HEADLINE JOBFIND; Job hunters need business skills; It takes broad knowledge to get hired in this market

- Article The Boston Herald October 6, 2003 Monday ALL EDITIONS HEADLINE: JOBFIND; Job hunters need business skills; It takes broad knowledge to get hired in this market BYLINE: By Denis M Hurley It used to be simple You figured out what you wanted to be when you grew up and you either made it or you didn't Then came the bubble of the '90s and a whole lot of people became things they'd never imagined, with seeming ease And it seemed as if that was, in fact, the brave new world, one that would never end Until it rained in Camelot And then, in the words of Sharon Hill, of the Bentley College Graduate Admissions Office, "It all blew up and they didn't have anywhere to go." Hill has seen it from both sides She spent the early part of her career working in marketing for Apollo, Motorola and Proteon, among others Eventually, she found she was "getting tired of getting laid off," and moved first into recruiting for such businesses and then to her current position Now she sees people, mostly in the 25-35 age range, who have learned they need more tools in a highly competitive market "The ones who get it," she says, "are thinking, 'I need to broaden my skill set, to get more business oriented.' " Others, she observes, "are just hanging out there waiting for something to change." Many of the second group are hard-core techies, who several admissions directors say, just want to be what they are and aren't ready to change career paths But Kate Klepper, of Babson College's MBA admissions office, says over a quarter of the new MBA class there includes students who have educational backgrounds in engineering, science, computer science and math And that's a good thing, she says, because employers are glad to have people with a combination of technical and business skills "Even in a difficult economy," she says, "people with that combination are faring better." The kinds of things that make a techie a techie, Klepper says - including good analytical skills and the ability to complicated thinking - are things employers consider valuable Combining those qualities with a good understanding of the business world and how it works, both Hill and Klepper say, can make a difference Todd Connors, a systems manager at BJ's Wholesale Clubs, has figured that out for himself He wants a future, he says, that's more "all-encompassing." As a start, he's devoting three years of evenings to getting a Babson MBA He says he likes the idea of diversifying his skills and thinks that the business degree will give him opportunities to avoid becoming "compartmentalized." Robert Taggart, the Associate Dean For Graduate Programs at Boston College's Carroll School of Management, says he tends to see students like Connors in evening programs, where people who already have careers - and families and mortgages - are more likely to pursue their studies than in full-time programs that require a one- or two-year commitment In those programs, Taggart says, there are "somewhat more people who are engineers and software developers" seeking to broaden their skills He says the evening classes also attract "some marketers and managers" for the same reasons Taggart tells of one recent student who had been an energy trader for Enron and recalls that a few former Arthur Andersen employees have also enrolled The committed techies, most of the admissions directors say, aren't generally among those who seek a broader education Vyctoria Thwreatt who was a general manager for LifeFX, a company that specialized in "digital people," from 1999-2002, confirms that with personal experience of her techie colleagues "Developers and programmers move from company to company together," she says "They travel in packs." Her own experience after the company's funding ran out was different from those who chose graduate school She decided to go the entrepreneurial route with a company she calls Vyctoria's Answer that has been successful at providing a private concierge service The firm's Web site claims it specializes in "simplifying and organizing your life," and offers services that range from grocery shopping to meeting planning to "minor miracles." But even that kind of entrepreneurship took some education Thwreatt took courses at the Commonwealth Corp., a quasi-public organization that provides training and assistance in business In all, though, the admissions people express a sense that - while there weren't that many to begin with - the refugees from dot-com era are becoming less likely graduate school candidates as time passes And while further education may have been a wise route to take even a year ago for those who had been thrust onto the job market as their companies folded, Klepper of Babson says current conditions make candidates think more seriously about whether two more years without a job while going to school is the right thing to "As a negative economy sustains itself," she says, "that becomes less attractive." - Article The New York Times September 14, 2003, Sunday, Late Edition - Final HEADLINE: Personal Business; The Unemployed Lose More Than a Paycheck BYLINE: By KAREN ALEXANDER JEFF HALPERN had changed jobs a half-dozen times since receiving his M.B.A from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1991, but the latest change was different His position at a start-up energy trading company disappeared in the wake of Enron's collapse, and it took almost seven months for him to land a new position as marketing manager of TheraSense, a company in Alameda, Calif., that develops products for people with diabetes While he was out of work, Mr Halpern, 39, became increasingly aware of what he was missing: not just a regular salary, but also the networking opportunities and the experience and knowledge that people accrue in their jobs "It's very easy to allow your skills to stagnate and not stay up on what's going on in the world," said Mr Halpern, who joined TheraSense in late April Corporate recruiters and career coaches agree The so-called opportunity costs of unemployment are often hidden and are harder to quantify than lost salary or benefits But they are nonetheless a burden that can have lasting effects on a career The longer people are out of work, it seems, the harder it can be to find employment In August, 1.9 million Americans had been looking for work for 27 weeks or more, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics That figure accounts for about 22 percent of the unemployed and does not include 503,000 eligible workers whom government economists classify as "discouraged." These are people who have lost their jobs but are not currently looking for work specifically because they believe that no jobs are available for them And many recent college graduates have decided to ride out the tight job market by enrolling in graduate or law schools instead of looking for permanent employment, while others have chosen volunteer work Mr Halpern, who has been diabetic for 10 years, decided that he wanted his next job to be in the area of diabetes care He worked to keep his business skills fresh and to stay on top of medical research and trends He did volunteer work for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and helped a fund-raising event generate about four times as much money as it had in the past He also attended a career-coaching seminar And, by each Monday, he made sure that he had something on his calendar for every day of the week ahead "It was better than feeling sorry for myself, and during interviews it gave me something to talk about," he said "I was actually doing something with my time." Rebecca Zucker, a principal and co-founder of the career advisory firm Next Step Partners in San Francisco, ran the group sessions that Mr Halpern attended Using professional skills in volunteer work or community involvement keeps those skills fresh, she said, and bolsters confidence "The insider knowledge that's gained from being in the flow of things is linked to a person's confidence and sense of competence in that field," Ms Zucker said "Like compound interest, those experiences build on each other." Experts say recent graduates of business and law schools have particular reason to put their skills to work, because another batch of graduates will