[Cafferty:] Welcome back to this tiny little program we do on Sunday afternoon. This year's college graduates walking into the kind of job market that makes wonder whether or not you ought to brush up on burger flipping. It's awful. According to "The New York Times", these kids are the last class to enter the college when the stock market was still rising. Back then, it probably felt like you land a good job just by showing up with a freshly printed sheepskin, and you could. But the class of 2003 is on a collision course with the worst job market in a generation, and that is forcing a lot of graduates to rethink the career choices. I mentioned at the top at the program, I have one of my daughters graduating. There are no jobs out there. I was in Chicago four years ago and I remember taking a ride in from the airport at O'Hare, and there was a huge billboard over the highway out there that said, $100,000 to start. Anyone with a degree in computer technology or computer science, call this number, and, I mean, no joke. They were desperate to hire six-figures salaries...
[Serwer:] They had billboards up in Silicon Valley. It was amazing with $50,000 signing bonuses. Susan is right. How quickly it has changed, but I have to tell you, I remember graduating college back in 1981, and let me tell you something. It wasn't so great back then, and we did whatever it took. I mean, you went there, and you did internships, part time, nighttime. The whole mentality has changed, and that's what you have to do.
[Lisovicz:] I think that's part of the reality check here is it changed so abruptly and so drastically. It is supposed to be the worst job market in 20 years, just in the last couple of years, so I think the expectations have come down in a hurry.
[Cafferty:] Well, I mean, look at the series of events that happened. The stock market bubble burst. The terrorist attack hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon, which caused a huge economic shock, which caused all the businesses to pull back immediately on any plans to hire or do capital investing. So, you know, events kind of conspired against the kids, and now, we're not out of the woods. We are just making a very grudging recovery.
[Lisovicz:] And you're sweating because you won't have the empty nest syndrome. That's for sure. More and more kids are coming back to live with mom and dad.
[Cafferty:] Yes, I think that's going to that may happen. I don't know yet. Anyway, let's explore his a little further. If you are a student, a parent, or just somebody who wants your burger cooked by a kid who knows the meaning of "medium rare", the job market does matters. Joining us from Philadelphia with more for the class of 2003, Marilyn Mackes. She is the executive director of the National Association of Colleges and employees. Marilyn, nice to have you with us.
[Marilyn Mackes, National Association Of Colleges And Employees:] Glad to be here. If you can solve this problem for these kids, boy, there would be a lot of grateful parents and children out there. What do they do? Well, as a matter of fact, I'd be one of the grateful parents myself.
[Cafferty:] You, too, huh?
[Mackes:] Absolutely. To tell you the truth, this job market is actually better than was predicted last fall. You know, last fall, one of the groups that we survey, as part of our membership association, are the employers who are hiring grads, and last September, employers were telling us that they were going to see a 3.6 percent decrease in the hiring this year versus last year. And as it turns out, we've done a variety of follow-up surveys with those employers, and both in late fall, early spring, and now at the end of the year, and what we've found is actually it's a flat market. It's actually kind of steadied out. Now, that doesn't mean that it's a terrific market overall compared to, like, three years ago, and essentially what we're looking at is, you know, students having to be far more aggressive. Some of the things that you just mentioned, you know, taking on internships, taking on additional courses to expand their skills, there is a variety of things the students can be doing right now to help themselves.
[Serwer:] Marilyn, let me ask you here, for years, the double Es, the electrical engineers were kings, right?
[Mackes:] Right.
[Serwer:] Those were people who'd go and get jobs. Computer scientists, those were the ones getting those $50,000 bonuses. Is that still true? What are the hot areas, and what are the bad areas right now?
[Mackes:] Well, right now, the services sector is doing far better than manufacturing or IT. We all know that back, you know, three, four, five years ago, the dot com boom and all of the needs we had for technology bringing on people from computer science, computer engineering, information systems. They were looking at incredible salaries and bonuses and benefits. You were getting some examples of that. Right now, we're actually seeing their salaries decreasing as much as seven percent from last year.
[Serwer:] What are the specific areas that are good, or are there any?
[Mackes:] There are some that are doing pretty well right now. Accounting services, some of the engineering consulting services, retail, educational services, primarily those areas that are really drawing from business majors, liberal arts areas, and even, quite honestly, some of our engineering people going into the services sector, as well.
[Lisovicz:] Marilyn, when you talk about services, we are also seeing an increase in some of the most basic services out of the country. We're seeing a jump in students joining the Peace Corps and Americorps, which, I believe pays a whopping $9,300 a year.
[Mackes:] Right. There's no question that when you have a job market like this, it does open the door to exploring other kinds of interests and opportunities, but I will also say that even when things were considerably better in the job market as a whole, let's say about three years ago, two to three years ago, it was probably the best we have seen, we were also seeing in increased interest on the part of college students to get into community service.
[Cafferty:] What about the economy and the future as seen through the eyes of the businesses in this country? Your full-time job is to take a look at what's out there in the way of potential employment, who's hiring, who's not, how many, do the statistics, all that. Do you get any sense that is economy in recovery mode to any degree that matters yet? Are the companies and corporations you look at planning on ramping up, doing any capital investment? What's your sense of where we are?
[Mackes:] Well, you know, we've been doing the surveys, these job outlook surveys, for many, many years. We've been around as organization for 50 years, and during that time we have been during these surveys, and one of the things we watch is what are the hiring projections and then what seems to happen at the end of the year in terms of hiring, and typically, the entry level job market lags a bit behind what is happening in the economy. So, I think one good sign for us is, in fact, while our prediction was going to be lower for hiring this spring, and it has actually settled out to be level with last year, it's an indication to us that maybe we are moving a little bit better.
[Serwer:] Marilyn, let me jump in and ask you a question. Just some quick dos and don'ts. I had a kid come into my office the other day who was wearing a ton of cologne. I had to fumigate the office afterwards. He was looking for a job. I mean, what are some things you should do and you shouldn't do?
[Mackes:] Well, that's definitely a don't. Obviously, want to look at as professional as possible. So, all that appearance stuff does make a difference. I think, you know, quite honestly, most college students should be going to their career center and getting real good advice from the professionals that is are there. That's their role and responsibility. There's all kinds of workshops and how-tos on preparing for interviews. You know, understanding what the questions are going to be. But even before that, before you go for the job, you have to kind of know what it is you're looking for, do your homework about the employer.
[Cafferty:] Marilyn, I hope our viewers picked up a piece of helpful information or two from the previous few minutes. I thank you for joining us here on IN THE MONEY. It's nice to see you.
[Mackes:] You're welcome. Glad to be here.
[Cafferty:] Marilyn Mackes is the executive director of the National Association of Colleges and Employees. Coming up on IN THE MONEY as we continue, truth or consequences, the Jason Blair scandal rocking the Gray Lady, the grand "New York Times" and, for that matter, the whole world of journalism. We'll look at whether you're paying for news or getting fiction instead. Plus Ted Turner drops his famous reserve and for once, speaks his mind freely in a "Fortune" magazine interview. Find out what he says about AOL Time Warner and the future of buffalo meat and his shrinking fortune and some other stuff. Back after this.