Release date: 18-Mar-05

Job Market Opens Up for Emory Class of 2005

The job market looks promising for many members of Emory University's class of 2005, most of whom began their college careers in the midst of a recession and in the shadow of Sept. 11. Career service directors at Emory report the best recruiting year since 2001 that, while not at the heady levels of the late 1990s, is a vast improvement over the stagnant market that graduates from the past three years have faced.

Tariq Shakoor, director of Emory's Career Center, says this has been a remarkable recruiting season. In fall 2004, 60 employers from a wide spectrum of industries conducted more than 700 interviews with Emory students--a 45 percent increase in recruitment activity over the previous two semesters combined. Consulting firms and investment banks were the most involved, and government, nonprofits and corporate employers were well-represented as well, he says.

The Career Center also organized the largest fall career fair in three years on Emory's campus with 50 employers, and a nonprofit career fair attracted 40 employers. A spring career fair in early February also drew about 50 employers.

"We've been very encouraged by widespread hiring in all sectors--financial services, banking, management consulting, advertising, retail, government and nonprofit," Shakoor says. While pleased with this year's success, he is cautiously optimistic for the future.

"I think companies may perhaps be encouraged by signs in the economy this year, but it is a tenuous situation that could quickly flatten out with any economic upheaval. If I see this pattern of growth for at least two consecutive years, I'll feel more confident that we have really turned the corner," Shakoor says.

Doug Cooper, associate director of the Career Management Center at Emory's Goizueta Business School, says undergraduate business students have especially seen an exceptional year. "From my perspective, the reason is a slow but steady increase in consumer confidence and growth in the financial services industry," he says. Students are finding jobs across a spectrum of financial services as well as in management consulting, corporate finance, retail management and marketing.

Emory senior Alex Foreman says he saw signs of improvement last year, and was optimistic about his chances. The business major landed his dream job with Goldman Sachs earlier this academic year after completing an internship with the investment bank last summer.

"Junior year I saw the number of seniors getting jobs increase," Foreman says. "Also, the fact that I was able to secure two out of three offers for summer employment was a fantastic sign since internships are very tough to get. During my summer in New York, I spoke with a lot of people on Wall Street and the atmosphere seemed as if they were getting ready to hire big again."

Anjali Desai, a Spanish and sociology major from Virginia, says the job market provided her with several options. However, for a liberal arts major like her, it was challenging to tailor her search and find a job that would match her skills and interests, she says. And unlike investment banks and other financial services, small companies, nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations don't usually focus on major hiring around graduation time. "They often need to fill a position soon, which doesn't work for a college student months away from graduation," she says.

"The job market is so wide in its spectrum of opportunities that I really had no clue what I could have ended up with. I wanted to work for a nonprofit and use my Spanish skills, and yet not be in a nine-to-five job where I sat at a computer all day," she says.

Desai met with a Teach For America recruiter on campus and told her all the things she wanted after graduation: to use her Spanish, work with children in a nonprofit environment and be located in New York City.

"I realized then that teaching for two years in a low-income community would be invaluable experience and allow me to make a difference," says Desai, who recently accepted a position to teach in a bilingual classroom in New York City. "It took some searching, but Teach for America was a great match."

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For nearly two decades Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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