be flooding the job market within a year "If a certain amount of time goes by, and you don't have things to put on your resume, and the year behind you catches up, you are caught in a squeeze play," said Carl Baier, a legal recruiter and managing director of the Palo Alto, Calif., office of Major, Hagen & Africa, a search firm "I think that's happening now, and I think there's going to be additional scrutiny when things pick up Employers will ask: 'What types of deals has this person been working on? What have they really been doing?"' One woman in that situation received her M.B.A from a school in the Northeast in May 2001 and was offered a consulting job at Accenture in New York But the market soured, and for more than a year the firm repeatedly pushed back her starting date She finally began work in October 2002 The consultant, who spoke about her situation on the condition that she not be identified, said she sought opportunities to use her skills during the wait, in part because she feared that her promised job could be snatched away by one of the new business school graduates following at her heels Though she had a formal job offer from Accenture, the long wait created "a feeling that I had to continue to impress them," she said In addition to traveling and spending time with family members, she did volunteer work and took on a freelance consulting project for a large company "It helped me feel more comfortable that I wasn't withering on the vine," she said, "and I think it helped Accenture feel better, too, that they hadn't picked up a dud." Now that she's busy on the job, she says she considers the time off "a gift" but rues the lag in her experience She estimates that it will take 18 months to two years on the job before she feels truly caught up "It's not as if I'd gotten to use these skills and made them a part of me," she said "I went straight from school to being out of work for a year Now I have my finance and accounting textbooks within arm's reach of my desk because I know I'm going to have to use them I felt like I was behind." Her professional and social networking at work have suffered, she said, because she feels out of step with colleagues her own age Robert Baker, 31, received master's degrees in business administration and finance from Boston College in the spring of 2001 He needed five months to find a job, which he has since left Now he is an assistant vice president for wealth management services at the State Street Corporation in Quincy, Mass "As each month goes by, your confidence level decreases, and you start to realize you're not going to get your ideal job," Mr Baker said of his initial job search after graduation Although his business school held weekly support meetings over the summer, he soon began to feel that he had exhausted whatever contacts the school's alumni network could offer "In graduate school you're kind of going nonstop, and you start to thrive on that," he said When the day "consists of just a job search, it's not very dynamic," he said, "and it does take a while to get that momentum back upon returning to work." After leaving the first job, Mr Baker went directly to State Street in June That quick transition went much more smoothly, he said How much a person's career ultimately suffers from an extended period of unemployment varies by industry, the market environment and the individual, Ms Zucker said "It can be nothing more than a blip, or it could be something that keeps them off course for a period of time," she said THE best way for an unemployed worker to combat the experience gap, she and other experts said, is to remain as active as possible in his or her field of expertise "Keeping the momentum is very important," Ms Zucker said John Challenger, the chief executive of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas in Chicago, agreed "The most important thing a person can is get really heavily engaged in organizations and volunteer activities in your industry, or in your field," he said "As people are out of work they tend to become marginalized," he added "As they move out of the mainstream, they become less involved in not only the flow of meeting and developing relationships in business, but even outside of business in the civic and community sphere They shouldn't that, but a lot of people go and hide Making good transitions is really important, but many people get really stuck "I don't want to make it seem so heavy an obstacle that it can't be worked around," Mr Challenger added "People it all the time." - Article St Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri) August 10, 2003 Sunday Five Star Lift Edition HEADLINE: BOYS LOSE GROUND TO GIRLS IN RACE TO FINISH COLLEGE BYLINE: Susan C Thomson Of The Post-Dispatch * The question is why Higher-paying trade jobs lead some boys to skip college, experts suggest, and the changing job picture has erased some traditionally male work The slide of male students to the rear of the college class went largely unnoticed over the past two decades, amid concern about the educational needs of women Only recently have researchers, authors and teachers begun to sound the alarm about what some see as a social time bomb in the making Many say boys' second-class graduation rate 42 percent now is the end result of educational neglect Questions such as why boys are falling behind in school and what can be done to bring them up to girls' speed are taking on urgency As education researcher Thomas G Mortensen reads the college graduation statistics, men are in crisis "A growing share of men just aren't making it," he said "Women have won the war in education," says Mortensen, who has been drawing attention to this "gender gap" in higher education since the mid-1990s "It's over with." He blames the nation's gradual shift from a brawn to a brains economy "I think it's because (men) have lost their jobs in farming, they've lost t heir jobs in manufacturing, and they don't know what else to do." And that, in his view, is just as problematical for women, who "are not going to find similarly educated men to marry and share their lives with, because they're just not there." A study presented in May to the Washington-based Business Roundtable by researchers at Northeastern University portrayed men as an emerging educational underclass As such, the study says, they could prove drags on the nation's productivity, economic growth and Social Security system and threaten the future of marriage, the stability of families and the welfare of children That's not to say that men aren't making educational progress Along with the nation's population in general, they graduate from both high school and college at generally greater rates than they used to It's just that in a stunning come-from-behind move, unimaginable a generation ago, women have progressed even faster, surpassing them If not college, where? Which raises the question: If young men of prime college age aren't in college, where are they? Behind bars, for one place According to the latest data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 419,700 males between 18 and 24 are in state and federal prisons and local jails That's 16 times the number of their female contemporaries Among men in that age group who are neither incarcerated nor in school, nearly a quarter are unemployed or "not in the labor force," the Bureau of Labor Statistics term for those who neither have a job nor are looking for one The rest are working - and not necessarily at dead-end jobs, according to labor analyst Russell Signorino, who sees job prospects for young noncollege men as better than those for young noncollege women Manufacturing jobs haven't entirely dried up, he says As for other areas where men with just a high school education still earn living wages, Signorino cites the construction trades, machining, tool and die making, maintenance, trucking, warehousing and sales "These jobs are open to women, but they're still male-dominated," said Signorino, who works for the United Way of Greater St Louis To John Gaal, coordinator of the apprenticeship training program of the Carpenters District Council of St Louis, the issue isn't so much men not going to college as women not taking advantage of the alternatives "Not enough women are aware of the opportunities that are available to them in these