The Brown & White

Students want to get a job, find a calling and gain the skills to live the life of their dreams. It is why they want to go to college. But now there is a new problem that all students face: the economy.

In a press release by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers surveyed expect to hire 7 percent fewer graduates from the class of 2010 than from 2009.

The purpose of a university is to send students out into the world with hirable skills and in a mindset ready for their futures. Yet, with companies making fewer hires this year, the competition for jobs will be that much higher.

Seeing the difficulties in the job market, some students have chosen to further their education by applying to graduate schools. Others have chosen to brave the storm and send out countless resumes, and still more hedged their bets looking at educational and professional opportunities.

Career Services director Donna Goldfeder believes that despite the poor economy, Lehigh students are better prepared for the job search than students at peer colleges.

"We contacted all of our alumni for help," Goldfeder said. "And hundreds of job opportunities have been posted to LUCIE [Lehigh University Career Information Exchange]. We have more jobs posted now than last semester."

Career Services feels confident it can help graduating seniors with the difficult task of figuring out "what's next" even in this tough economy.

Many resources are available to students looking for help in the job search process. Senior Associate Director of Career Services Richard Freed said the difficult part can be knowing where to look.

"The toughest part is figuring out what you want to be," Freed said.

Freed said he firmly believes that the key to a successful job search is to start early.

Students can access LUCIE, a database filled with job, internship and on-campus interviewing information, for help in the career search. There is also one-on-one career counseling, workshops for resume and cover letter writing; and job placement assessments available to all students.

Perhaps most impressive of Lehigh's entire job-search arsenal is LUCAN, the Lehigh University Career Advisory Network. The LUCAN database allows students to network with alumni volunteers, and make a connection to the career they seek.

Career Services sends out regular e-mails about the services it provides, but not all services are appropriate for all students.

The on-campus interviews target the business and engineering schools because those are the companies that want to do interviews at Lehigh. Recently, companies have scaled back internship opportunities and on-campus interviews. Many students will have to look harder to find the position they desire.

The vast majority of one-on-one counseling appointments are for Arts and Sciences students who do not have as linear of a job search as students in the other schools, according to Goldfeder.

Typically students in the arts and sciences school like to "make a path of their own," Goldfeder said, and the job search can take more time.

Some students are not confident that Lehigh can help them find the job they are looking for this year, and have taken the wait-and-see approach.

Adrian Bruce, '10, said that he is going to graduate school and hopes the economy will be better by the time he gets out.

Bruce is not alone. Deanna Giustino, '10, wants a "bit of an edge" and will do a fifth year at Lehigh through the President's Scholar Program.

Giustino hopes to come out of the program with a graduate degree.

"Overall, I haven't found it [Career Services] all that helpful," Giustino said, even though she used LUCIE to find an internship.

David Stanley, '10, said that even though he will not use Career Services, he will look for help from certain professors.

"I generally don't trust Career Services because I've heard horror stories for the humanities," Stanley said.

Some students, like Cali Roth, '10, have had great experiences with Lehigh's help.

Roth worked with Mary Ellen Raposa, assistant director and the pre-professional advisor for Career Services.

"She had a lot of information regarding financial assistance for the application process, which definitely helped cut back on the cost," Roth said.

The economy will make it more difficult for students to find the job of their dreams, and not everyone is as optimistic as the staff at career services. Yet by attending workshops and networking through family, friends, career services, and professors, students may beat the national statistics.

"Don't underestimate the connections you might have. Think of it as a class and work on it every week," Freed said.