The number of banking and finance companies recruiting on campus this year has decreased by one quarter, and the number of positions these firms are looking to fill has dropped by one third from last year's numbers, according to a representative of the Career Development Center.
Some factors that may be contributing to these decreases include the disappearances and mergers of some major firms, companies' decisions to delay hiring until their financial future is more certain and the growing trend of hiring past summer interns rather than new applicants, CDC Communications and Public Relations Officer Bill Bordac wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
Statistics from the National Association of Colleges and Employers show that after five years of steady increases in the hiring of recent college graduates in all fields, the class of 2009 should fare about as well as the class of 2008 did.
"The last five years have been very strong for students," said NACE Director of Strategic and Foundation Research Ed Koc. "It's been a sellers' market and employers have had to compete (for students). ... That's going to change."
While hiring in the financial sector is expected to be down this year, fields such as engineering and computer science may be less affected, Koc said.
But some students are sensing a more dramatic change than the estimates from the CDC might suggest.
"There has been an extremely noticeable decrease in the number of financial firms recruiting on campus," said Billy Doyle '09, who interned at Lehman Brothers last summer and said he was looking for finance jobs.
"One of the biggest indicators of the difficulty of finding a job now is the decrease in the number of firms on campus," Doyle said, adding that most firms do the majority of their hiring through the CDC.
In addition to the decrease in on-campus recruiting events, firms have cancelled scheduled interviews and rescinded job offers, stating that they are "unsure of hiring needs at this time," said Sam Nofzinger '09, who said he had applied for a position with a financial firm and that the company later contacted him to say the position would not be filled. He said one of his friends was informed that an interview with investment bank William Blair and Company had been cancelled two days before it was to take place.
"It's tough and it's stressful because of all the news saying no one is getting jobs," Nofzinger said. The decrease in recruiting and hiring "really did come quickly so there wasn't much preparation that anybody could have done."
Some firms that have recruited very heavily at Brown in past years, such as Deutsche Bank and now-defunct Lehman Brothers, have not scheduled campus visits. Others, such as Goldman Sachs, are now primarily recruiting for technology-related positions, said Brett Finkelstein '09, who plans to work in finance next year.
Many students who had planned on going into investment banking are now looking into consulting to broaden job options, Nofzinger said. "There are probably eight consulting places for every finance-oriented place that comes through the door," Nofzinger said. "I expect it was a little more equal last year and in prior years."
Signs of economic strain have also become detectable in other fields. Many technology companies that visit campus through the Computer Science Department's Industrial Partners Program are holding information sessions and interviews at the same time due to restricted travel budgets for recruiters, said Amy Tarbox, who manages the program. Thus far, there has been no indication that companies that usually recruit on campus through the program - such as Microsoft, Google and Facebook - plan on hiring fewer students this year, she added.
"People are more eager to get their resumes out earlier this year," Tarbox said. "They're just a little nervous."
Koc said it will take students longer to find their ideal job and they will have to spend more time seeking and competing for the positions they want. Students may look to other sectors as finance jobs becomes more scarce.
"Government is an obvious choice right now especially because jobs on Wall Street and in the financial sector are not going to be as plentiful," he said. "Any part of government that deals with the economy is likely to be expanding in the next year or so."
Students graduating in the next few years may face similar problems in searching for jobs, Koc said. The last time hiring of college graduates dropped from a previous year was in 2001 and it did not pick up again until 2004.
Still, the structural demographics of the labor market are on the students' side, Koc said. "A lot of professional employees are baby boomers and as they come to retirement age ... college students will be the obvious replacement."