nontraditional occupations," he said "Therefore their default is college." Nick Hegel, a 21-year-old who is three years out of Gillespie High School in Gillespie, Ill., never wanted to be anything but a carpenter "I like to work outside ," he said "I didn't think I could stand sitting in a classroom all that time." As he finishes his second year of a carpentry apprenticeship program in Belleville, he's earning $17 an hour while learning When he becomes a journeyman in two more years, he'll qualify for the union wage of $28 an hour "How many people make $28 an hour when they graduate from college?" he asks Similarly, Ryan Dougherty, a 20-year-old graduate of Oakville High School, is earning $15 an hour as an apprentice electrician in St Louis, with the prospect of $30 an hour when he finishes his four-year program in 1/2 years He says he might have been able to earn even more if he'd gone to college, but he loves what he's doing "What's money if you're miserable the rest of your life?" Dougherty could have gone to St Louis University tuition-free because his mother works there, but he never so much as filled out an application The gender gap has hit home for both of these apprentices Dougherty has a sister who graduated from college and a brother who is a tradesman Hegel has two sisters, one with a degree and the other working toward one "Girls are just more dedicated to school," Hegel said Dedicated to money Preston R Thomas, a Normandy High School counselor, sees boys as more dedicated to money "Guys perceive themselves as having to be macho breadwinners," he said "What tends to happen is at an early age they feel a pressure to go out and earn money." For the young men interviewed for this story, money was typically the main reason for not being or staying in college The cost of college, fear of loans, the iffy job market for college graduates and their own preferences for ready cash in their pockets figured variously into their decisions Ron Dunn, 23, just became "more focused" on work than on school While still at McCluer High School, he got a job as a deli worker, slicing roast beef "It was cool," he said "I dug it." So much that he left school for it, a move he describes now as "a choice I shouldn't have made." At the St Louis Job Corps center, he has picked up his GED as well as skills in home building and cooking As for college, he says he's "all for it" and would like to go "to see what it's like." Greg Topolski, 19, saw enough in two weeks of community college "It wasn't for me," he said "It was too much like high school." He quit to work at Schnucks in Eureka, where he started before graduating from Eureka High School He bakes and packages bread, stocks shelves, bags and checks groceries, shags carts from the parking lot whatever is needed, he says He says he's been told he has management potential He sees himself as on a much more serious track than his old high scho ol buddies "My friends, they went away to college and all they is party ," he said "They come back and they're failing all of their classes because they're doing all that drinking." Kevin Pollihan, 24, also a Eureka High graduate, went to community college for three semesters and has been waiting tables for the past three years at the Pasta House in Chesterfield He hopes to join and make a career in the St Louis Fire Department In his mind, he's just as well off as contemporaries who stuck it out in college and graduated "I see people my age who have college degrees who are working at jobs you don't have to have a college degree for, like selling cell phones, and they have loans and stuff," he said Sexes test equally well Young men aren't holding back from college for lack of smarts A yet-to-be-published study by ACT shows that, all things being equal, high school boys and girls test equally well, says Jim Sconing, the educational testing service's director of statistical research At the upper end of the ACT score spectrum, boys and girls are equally likely to choose college, he says The gender gap opens "among students of moderate ability" where "females are more interested in going to college than males." Tyree Miller, a social worker at Normandy High School, attributes some of this difference to high school boys' greater vulnerability to the seductions of videos, rap music and the entertainment industry in general "They just over-identify with it," he said Charlotte Ijei, director of guidance for the Parkway School District, says boys can begin in middle school to succumb to the message that "it's not very cool to be smart." So they enter high school with academic deficits "They've lost not only their competitive edge in education, they've developed gaps in their educations and high school becomes more difficult," she said And yet it was little more than a decade ago when girls were widely considered the losers in schools where teachers favored boys, activities stressed competition and textbooks ignored women This was the gist of "How Schools Shortchange Girls," a study published to great popular press by the American Association of University Women in 1992 If the system was stacked against them, girls were beating it even then For more than a century, according to the U.S Department of Education, they had been graduating from high school at somewhat greater rates than boys And that year, after starting to pull ahead in 1980, women earned 54 percent of the nation's bachelor's degrees to men's 46 percent Now, seizing on the same supposed gender differences as the AAUW study, new and growing legions of advocates for boys are blaming schools for cheating boys Boys, they say, are up against it from the minute they set foot in kindergarten because they don't initially develop as fast as girls - emotionally, physically or intellectually - and aren't as self-disciplined They complain that elementary schools, with their overwhelmingly female teaching staffs, are decidedly boyunfriendly, punishing them for being active and competitive and rewarding girls for being compliant and cooperative Research shows that elementary school teachers like girls better than boys, says Arden Miller, professor of psychology at Southwest Missouri State University "The kinds of things that schools emphasize make them a more reinforcing environment for girls," he said "In school, students are expected to sit down and talk - the things that females better and that can be problems for boys Boys just aren't as well-suited to an activity that is primarily verbal." That's the main reason, advocates say, that boys are three times more likely than girls to be routed to special education and three or four times more likely to be labeled with attention-deficit disorder High school slackers In high school, when they might be building their resumes for college, boys as a group are seriously slacking off This is true nationwide, even worldwide, worried experts say For example: Of the 850,000 high achievers from public and private schools around the country recognized in the latest edition of "Who's Who Among American High School Students," two-thirds are girls That rings true to Dan Polacek, a counselor at Parkway West High School, where girls get higher grades and dominate the National Honor Society and most student organizations, he says Yet, he adds, boys score just as well on the ACT test, a sign that they are just as capable Young men interviewed for this story seemed to take for granted that girls work harder in school, get better grades and set higher educational goals But that didn't faze the young men Several said they had girlfriends; all of the girlfriends were going to college at least part time And that was fine, even a source of pride, with the boyfriends As Dunn said about his girlfriend, a student at St Louis Community College's Florissant Valley campus, "Maybe I can learn something from her." Additional Information Source: U.S Department of Education Girls are taking the lead in finishing high school and earning college degrees A look at the breakdown of high school and college graduates: After a dropout rate of 12.2% for boys and 9.3% for girls, the high school graduating class shrinks to 89.75% Those who graduated: BOYS 49% GIRLS 51% Of the high school graduates, 62% enroll in a two- or four-year college Of the 62%, those who enrolled: BOYS 48% GIRLS 52% Of those