Graduates must adapt to economic climate

Broaden your geographic search: Be ready to move, if that's what it takes.

Customize your materials: Tailor your résumé or cover letter to emphasize how your skills and experience can fit the employer's needs.

Keep a daily routine: Consider the job hunt a full-time job.

Prepare for the interview: Be ready to give examples of how you have solved problems, resolved a conflict or taken a leadership role.

Be the solution: Employers are looking for people who can help solve problems.

Volunteer: If your job search is coming up empty, look for opportunities to do some volunteer work.

Expand your network: Look to family and friends as sources of information for potential jobs, and broaden your network by attending business and community events. Also consider online social networking, especially professional sites such as LinkedIn.

Be careful what you put online: Employers may look online for information about you. Would anything about you on the Internet reflect poorly on your character?

SOURCE: Job-placement counselors at University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University and Randolph-Macon College

In one of the bleakest job markets in recent memory, the graduates of 2009 are having to adjust their career expectations and broaden their job-search criteria.

"You have to change your strategy in this market," said Grant Garcia, an MBA student at the University of Richmond who is writing a blog on businessweek.com about his job hunt in the battered financial sector.

Counselors at local colleges and universities tell the same story: Fewer employers are making recruiting visits to local schools and job fairs this year compared with 2008, and those that are recruiting have fewer jobs to fill.

Statistics show a significant decline. A February survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers of 174 of its member-employers indicated that they plan to hire 22 percent fewer graduates from the class of 2009 than from the class of 2008.

Hiring for internships and co-op programs is also expected to be down about 21 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

As the economic situation deteriorated late last year and early this year, counselors and students at local colleges say some employers have reneged on job offers, while others have pushed back hiring dates.

"It is definitely a challenging job market," said Cathy Rollman, associate director of career services at Randolph-Macon College. "But it is certainly not hopeless. We are telling our students they need to be more creative in their job search. They need to be more persistent."

Persistence, patience and flexibility are three words that many career counselors repeat when asked about what it will take for graduates to land a job.

"We have had realistic conversations with our students," said Joe Testani, associate director of the career center at the University of Richmond. "We don't try to sugarcoat it. We tell them this is how the economy is going to impact your search. Their search time will be longer than normal. They might need to be more patient than in years past."

When he entered grad school at the University of Richmond to study finance, Garcia had aspirations of going to New York and becoming a Wall Street trader. That was before the financial sector imploded and the economy went sour.

But Garcia said he is not ready to give up on his ambitions. He's just set his sights on a slightly different path to his goal.

Garcia said he is still "aggressively pursuing" jobs in finance, putting out numerous resumes and networking among school alumni and at business events. "I might have to take a job just to get a paycheck for a while, but I am not going to change my career plans at this point," he said.

Instead of zeroing in on New York for his job search, he is now going after jobs at regional banks and boutique financial firms. "They are positioned to recover," when the economy improves, he said. "I see better opportunities in Richmond, and I have really enjoyed the time I have lived here through school."

To land a job, graduates might have to think smaller, too, some counselors said.

"Almost 90 percent of the job creation is being done by small businesses," said Mike Eisenman, director of the VCU Business and Engineering Career Center. As many larger companies have scaled back hiring plans and had mass layoffs, Eisenman said he has been spending more time working with small businesses. "I am working with small companies on hiring one or two employees," he said, instead of big companies that a few years ago might have been looking for hundreds of graduates.

Graduates also will have to consider relocating if they want to get their preferred job.

Liz Franks, a Virginia Commonwealth University senior, said she has put out dozens of résumés and gotten a few interviews, but nothing that has led to a job offer yet.

Though she would prefer to stay in the Richmond area, "At this point, I would relocate across the country, if I had to, and if (an employer) were willing to help me out with relocation," said Franks, a marketing major who also has broadened her search beyond marketing and looked at other jobs in business. "I am optimistic that I will find a job," she said. "I may have to relocate, but having a job is better than not having a job even if it means moving to a new city."

As always, some majors are in more demand than others, though few have escaped the recession, said Ed Koc, research director for the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

According to the association's survey of 30,000 students, accounting and engineering majors have had the most success this year getting jobs. About 38 percent of the accounting majors surveyed had found work, while 23 percent of engineering majors had. Only about 19 percent of graduates said they had found jobs by March.

The outlook for 2010 is not much better, though long-term prospects for college graduates remain positive, in part because of an aging U.S. work force, Koc said.

Health care remains a key sector in which to look for work. Jobs are available in fields such as nursing, pharmacy and physical therapy, said Jerry Venable, vice president of human resources for health-care provider HCA's Capital Division. Health care is also a good source for nonclinical jobs such as accounting or information technology, though the competition is tougher in a down economy.

"I am certainly steering students to health care and energy," said Richard Coughlan, associate dean of the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond. "Students can bring a variety of backgrounds to those industries and find opportunities."

Coughlan said he is also advising students to seek work opportunities overseas. "For graduates who are open for opportunities abroad, the search seems less challenging," he said. "They can find opportunities to apply their skills in foreign lands in a variety of settings."

One of the best fields this year for graduates to consider is in the federal government, or government-related jobs, several college counselors said.

"The federal government has been quite active this year on our campus and probably nationwide," said Alicia Aroche, associate director of the career center at Virginia Commonwealth University. That is not entirely driven by the government's economic stimulus plan. Expectations that a significant number of federal employees will retire within five years is also driving the recruitment, Eisenman said.

Even in industries that are hiring, new graduates face a major hurdle: They must compete for jobs with a growing pool of experienced workers who have lost their jobs in the economic downturn.

"In the past we would have had to depend a little more on graduates coming out of school," said Bruce Sadler, a partner in Austin Brockenbrough & Associates, a consulting engineering firm in Chester. "Now, there are people out there with five or 10 years of experience," looking for jobs.

In this economy, having some job experience under your belt makes a big difference in the job hunt, said Mike Matthews, president and chief executive officer of Hankins and Anderson, an engineering firm with offices in Henrico County and Virginia Beach. "Get some experience in your field of study," through internships, he advised. "If you are graduating this year and have not done that, there is really not much that sets you apart from the next guy."

Local schools have been pushing underclassmen to get started preparing for the job market well before graduation through internships and other programs. For example, Randolph-Macon College has been holding career symposia where students can meet with alumni in various industries. The University of Richmond's Robins School of Business has held programs such as its QCamp, where business students meet with alumni, industry experts, and get tips on interviewing, personal branding, presentation skills and even dining etiquette and dressing for success.

Graduates who are having a hard time landing a job and can afford to take some time for other pursuits should consider doing volunteer or civic work, some counselors said. That helps the community, and also helps graduates build their experience and skills and helps fill out their résumés.

Teach for America, a training program that hires recent college graduates and professionals to work in needy school districts, said last month it has seen applications rise 42 percent this year over last year, to 35,000. Applications to the Peace Corps are also up, about 16 percent this year, a spokeswoman for the organization said.

Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or jblackwell@timesdispatch.com.