Campus Currents

New Alumni: Now This is a Job Market By Meg Torbert

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Recruiters swarmed the campus last spring, a sure sign that UNH graduates are entering the hottest job market in recent history. Some clever recruiters reportedly worked through spring break, plucking future prospects from the crowded beaches of Florida.

More than 230 companies sent representatives to campus to interview seniors, and the demand for graduating seniors continues. By mid-summer, 120 companies had signed up to recruit on campus this winter and spring: typically that number is less than 80.

Computer science and engineering majors are finding an "astronomical" number of jobs available after graduation, says David Holmes, director of UNH's Career Services. But the booming economy means jobs are plentiful across the board. The one exception is in organizations that depend on federal funds such as social service agencies, according to Holmes.

Starting salaries are up, too. When Michael Dutka '98 of Newmarket, N.H., was a junior, he heard through the campus grapevine that salary offers in his major, mechanical engineering, were averaging at $35,000. By his senior year, that number had risen to $40,000. Now employed by Pratt and Whitney, his salary is between $40,000 to $45,000. "I'm definitely happy," he reports.

Karen Koulovatos, who hires new graduates as management trainees for the grocery chain Hannaford Brothers, finds that many graduating students are receiving job offers. The company has had to increase starting salary offers to an average of $34,000. "We find we're not competing against other grocery chains" for prospective employees, "but against management consulting and investment banking."

But not every new graduate is ready to jump into a job, according to Holmes, who maintains the stereotyped "Generation X" reluctance to make a commitment is real. For the students who are job hunting, however, it's a buyer's market. "Employers are dying for anyone who has experience in the 'information age.' I'm exaggerating, but it's gotten to the point where, if they can turn a computer on, they've got a job. The reality is, employers don't hire majors. They hire 'what you can do for me?'"