enrolled, 59% received their bachelor's degrees within six years Of the 59%, those who received degrees: BOYS 42% GIRLS 58% Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics A look at how many U.S 18-24-year-olds are enrolled in school or in the work force*: Total population Enrolled in school Employed Unemployed Not in labor force WOMEN** 13.6 million 40% 40% 5% 15% MEN** 13.6 million 37% 49% 7% 7% * Does not include those in jail, prison or the active military ** Includes an undetermined number who have already received college degrees Note: "Not in labor force" refers to those who are neither working nor seeking work Graphic/chart - Race and the gender gap Source: Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University The gender gap in college graduation cuts across all racial categories It is smallest for Asians, largest for blacks For every 100 bachelor's degrees earned in 1999-2000 by Asian men, Asian women earned 117 Similarly, for every 100 bachelor's degrees earned in 1999-2000: * By white men, white women earned 131 * By Hispanic men, Hispanic women earned 148 * By black men, black women earned 192 - Article USA TODAY June 13, 2003, Friday, FINAL EDITION HEADLINE: Classrooms filled with returning adults BYLINE: Stephanie Armour With good jobs hard to find, many workers who never completed their studies are now heading back to school to get their degrees They're returning to the classroom because it's hard to make the grade in this fierce job market without a diploma But going back can also be a Herculean challenge Workers are juggling early-morning business meetings with term papers They're waking at the blush of dawn for online classes or attending night courses while earning paychecks during the day Others have been laid off and are using their dwindling financial resources to finish their degrees A driving factor behind the back-to-school wave is the economic downturn, which is causing an unemployment gap between those who have a degree and those who don't With the unemployment rate higher for non-college graduates and job shortages showing no signs of abating, going back to college is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative For Katrina Brown, a master mechanic with the Long Island Railroad, continuing her education has sometimes meant waking as early as a.m for online classes She left college in 1980 after the death of her mother, but decided in 1995 to resume her studies Brown now attends University of Phoenix Online, which offers degree programs over the Internet, and is working on a doctorate in management and organizational leadership "After my mom died, I didn't have the time and energy to continue But you have to be competitive I needed that piece of paper," says Brown, 43, of Amityville, N.Y "I went back because it seemed I couldn't go any further unless I had that degree." Such returning students are helping alter the makeup of today's student body The number of students age 35 and older in degree-granting institutions has soared from about 823,000 in 1970 to an estimated 2.9 million in 2001 doubling from 9.6% of total students to 19.2%, according to the National Center for Education Statistics At the University of Phoenix, a private, accredited university offering courses both online and at roughly 100 locations around the USA, there are 63,000 students taking classes online More than half are undergraduates, most of whom have at least some college credits "We've seen a huge increase in students going back," says Brian Mueller, CEO of University of Phoenix Online "It's being driven by the economy and by the ability of more students to take classes online." Other colleges that cater to returning students also report that enrollment is perking up "We're seeing a big increase," says Jennifer McLean, who administers the distance-learning program at Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, Pa The distance program, which allows students to take classes without being on campus, is made up almost entirely of returning students "The program is growing substantially We've added two new degree programs this year, and every year, we're recruiting more and more faculty." What's driving the trend: * Going back to school has never been easier Many colleges have added programs that allow students to complete studies long-distance, using the Internet to connect with professors and fellow students Sometimes returning students can finish degrees without setting foot on campus About 75% of colleges and universities have some sort of online program The Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) in Washington estimates that roughly million students are involved in doing coursework at a distance at U.S colleges and universities According to the Department of Education, the estimated total enrollment for both undergraduate and graduate students in the USA was 15.7 million in 2003 But some employers remain skeptical of online studies because they're a fairly recent educational phenomenon Education experts also say that's changing "Employers have learned (that) people who have the self-discipline and moxie to complete a degree online are going to be extremely good employees," says Michael Lambert, executive director of the DETC "Right now, it's different, but it's becoming more accepted." He added that the degrees must come from accredited institutions rather than degree mills that churn out diplomas for cash One reason online studies are more accepted is that schools have come up with unusual ways for students to take classes, such as offering all-day Saturday classes or courses that meet over lunch Paula Neal, 36, is a secretary who lives in Canton, Pa She's completing an associate's degree in computer networking at Pennsylvania College of Technology While she takes some courses in person, much of the work has been done on the Internet connecting with other students via online bulletin boards and emailing with professors She works full time and often uses lunches to study "I'm a morning person, so I get up at 4:30 a.m on the weekends and put in my hours before my kids wake up," says Neal, mother to Travis, 12, and Alane, 10 Before going back to school in 2002, she'd attended a business institute to get certified as a medical office clerk "This will really help with career advancement." * Employees want to be more attractive to employers Many employees believe that going back to school is a savvy career move The current economic downturn is taking a heavier toll on those without a degree The unemployment rate for workers age 25 and older with some college or an associate's degree was 4.8% in May, according to the Department of Labor That compares with the 3.1% unemployment rate of those with a bachelor's degree or higher And for those with only a high school diploma, the unemployment rate was 5.5% The rise in long-term unemployment means those who are laid off are having a harder time finding work Frustrated, they're going back to school instead The number of Graduate Management Admissions Tests (GMAT) taken in the U.S through May this year reached nearly 61,000, compared with 57,000 tests in the first five months of 2000 "It's not like hiding out from a bad economy," says Mimi Collins, at the National Association of Colleges and Employers in Bethlehem, Pa "It's more like making yourself more marketable, because the job market is very tough." For employees like Isaiah Poole, finishing a degree makes good business sense Poole, 49, left college in the 1970s for personal reasons He held a variety of jobs, including work as a Washington correspondent for Black Enterprise Magazine and as a reporter for the Washington Times and Army Times He moved to State College, Pa., to attend Pennsylvania State University in 2001 and took a job as opinion page editor at the Centre Daily Times He graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in journalism, 27 years behind schedule Going back meant he had to cut his work hours, but Poole says he believes the sacrifice was more than worth it "I hope it will make a difference," says Poole, who plans to move to Washington "It's difficult to get in the door even with a degree Every job I've seen, they're looking for a B.A." Education does pay off The average earnings for bachelor's degree holders are 50% higher than the average earnings