Southwestern Company Campus Relations

Dr. Phil Gardner, Michigan State U. researcher and author of the annual “Recruiting Trends” publication states that the college labor market has hit bottom.  Last year Dr. Gardner estimated a recruiting decline of 8% to 10%, but it actually ended up to have declined between 35% to 40%.  This year’s report was issued at the annual Midwest ACE Recruiting Trends conference held in Chicago. 

This year’s “Trends” report describes our current economic situation and says that we are not simply in a recession (or ending a recession), but that we are at the end of a lifecycle – the manufacturing age has run out of gas and the good old days are gone and are not coming back.  What is new is that we are now entering the Age of Networked Intelligence.  Also, it is estimated that 2/3 of all new jobs will involve on-the-job training and will require no post secondary degree. 

The outlook for 2009-2010 is as follows:  Total hiring will be down about 2%, Bachelor hiring will be -1%, MBA hiring will be +11%, MS/MA hiring will be -11%, and PhD hiring will be +20%.  The growth will be in fast growth companies (9-100 employees) – increasing by 26% and small companies (101-500 employees) – increasing by 15%.  Medium-sized companies (500-3999) will decrease hiring by 11% and large companies (>4000) will decrease total hiring by 3%.  We’ll also see changes in BA hiring by region of the country:  Northwest +4%, Southwest +2%, South Central +6%, Upper Plains -3%, Great Lakes -4%, Northeast -4%, Mid-Atlantic -8%, and Southeast -7%. 

Recruiting on campuses will also see changes this year, corporate examples include:  (1) 42% will reduce the number of schools they visit, (2) 46% will reduce the number of career fairs they attend and (3) 36% will hold fewer on-campus interviews.  One possible explanation for the drop in on-campus interviewing is that many employers may be making offers to interns before they even return to campus.  

The research indicates that employers are saying the following to students on college campuses.  Students need to have flexibility, because more employers are seeking candidates from across all majors who can move into a variety of positions as needed.  They will search for candidates with a mix of technical aptitude and essential soft skills.  Employers indicate that the following majors will be at an advantage this year:  e-commerce, entrepreneurialism, environmental sciences, information science, information systems, interactive computer design, statistics, nursing and social work.  Students need to understand that they need to expand their breadth of experiences and not to just have more depth in a certain discipline. 

Students graduating this year must learn to manage themselves and to create You, Inc.  They will need to learn how to create their own job and to make a niche for themselves in this new economy.  Dr. Gardner ends this year’s report by stating that, “The best academically trained candidate might not get the job!  It will go to the candidate that best demonstrates how they can add value to a company, are professionally connected, and most importantly understand the importance of entrepreneurial thinking.”  It looks to me like the college students of today who wants to success tomorrow needs a summer with Southwestern to develop those entrepreneurial and other soft skills.

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