Liberal Arts Graduates To Enjoy Hot Economy

Members of the Class of 2001, overloaded with job applications and nerve-wracking interviews, have at least one piece of good news awaiting them.

Survey results published last week in the Chronicle of Higher Education indicate that liberal arts graduates this year may experience the best job market in recent history.

According to an annual survey of 380 employers conducted by Michigan State University's Collegiate Employment Research Institute (CERI), employment prospects will increase by an average of 6 to 10 percent during the 2000-2001 academic year.

While retail sales, professional services and manufacturing industries expect the largest growth, a need for engineers and computer science majors persists. Employment of communications, telecommunications and business majors is also expected to increase.

The expanding job market can be attributed to several factors, including an increasing prevalence of retirements of older workers and departures of young staff members seeking other job opportunities, according to CERI Director Philip D. Gardner.

In searches for new employees, companies look for a prospective employee's community involvement, understanding of the relationship between business and technology and Internet experience, Gardner told the Chronicle.

Office of Career Services (OCS) Director Bill Wright-Swadel has observed similar market trends.

"The market has been good for five years, but we think this may be one of the better years," he said.

But Harvard students do not need to wait for a favorable job market, he said, as long as they are assertive in their employment search.

At Harvard, the job market expansion most clearly manifests itself in increased traffic in the on-campus recruiting program, Wright-Swadel said.

The increase is so great, in fact, that the OCS is running out of space. In response to this problem, Wright-Swadel and OCS staff members are exploring new job-hunting resources for students.

"We are looking for opportunities for virtual career fairs targeting students who are just getting involved in the market," Wright-Swadel said.

According to the CERI study, businesses use the Internet for about 30 percent of their recruiting efforts, though Web-scouting leads to hiring in only 10 to 20 percent of cases.

Joyce M. Koh '01, an East Asian history concentrator, said she was not surprised by the report's projections.

"I'm not particularly encouraged," Koh said. "For me, the hardest part is finding out what I want to do after graduation."