of those with only a high school diploma, according to the U.S Department of Education That's why, in a sluggish economy, adults often stay in school longer or pursue advanced degrees * Older employees feel more comfortable returning because the traditional college student is changing Today, college isn't just for recent high school graduates Gray-haired students are more accepted Two out of five college students are 25 or older, according to the Department of Education An estimated 90 million individuals participate in some form of adult education each year At 52, Constance Clark is finishing a nursing degree she began in 1969 She left her studies in the early 1970s to get married While she got a bachelor's in general studies in 1995, she's now returned to complete her nursing degree at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind "It's something I've always wanted to do," says Clark "People today have a different perception of age." * Many employees receive tuition help from their companies Nearly 80% of employers offered educational assistance in 2002, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, up from 74% in 2001 Going back to school can be costly, no matter how the degree is earned Getting a degree from an institution that specializes in online courses and distance learning can be cheaper than from a traditional private university But most traditional universities offer online classes, which cost the same as taking a course in person A master's degree can be earned from some distance programs for $ 6,000 to $ 10,000, but can cost $ 30,000 or more at a traditional private university Some employers looking for hires with the latest skills see returning to finish a degree later in life as an advantage A degree in computer science, electronics engineering or other technical fields is more valuable to an employer if it's been earned in the past 10 years, education experts say Going back to school is enabling Nicole Mehlbrech, 36, to change career paths The office manager in Tualatin, Ore., took some college courses but left when she became pregnant Her son, Anthony, is now 12 Mehlbrech went back to school in 1998 and got her undergraduate degree in sociology from Portland State University; she's graduating this summer with a master's in education from the University of Phoenix Online and plans to teach "Right now, I have a job, but I wanted a career," she says "I worried at first that employers would think it was a fly-by-night degree, but that hasn't been the case." Financial help from her employer and a desire to be more marketable were the main reasons Mary Beth Puryear, 51, went back While she took a few college classes after high school, she left when she got married Now she works in corporate communications at Health Alliance, a health care system of six hospitals in Cincinnati She returned in 1992, and recently got her associate's degree from the College of Mount St Joseph This fall, she'll go back again to work on getting a bachelor's in communications She credits her ability to go back to her company, which reimburses employees up to $ 4,000 a year for continuing education Last year, 830 employees at Health Alliance used $ 1.2 million in tuition benefits "We encourage people to go into areas where there are identifiable labor shortages We have to grow our own talent," says Debbe Endres, vice president of human resources with the Health Alliance "We can't wait for the schools to turn them out And we also think it's important for people to continue to learn." - Article The San Diego Union-Tribune June 9, 2003, Monday HEADLINE: Graduates encounter grim job prospects; Many return to school to wait out a tough market BYLINE: Lisa Petrillo; STAFF WRITER For Liz Feldman of Pacific Beach and her fellow 1.2 million members of the class of 2003, little could be more depressing than this pronouncement: "This spring's college graduates are entering the worst job market in 20 years," said Robert Reich, an economist and the secretary of labor in the Clinton administration The 21-year-old Feldman spent last year focused on graduating from San Diego State University in four years, an achievement that roughly 10 percent accomplish in the 23-campus California State University system Still, graduates like Feldman are learning that more than gold stars are needed to make it in the working world "It was exciting to graduate because I have been focused on school for so long," Feldman said "It was sort of scary, too, because I don't have a plan." Over the spring, while completing her political science degree and working part-time like most of her fellow students, she made a few calls to politicians she had previously interned for and sent out a few resumes After panicking in April, she hit up a few recruiters at a campus career fair with mixed success The national economic indicators have played a steadily sour refrain for the past three years There are million unemployed workers and only million job openings, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan group based in Washington, D.C Nearly a half-million unemployed workers have given up job hunting, according to the U.S Labor Department This year's grads had the job-hunting blues before they got their diplomas A poll of college seniors by the employment service MonsterTRAK showed 53 percent didn't expect to receive job offers when they graduated Most had a Plan B: 61 percent expected to move back home with their parents New graduates typically have an advantage in the job market, said Judith Gumbiner, the veteran head of career counseling at San Diego State "New graduates are the most employable group They're easily trainable and cheaper" because they will usually accept less pay, she said Yet these are not typical times About 42 percent of employers surveyed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers say they are cutting the number of college graduates they hire, which was already low Analysts at the non-profit association said business administration and accounting graduates were most in demand, and there continues to be a nursing shortage However, job candidates in once-strong fields as computer science and engineering are facing tough times Starting salaries are staying flat also, although the range is $20,000 to $75,000 for entry-level pay College and university officials say they had a hard time getting businesses to attend their career fairs After 36 years in career counseling, Gumbiner said, this is the worst year she can remember "This is, I hope, the low point," she said An exception Certainly not everybody is singing the blues By the time Jason Trapp graduated this spring from Cal State San Marcos with a bachelor's degree in business administration, he had a full-time job making more than $30,000 as an associate financial analyst at BAE Systems, a defense contractor "I was kind of paranoid so I started looking, really looking, last year," said Trapp, 24, who sent out more than 140 resumes But he said only job fairs and the career center at Cal State San Marcos produced any prospects Feldman landed a summer job as a camp counselor "I like working around kids, and it will pay my bills," she said After summer, she plans to attend graduate school to help her figure out her next step and wait for a better job market She'll have plenty of company An unprecedented number of her fellow grads have gone back to school Those taking graduate-school admissions tests are up 33 percent since 2000, accounting for more than half a million test-takers this year Likewise, applications to medical school are up Over the past two years, law school applications have shot up 28 percent The Peace Corps is seeing a rise in recruitment 11 percent in the Southern California region this year Reich, who is now an economics professor at Brandeis University, recommended against waiting too long to take a job He wrote a column to graduates, published in The New York Times recently, advocating they instead take low-paying "go-fer" jobs in their chosen field, as in "go for" coffee Reich recommended picking a place with low unemployment such as Lincoln, Neb The class of 2003 can at least use the Internet as a job-search tool, which gives graduates an advantage over those who endured previous recessions Colleges and universities now have their own Web sites