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Despite widespread media attention about the number of college graduates across the nation who are flocking to careers in business, Harvard students have not followed the trend.
Growing confidence in the job market prompted members of the Harvard Class of 1986 to seek out a wider variety of jobs, and more of them entered public service than previous graduates, according to a survey released this week by the Office of Career Service (OCS).
Unlike some colleges, Harvard has not witnessed a large move towards business, OSC counselors say. Slightly more than 19.1 percent of the Class of 1986 ended up taking jobs in business, down from 19.6 percent the previous year.
Instead, Harvard students are taking time to conduct their own job searches, and many of them end up in fields where companies don't send recruiters to Harvard.
"The desperation and anxiety we saw a few years ago wasn't there for the Class of 1986. Graduates were saying, 'I am going to do what I want,'" says Martha P. Leape, director of OCS.
The changing perceptions of the job market can be attributed at least in part to the media, OCS counselors say.
"In 1982 the media was overwhelming negative on job opportunities for liberal arts graduates, and students were coming in panicked," says Linda Chernick, OCS business counselor. "In the past year that's really turned around because we're seeing scores of articles extolling the rosy future."
Growing confidence in the job market has led students to feel they can take time out to do volunteer work, recruiters and OCS counselors say.
"People are feeling like they can take two years off and then come back and find a job," says Peace Corps recruiter William T. Stacks. "Our recruiting efforts are always more successful when the economy is better," he says. Participation in the Peace Corps reached its lowest point in over a decade in the early 1980s when the economy was in recession, and recent years have witnessed a growing interest.
Thirty-five members of the Class of 1986 entered volunteer service. Leape says the figure represents a substantial increase from the previous year, although exact numbers for 1985 are not available. The number of students who opted for careers in teaching also rose, from 45 to 51.
In addition, 60 graduates took jobs in government, an increase of 10 from 1985, the survey says.
Even though the number of Harvard students seeking business careers declined modestly last year, a majority of 1986 graduates were interested primarily in getting a job. Almost 60 percent went directly to work after Commencement, the OCS survey said.
Since 1980, a majority of all Harvard graduates have gone directly to work, and Yale University has witnessed a similar trend, says Dean of Career Services, Susan Hauser.
However, by going directly to work, these students aren't turning their back on higher education entirely because many will end up going to graduate school in a few years, Leape says. Many business firms that hire students directly out of college do so only for two years and then expect graduates to go on to business school.
"Most of our Harvard recruiting is at the business school. Our basic entry-level program requires an MBA," says Peter Roch, a recruiter for Morgan Stanley, a New York investment banking firm. "We do have a two year analyst program for college graduates, but then the participants have to leave and go get an MBA."
Considerable national media attention has described a recent trend among college students towards careers in business, and many business recruiters say theyhave received a high number of applications inrecent years.
Boston Consulting Group witnessed a 20 percentincrease in the number of resumes it received thisyear, says Hiring Coordinator Pamela D.A. Reev.
Shawmut Bank of Boston now receives more than500 applications per year from college studentsfor the 15 to 20 available spots in its trainingprogram, says Linda J. Tuso, the director ofemployment.
The increased interest in investment banking isnot coming from elite Eastern schools where mostinvestment banking firms have traditionallyrecruited. Although banking remains a popularcareer choice among Ivy League graduates,recruiters say they are now seeing more interestfrom other parts of the country.
In recent years, the media has focussed muchattention on the financial world, as the stockmarket has experienced record highs. Consequently,a wider variety of students across the country areconsidering business careers, recruiters say.
"Although we've been very successful atHarvard, now we're getting resumes from all overthe country," says Kim P. Westcott, a recruiterfor Morgan Guarenty Trust, which does bothinvestment and commercial banking. "We've seen alot more interest on the part of undergraduates,and we've hiring more of them."
"We're receiving resumes from all over thecountry," Reev says. "We've always gotten a greatresponse from Ivy League students because that'swhere we recruit. Now we've added students fromacross the board. Interest had spread to more andmore schools."
"Other colleges have said informally that theyhave 40 percent of their students going intobusiness, but we certainly don't," Leape says. "Wehave always had some students who were interestedin investment banking, but statistics show thatits not the major interest of our class."
"I think the interest in investment banking haspeaked. Interest was probably the strongest whenthe market was exploding like crazy," Chernicksays.
Flay Striker, a career counselor at WellesleyCollege agrees, saying, "I think there is anoveremphasis [in the media] on investmentbanking."
Only 33 percent of the Class of 1986participated in on-campus recruiting as opposed to40 percent of the Class of 1985, the OCS surveyshowed, and some investment banking firms hadempty interview slots last year because fewerHarvard students than expected were interested inapplying to those firms, Chernick says.
OCS Counselors says declining interest inrecruiting among members of the Class of 1986 canbe partially attributed to the fact that morestudents were willing to go out and find their ownjobs, a function of their positive view of the jobmarket.
"We know that the same numbers of students areseeking jobs, but they are more confident thatsomething will be out there for them, so they arewilling to initiate their own job hunt," Leapesays.
Adriana R. Rizzo '86, who has an entry-levelposition at Grey Advertising, in New York, foundher job on her own. She says "Only two ad agenciesshowed up for recruiting, so I went to OCS, pulledout folders and wrote a lot of letters."
Aside from a more confident approach to the jobmarket, Atherton and Leape say that the increasein graduates seeking public service employment isan outgrowth of undergraduates' renewed interestin public service.
Fifty-seven percent of the Class of 1986participated in community service while atHarvard, a 7 percent rise from the previous year.Undergraduate participation in community servicehas increased steadily during the past five years,Leape says. Only 38 percent of the Class of 1982was involved in public service, she says.
"We are seeing a lot of people who may have aninterest in another career like law or medicine,but they want to do it in the public sector," saysAtherton.
Harvard's strong commitment to communityservice may be encouraging students to enter thepublic sector. "We're trying very hard to promotecareers in government, public service andteaching. We want to support these people, whooften feel like they are making an unusualchoice," he says.
President Derek C. Bok has called on graduatesin recent years to give serious consideration tocareers in public services.
Edward B. Lazere, who works as a volunteer in aWashington D.C. program for gifted children, sayshe entered public service because, "I decided thatthat's the best way to use my education."
Says Lazere, who majored in sociology, "A lotof my decision was due to what I learned atHarvard. It's partially a response to whatPresident Bok has been saying."
Improving prospects for employment also affectthe number of students who go to graduate school,particularly those who enter PhD programs, Leapesaid.
"There's an increase in people interested inacademic careers in the arts and sciences. I wouldpresume it's because of all the strongexpectations that the acdemic job market willimprove in the 1990s, by the time these studentsgraduate from PhD. programs," Leape said.
But Harvard students are very difficult topredict, and the Class of 1987 may not ressemblelast year's class at all, OCS officials say.
"I'm booked 4 weeks straight for counsellingstudents who want to go into business," Chernicksays
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