer groups show that flexibility is among their top criteria. Even entry-level employees are now expected to be able to take on projects and bring them to fruition. You're either a solid team player - or you might as well stay off the field.
Dombrowski says employers simply have no more room for problem people. “Companies are gradually creating more horizontal management structures, which means more empowerment at the lower and mid-levels of the organization,” he explains.
Employers have been driven to restructuring away from exclusively vertical lines of operating by the realization that young people are no longer thinking of employment as a cradle-to-grave proposition.
Nevertheless, recent grads are hardly calling the shots. And only those with a proper attitude and work ethic will make it to first base with prospective employers. Agreeable communications skills and good manners count as much as ever.
Ironically, it's the communications majors who often have the toughest first time out in the job market.
“Those employers don't come out to recruit. Students going into communications fields need to exert themselves more with a lot of initiative,” says Quinnipiac's Nielsen.
Quinnipiac's faculty and administration try to get the word out early to seniors on trends in the overall job market, and specifically about developments unfolding in their chosen field. The university's Senior Registration Program places students on career e-mail distribution lists. When job postings come in from employers in a range of categories, notices go out to all students registered in those areas.
Nielsen also holds résumé, interview and job-search workshops open to all students and alumni.
“We go into classrooms, especially senior classes, to talk to students” Neilson says. “And we run annual career fairs. This year it was our largest one ever in terms of number of employers attending. There were more health and social service organizations but fewer businesses, yet the overall number of employers present was the highest we've ever had.”
Since the economy is meandering rather than pulsating toward a new expansion, career advisers try to assist students who may have formed unrealistic salary expectations.
Says Nielsen: “My general impression is that salaries are down a little. I try to let students know that money is never going to be less important than it is when you graduate. Evaluating the first job should be the foundation on which the rest of your career can be laid. Money is one aspect, but [for instance] will your supervisor mentor you?”
Students tend to do better when they shift their focus from short-term pay to a longer-term outlook. Nielsen encourages graduates to ask themselves if the position they are considering will provide the skills and experiences they need to get them ahead - either within that organization or a different one later on.
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