where students post resumes for employers to search Online job-listing billboards also abound Whatever works It was a combination of the old and the new style of job hunting that worked for Jorge A Escobar, who just landed his first full-time job with full benefits plus paid moving expenses, a package worth more than $30,000 Twelve years ago, Escobar came to Northern California from war-torn El Salvador and spoke no English He worked as a janitor and in low-paying hospital jobs at night so he could attend school during the day, earning an emergency medical technician certification and then an associate's degree in science at a community college His latest achievement was earning his bachelor's degree in sociology from Cal State San Marcos with a minor in criminology He wanted to work as a social worker to help troubled youths, he said, but it was not a dream that would come true Most of the 50 resumes he sent out starting in September were not in the social work field "I knew the unemployment rate was so high," he said "That's why I'm going into the medical field instead of social work When government is sinking, that's the first jobs to go." While surfing the Internet in April, he found an opening at a Chico hospital where he formerly worked When he called, they remembered him and called him back That past contact and the new degrees apparently closed the deal Another case For others, the economic horizon is so bleak that even the go-getters can get discouraged Lee Wilson, 19, wanted to get a jump on his career in computer information systems, so he attended San Diego State's spring college fair wearing a white shirt, black tie and shiny shoes a standout from the campus' highly casual dress code "If I didn't it, my mother would kill me," Wilson said Wilson had been looking since fall for a resume-building internship or summer work that would be meaningful to his career "Most of the people you call don't call back, so it's an empty nothing," he said "I'll figure it out Someone will take me." By April, Wilson had sent out 30 resumes By May, Wilson had a chance at a summer job at a bank, an interview landed not by his legwork but by family contacts By June, his optimistic tone was gone "I'm going to summer school, six hours a day, four days a week," Wilson said drearily At least the credits he'll earn this summer will help him graduate early in December He figures the timing will help him get the jump on everybody else entering the labor pool next year - Article The San Francisco Chronicle MAY 31, 2003, SATURDAY, FINAL EDITION HEADLINE: Grads find creative ways to opt out of tight job market; More choose travel, community service or advanced degrees BYLINE: Kelly St John Santa Clara University senior Erin Bishop is saying "no thanks" to corporate America After she graduates in two weeks, Bishop is joining the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, a Catholic service organization that places volunteers in one-year stints working in the community She will move to Camden, N.J., to work as an intake counselor at a law clinic for immigrants, earning just $85 a month plus living expenses Fueled by a dismal economy, and possibly an interest in working in the community, a growing number of students are opting out of the job market altogether They are joining the growing ranks of graduates taking paths other than the corporate 9-to-5 grind -traveling, going straight to graduate school, or signing up for a service-oriented program like the Peace Corps or Teach for America What Bishop is doing is a far cry from the path her brother took when he graduated from Santa Clara in 2000, at the height of the dot-com boom, she said He landed at an Internet company with a fat signing bonus "My parents think it is admirable, and they're proud of me," Bishop said "But I don't think they particularly understand it I might not necessarily be financially stable, and I won't be living the conventional life of getting married and settling down." "It definitely does feel good having something that I'm really happy with," said Bishop, a San Diego native, whose roommate Kristin Love also is joining the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, while another housemate has applied to the Peace Corps Emily Bobel is one of 16 Stanford University graduates who have been accepted into next year's class of Teach for America, a program that recruits college graduates to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools "Not knowing what I wanted to after I graduated, and definitely not wanting to get a job in this economy, it just sounded like an amazing opportunity," said Bobel "Although I expect it to be really challenging and frustrating, I feel like it is something I won't regret doing I feel like I can work in an office anytime." Bobel, a Palo Alto native who majored in human biology, said there's another benefit to participating in the program "None of my friends have jobs I'm the only one that has a job, so to speak, not that mine is paying a lot." 16,000 APPLICATIONS Teach for America received a record number of applications this year, said spokesperson Amy Palladino, nearly 16,000 for just 2,000 teaching positions In the Bay Area, 125 UC Berkeley seniors, 38 Stanford seniors and 48 UC Santa Cruz seniors applied for Teach for America, Palladino said The Peace Corps and AmeriCorps also have seen applications surge, as have graduate schools across the country Santa Clara senior Lindsay Thrasher, 21, said that she decided to apply for graduate school in January after her job search seemed to be going nowhere Thrasher, a communications major from Los Gatos, will study sports management at Long Beach State University in hopes of ultimately getting her dream job working in event planning or public relations for a professional sports team "The only jobs I was getting called back for were sales jobs I figured I have to go with what I'm passionate about," she said These students are leaving behind what has many of their classmates frustrated: perhaps the worst job market for new graduates in two decades Ariel Jakobovits is trying not to take it personally A 21-year-old senior at Stanford, Jakobovits will graduate in two weeks with a computer science degree and big dreams about someday starting his own Internet company During the dot-com frenzy, he probably would have already been snapped up by an employer and offered a signing bonus to boot Instead, he's sent out 40 resumes, without a single phone call back "I'm surprised, and I'm not surprised," said Jakobovits "To be perfectly honest, I have a decent resume, and I was surprised how I have literally not received any response to the jobs I've applied to And I know that's because of the competition." At Stanford, 40 percent fewer companies turned out for the school's fall recruiting fair, and there was a 40 percent drop-off in companies participating in on-campus recruiting this year, said Lance Choy, director of Stanford's career center "In a boom time, students would sneeze and employers would come running," said Choy Now, "it's requiring a tremendous amount of persistence and resourcefulness." COLLEGE HIRING CUTBACKS According to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 42 percent of employers are cutting back on college hiring this year Career counselors also report anecdotally that graduating seniors are working harder to land job offers, and settling for lower salaries Despite the poor economy and a renewed interest in volunteer programs and graduate school, Bay Area career counselors say most students are still choosing to look for traditional employment None, however, could say how many had firm job offers as of graduation day "Usually at the time of graduation, only one-third actually have a job in hand," said San Francisco State University career center director Jack Brewer "In a good job market, 50 percent will have a job six months out." Tom Devlin, director of UC Berkeley's career center, said that out of of the university's 6,000 graduating seniors are expected to be working full time six months after graduating MORE CHOOSE GRADUATE SCHOOL But, Devlin said, 23 percent of them are expected to go on to graduate school, versus 17 percent two years ago Meanwhile, 35 percent are planning to work in nonprofit or government jobs, up from 20 percent in 2000 "It's