Although the number of companies recruiting on campus this year did not decline, the companies seem to be taking a more cautious attitude toward hiring than previous years
Graduating into the worst economy in a decade, members of the Class of 2001 may need to spend more time on their job search and diversify their strategies, but they continue to be able to find jobs, according to Sheila Curran, director of career services.
"Brown students are very well situated to get those jobs that are available," said Curran. "Increasingly they are starting to think about their options earlier."
Nineteen percent of those who graduated last year (see statistics at end of this article) began planning for their careers as freshmen; 18 percent started planning as sophomores; and 36 percent started planning as juniors. (Statistics are not yet available for current crop of graduates.)
Planning enables students to take steps such as securing internships and other employment opportunities, positioning them for the jobs they desire after graduation, according to Curran.
Nathaniel Jones is among the graduating seniors whose internship directly affected his choice of employment. Jones worked at J.P. Morgan & Company, Inc., in New York City last summer and accepted a job offer from the company before he returned to Brown for his senior year.
"I didn’t even look for other jobs," said Jones, 22, who studied business economics and received the internship through the company’s recruitment on campus. "I just had a great time there over the summer and I liked the people and didn’t think I’d find that through interviewing for other companies."
Although the number of companies recruiting on campus this year did not decline, they seem to be taking a more cautious attitude toward hiring than previous years, according to Curran.
Small companies, instead of making offers months in advance, are tendering offers when they need to fill positions immediately. Students cannot even apply for many of those jobs until after graduation when they are ready to start work.
Larger companies may be looking for slightly fewer graduates this year, said Kerry Willigan, associate director of career services.
And at least one major company that already signed a batch of college graduates is giving some hires the option of deferring their start date for a year.
Early in his senior year, Craig Powell, an economics concentrator from Missouri, had accepted a position as an analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston and was scheduled to start in the fall. At the beginning of May he was offered the option to delay his start date a year in exchange for a substantial stipend.
"I think it’s a great opportunity," said Powell. During the year delay "I have 15 different things I’d like to do."
Among the options he is considering is going to Washington, D.C., to work on Capitol Hill, going to Las Vegas to work as a financial analyst for a casino, and staying in Providence to grow a business he recently began called Ivy Tutors.
Entrepreneurship continues to be a draw for Brown graduates, according to Curran.
"Brown is really noted for its entrepreneurial graduates," said Curran. "It goes to the type of people we accept and the nature of the Brown curriculum. Brown requires students to be resourceful and seek out people to help them achieve their goals."
Students with entrepreneurial and technical skills are gravitating toward established companies, where their skills are much in demand, she said.
Additionally, Brown students continue to enter the service sector and nonprofits in significant numbers this year, according to Curran.
Last year, 8 percent of the graduates entered the service sector and nonprofits — a greater percentage even than went into dot coms. And nearly half of the top 10 employers of the Class of 2000 were service organizations: Teach for America, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and JET teaching program through the Japanese embassy.
Historically about half of the members of the graduating class have made a firm decision about their plans before they exit through the Van Wickle Gates.
"I’m not nervous," senior Craig Powell said a few weeks before graduating. "What can you do? The market is the market. It goes up, it goes down. I’m more concerned about moving out of my apartment and whether I’ll have to rent a locker space for my stuff or sell it to a rising junior."
When it comes to job hunting, Powell added, "Brown is a wonderful tool and your degree is an asset."
Statistics are not yet available for the Class of 2001, but those who graduated from Brown last year made the following decisions:
Of the 1,509 members of the Class of 2000, 81 percent responded to the career survey.
Of those who responded, about 36 percent of last year’s class knew which jobs they were going to after graduation and 21 percent opted for graduate study or fellowships. Forty percent of the class had plans to travel extensively after graduation.
Finance, education and consulting were the top three areas of employment and the major employers reflected those areas. Goldman, Sachs & Company hired 21 students, and the JET (teaching program through the Japanese embassy), Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, and Teach for America each hired 12 students.
Ninety-three percent of the class said internships and employment affected their career decision-making.
Of those who took jobs last year, most moved to New York, followed by Massachusetts, California, the Washington, D.C.-Virginia-Maryland area, and Rhode Island. Japan ranked sixth in the category of top locations to work last year, reflecting the high employment in the JET program.
Ten percent of the class said they plan to start their own businesses within the next five years.
Most of the members of the class had majored in biological sciences, followed by economics and international relations.
Of those who opted to continue their studies, 38 percent went to graduate school, 31 percent went to medical or dental schools, 14 percent to law school and 17 percent studied through academic fellowships or scholarships. The top fellowship was the Fulbright Grant, which was awarded to 15 members of the Class of 2000.
In fiscal year 2000, 5,321 students had appointments with counselors at Career Services, and twice that number used other career services including the career library, employer relations and resources on the Web site.
Eighty-eight percent of the Class of 2000 said they used the Internet to search for employment.
Nearly all the students — 97 percent — said they felt the Brown education had prepared them for the real world. — Kristen Cole