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Job placement rate worries professionals

By Jesse Rangel

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The current state of the job market has the Office of Career Services at the School of Law concerned. The program’s 66 percent job placement rate was in danger of slipping for Spring 2009 graduates.

So far, the rate for the school is at 60 percent, Todd Rogers, assistant dean for career services at the school said.

The School of Law and the School of Engineering are informing their graduates of new opportunities beyond the traditional full-time job. Fewer jobs are open for graduates overall, not just because jobs are being cut, but because more people with jobs are opting to stay in place.

The national job openings figures for May, released Tuesday by the Bearau of Labor Statistics, show job openings down 23 percent for professional and business services, down 26 percent for education and healthcare, and down 23 percent for financial activities. Total jobs open in the Midwest are down 37 percent, from 824,000 to 515,000. The job openings rate is calculated by the jobs available for hiring on the last day of the month.

Both the School of Law and the School of Engineering have seen their own drop in job opportunities.

Rogers said some law firms were not hiring because employees who normally left to find a better job after three or four years were staying put longer. Cathy Schwabauer, director of the Engineering Career Center, said some engineering companies had told her they were hiring fewer graduates because the retirement rate had slowed.

However, she said some companies were still making sure a good relationship existed, even when the companies couldn’t offer jobs.

“Some companies are looking for more outreach opportunities,” Schwabauer said. “They are saying: ‘Can we help with a mock interview? Can we talk to student groups?’”

Larry Jacobson, director of the National Society of Professional Engineers, said the organization urged students to take professional accreditation exams.

“We strongly encourage all graduate students to take the fundamentals of engineering exam so that later on they can take the professional engineering exam,” Jacobson said. “A lot of students don’t realize how important it is to be the part of the 10 percent who are licensed nationally. It’s pretty hard to go back and get licensed after you graduate.”

Jacobson said engineering students should be ready for when jobs open.

“Given the turnover of engineering, with baby boomers leaving the industry, engineering students who are licensed will be able to name their paycheck,” Jacobson said.

Schwabauer said that the lack of job openings was temporary, and that engineering retirements would pick up once the economy improved.

Rogers said some law firms were hiring, but were holding off a start date until January.

“We’ve had half a dozen students who have been told by their employer not to show up,” Rogers said.

But opportunities still exist for graduates beyond what they may have envisioned coming into school.

Rogers said interest in the Bremyer Summer Intern Scholarship, a program that gives incentive for students to practice law in smaller Kansas towns, had increased.

Rogers said more students were inquiring about working in small law firms, non-profits and government agencies.

“It’s so important to gain the practical experience,” Rogers said.

— — Edited by David Ugarte

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