reflective of a number of different things," Devlin said, noting that since the Sept 11 attacks, the federal government has become one of the biggest recruiters "And, it's a change in students in how they are perceiving their contributions to society." Ilse Evans, career planning director at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, said that about half of the current crop of MBA graduates have already accepted a job or are weighing serious offers The biggest drop-off in recruiting, Evans said, was in the field of investment banking, which "really isn't hiring the way it used to be." She said that firms have also been interested in hiring graduates who had extensive work experience in a particular field even before they came to graduate school One of the few Haas graduates to land a plum investment banking job is Talia Sessler, 28, who had worked in accounting before coming to graduate school She will be working in Merrill Lynch's New York office, making a six-figure salary "I was very fortunate," said Sessler, who landed a competitive internship with the company last summer "At least in my year, a career change was almost impossible Among my classmates who also got investment banking positions, they all had banking or accounting experience going in."E-mail Kelly St John at kstjohn@sfchronicle.com - Article 10 Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) May 25, 2003 Sunday, Home Final Edition HEADLINE: FRUSTRATED BY DEGREES ;A snapshot of the job market for grads; This year especially, college grads find it hard to get a foot in the door BYLINE: Tracy Turner, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Mariah Pacer thought earning a degree in international business marketing would easily earn her a plum job Instead, the 22-year-old Ohio State University graduating senior plans to register with a temporary agency while she looks for a job in her field "I don't have any job offers, and it's frustrating," said Pacer, who graduates next month "When I started college, the job market was good and people were getting several job offers "But now, I don't know too many people who are graduating with even one offer." Pacer is among the 1.3 million students who are graduating this spring into one of the worst job markets in many years Not only will these students compete with each other for work, but they're competing against last years' graduates who haven't found jobs yet Layoffs have left even more people hunting for jobs There have been 465,000 announced job cuts in the last two months alone, said John A Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc The Chicago outplacement company tracks employment announcements "The job market is in the pits, and unemployment is getting worse," Challenger said "The pool of jobs have diminished but the number of candidates has expanded." The national unemployment rate was percent last month That number is even higher for people ages 20 through 24 unemployment for that age group rose to 10.1 percent last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics The events of Sept 11, 2001, the war with Iraq, corporate scandals, the bear market and an eight-year high unemployment rate all contribute to the tough job market, said Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute Companies plan to hire the same number of new college graduates as they did last year, according to a survey of 1,170 employers by the National Association of Colleges and Employers But last year's hiring of college graduates was down 36.4 percent from 2000 The Midwest is the only region in which employers expect to hire fewer graduates 4.2 percent fewer -than last year, association spokeswoman Camille Luckenbaugh said The Bethlehem, Pa.-based organization tracks hiring trends for college graduates The hiring outlook is best among service-sector employers, which expects hiring to be up 4.8 percent over last year The biggest loss overall 8.4 percent is expected in the manufacturing sector, the association found "Employers are hiring, just not in the numbers they were in previous years," said Mimi Collins, association spokeswoman "Now, more students are looking at graduate school as a way to stall their entry into the job market and give themselves an edge." That's what Bryan Stout, 21, of Newark is counting on The political-science major plans to attend Ohio University after graduation from Ohio State in June "I toyed around with the idea of getting directly into the job market, but after looking awhile, I realized there's not a whole lot out there," Stout said "In the past, I've always been able to find student jobs, but I haven't found anything in my career field now." He's not alone Graduate-school applications at Ohio State are up by 2,100 from this time last year as more choose to wait out a tough job market Fifty-three percent of students expect they will graduate without a job offer this year, compared with 23 percent of students in 2001, according to research by the Monster.com jobs site Companies simply aren't recruiting at the pace they were in the late 1990s, said Amy Thaci, career-services director at Ohio State University's College of Arts and Sciences "We've had as many as 200 companies on campus in the heyday of recruiting in the late 1990's," Thaci said "This year, we've had about 50." On-campus interviews are also down 13 percent in Ohio State's College of Engineering, said Gina Langen, communications director Resume referrals and online job postings are down 46 percent, she said Even MBAs are hurting "The job market is the worst I've seen in 24 years," said Jeff Rice, associate to the dean for career services at the Fisher College of Business at OSU Rice estimates that 60 percent of Fisher's 2003 MBA graduates have job offers, down more than 10 percent from previous years "Prior to two years ago, it was a sellers' market Job seekers were in control," he said "Employers are now in the driver's seat "Surely, the economy is slow, there is no denying that, but there are pockets of opportunity in specific industries." One such industry is health care, which is seeing growth despite the sluggish economy Tiffany Hall, a 21-year-old OSU student from Toledo, considers herself lucky She's graduating this spring with a nursing degree and a job offer In fact, all of the 111 nursing graduates have job offers, said Elizabeth Lenze, dean of Ohio State's College of Nursing Some of them even have multiple offers, she said "We are in the midst of a major nursing shortage, and hospitals are very eager to have our graduates," Lenze said "They are saying, 'Please send us workers.' This is a recession-proof occupation." But those students without job offers still have options, said Eric Anderson, director of career services at Capital University Students can take advantage of their school's career-services offices, get advice from advisers and network "Networking may not provide an immediate yes or no to a job," Anderson said, "but it could build relationships with people that could lead to future positions." Box Story: Industries expecting to increase hiring of college grads the most Construction companies 35.7% Consulting services 14.3% Public-accounting firms 14.0% Industries expecting to cut back the most Utilities 31.0% Engineering/surveying firms 29.1% Chemical manufacturers 22.8% Government/nonprofit sector 7.0% Hottest jobs for college grads, by salary Nurse $38,000 Accountant $40,000 IT consultant up to $50,000 Investigator (background checker, etc.) $50,000 Physical therapist $58,300 Corporate librarian up to $65,000 Information-security specialist $65,000 Pharmacist/pharmaceutical sales rep $79,000 Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc - Article12 The San Francisco Chronicle APRIL 12, 2003, SATURDAY, FINAL EDITION HEADLINE: Tendency of workers to stay put BYLINE: Dave Murphy Among employed workers especially older ones with higher salaries fear is trumping greed by a large margin these days Take the results of a nationwide survey done for Accountemps of Menlo Park, the large temporary-staffing firm for finance professionals: 52 percent of respondents said that even if the economy improves, they would be very unlikely to change jobs in the next six months Another 13 percent said they would be somewhat unlikely The survey, which included workers from all fields who are employed either full or part time, found that only 20 percent were very likely to change jobs quickly if the economy improves Older and higher-salaried workers are particularly unlikely to change Eighty-one percent of those 55 and older said they wouldn't make the move, as did 79 percent of respondents with a household income of $75,000 per year or more Certainly lots of people will stay in jobs because they're happy, but others might be looking at some scary unemployment statistics, like these from outplacement expert John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas in Chicago: During the past four months, the average duration of unemployment has been 18.4 weeks the longest in nine years Of the million Americans who stopped looking for work in March, nearly 10 percent did so because they were discouraged Unemployment among college graduates is 3.1 percent, its highest level in 10 years But if you're an employer who thinks these statistics will make it easy to keep workers, be careful Accountemps Chairman Max Messmer, author of "Motivating Employees for Dummies," warns that the best workers still will be quick to leave if they're unsatisfied with the company It's far easier for them to find jobs even in a weak economy And rank-and-filers, especially younger ones, aren't as likely to stick around as their older, wealthier counterparts Among adults 34 and younger in the Accountemps survey, 48 percent said they would be likely to change jobs within six months if the economy rebounds Among people earning less than $25,000 per year, 47 percent said the same thing NO GUARANTEE FOR RESERVISTS: Challenger points out that the grim economy also means that people in the National Guard or military reservists who are fighting in Iraq are hardly guaranteed their jobs when they return home Certainly the law does call for returning reservists to be treated the same as regular employees, but that's hardly the same thing as a guaranteed job If people would have been laid off anyway, their status as reservists or National Guard members won't protect them, Challenger said Veterans and employers who want help sorting out federal law or settling disputes can get information through the U.S Department of Labor's Veterans Employment and Training service (www.dol.gov/vets) or through an organization called the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (esgr.org).On the Fringe runs Saturdays E-mail Dave Murphy at dmurphy@sfchronicle.com - Article 13 The Washington Post March 10, 2003, Monday, Final Edition HEADLINE: Feeble Economy, Tighter Borders Don't Stem Immigrant Tide BYLINE: D'Vera Cohn, Washington Post Staff Writer Immigration has continued at a steady pace in the past two years despite the nation's weakened economy and efforts to tighten its borders, according to new studies of Census Bureau numbers And those new immigrants are finding jobs The number of employed immigrants rose by 593,000 from 2000 through the end of last year, while the number of U.S.-born workers declined by 1.5 million, said a new report by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University Immigrant men and women gained equally, and most of the new workers were recent arrivals, not people already living here who joined the workforce, according to the report The data make it clear that the United States still offers substantial appeal to people from other countries, even though more than million jobs have vanished in the past two years, and 8.5 million people are unemployed Despite concerns that refugees and others are waiting longer to get in, some immigrants are managing to so, including many who arrive illegally The Census Bureau is to release a report today showing that more than million immigrants arrived in the previous two years, about the same pace as that in the 1990s That brought to 32.5 million the number of foreign-born people living in U.S households last March, an all-time high The steady pace of arrivals also continued in the Washington area, where one in six people is foreign-born The Washington-Baltimore metro region drew 175,000 immigrants from 2000 to early 2002, according to the Center for Immigration Studies "My analysis suggests there has been no slowdown," said the center's demographer, Steven Camarota The 1990s was a period of record growth among the nation's foreign-born population And during that time, immigrants accounted for half the expansion of the labor force, a previous Northeastern University study found That impact on the job market became even more pronounced recently, with immigrants making up more than 60 percent of the labor force growth from 2000 through 2002, according to the Northeastern report "Despite the recession, despite 9/11, the number of immigrants who came into the country of working age rose as fast as it did during the 1990s," said the report's lead author, economist Andrew Sum He said many, if not most, of these workers probably are undocumented Many jobs they are finding, Sum said, are those with constant turnover, such as fast-food or home healthcare employment Immigrants make up one in four of the nation's lowest-wage workers, double their share of the overall population "Most of the people who are continuing to come are doing jobs no American would cleaning toilets, cleaning offices and construction jobs," said Jaime Contreras, secretary-treasurer of a local chapter of the Service Employees International Union representing janitors and other service workers "Anybody can go downtown and fill out an application They probably will get hired." He said that even the dreariest of jobs, with a District minimum wage of $ 6.15 an hour and no benefits, is better than what is available for the workers in their home countries "The minimum wage in El Salvador is maybe 40 cents, 50 cents an hour," Contreras said Also, while the number of immigrants with jobs went up, so did the number who were unemployed Sum said the job losses have hit hardest U.S.-born workers with less than a college education, especially men in manufacturing and other sectors where jobs are vanishing "It is really not immigrants who were the cause of their losing their jobs," he said But younger U.S.-born high school graduates are squeezed at both ends, he said Jobs that would have gone to them in the past are now being grabbed by college graduates The lowest-wage jobs are unappealing, and employers will not raise wages as long as immigrants will take them In his earlier report, Sum said the nation's economic growth was possible only because of foreign-born workers His new research, he said, persuades him that the nation should increase restrictions on immigration in bad economic times Camarota, whose group favors tighter limits on immigration, said such a targeted change would be difficult to implement The United States has not done enough to ramp up border enforcement, despite a reported increase in arrests, he said "The advocates of open borders complain a lot and make it seem as if a lot is happening," he said, "but not much is happening." Jeffrey Passel, who studies immigration at the Urban Institute, said although there are new restrictions on certain immigrants, longer waits for some visas and other targeted actions, there is little appetite for an across-the-board crackdown on immigration The reason is that people recognize that the country increasingly depends on foreign-born labor and residents, he said "It is the way the country is going to be," he said "There's certainly a recognition in the political class of it I think the importance of our ties to other countries through the labor force and the importance of the foreign-born labor force is highlighted by the lack of strong calls to restrict immigration, post 9/11." ... League of Cities Institute on Youth, Education and Families in Washington, D.C In 2000, the employment rate was 45 percent, and it has continued to fall Harrington links the sharp decline to the... and possibly an interest in working in the community, a growing number of students are opting out of the job market altogether They are joining the growing ranks of graduates taking paths other... wanted to after I graduated, and definitely not wanting to get a job in this economy, it just sounded like an amazing opportunity," said Bobel "Although I expect it to be really challenging and