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Monday, June 15, 1998

Current job market looks promising to graduating seniors

EMPLOYMENT: Health, education, computer-related careers now more popular than in past years

By Meghan Ward and Marisa Yamane

Daily Bruin Contributors

This year's graduates are in luck.

The economy is accelerating at full speed, and the Class of 1998 is finding jobs much easier than their counterparts did four years ago.

The economy and large companies in the United States has been growing rapidly to recover from the recession of the early '90s, said Earl Thompson, a professor of economics.

Likewise, a thriving economy promotes a healthy job market.

"This is probably the best overall job market I've ever witnessed," said Kathy Sims, director of the UCLA Career Center.

Sims explained that jobs in the computer industry are hotter than ever because companies are more willing than ever to train students with non-technical degrees.

"Several years ago, technical positions were only offered by technical companies; now they are also being offered by many other companies as well," Sims explained.

A look at the UCLA Alumni Network Database will confirm that there is little correlation between what a student majors in and what field he enters.

For example, alumni with Internet-related jobs majored in everything from economics to design.

Generally speaking, consultants graduated with majors ranging from engineering and physics to English and psychology.

Though certain careers are in higher demand than others, Cindy Chernow, director of career services at the UCLA Alumni Center, pointed out that gearing toward a hot career is not easy.

"The issue of careers is very cyclical," she said.

According to Chernow, it is more important to look at the changes that have occurred within a career than the career itself.

For example, in the health care field, genetics, home health care and gerontology are more popular now than four years ago, due to the increase in age of the baby-boomer generation.

In the education sector, bilingual education and special education are the hot-selling tickets.

Although there is no comparison between now and four years ago in the computer industry, the Internet is the greatest change to have occurred in that field.

"Companies cannot hire computer analysts quick enough. They're snatching them from high schools," Chernow said.

Germaine Gawel, a computer software specialist, said it is relatively easy to get a job in this field.

"In the computer industry, the hot jobs are anything pertaining to the web, computer analysts, computer programmers and high-tech managers," Gawel said.

Starting salaries in the computer industry range from $34,000-$45,000 per year and rapidly increase once a student is hired.

Starting salaries, however, can be misleading. In entertainment and advertising, employees must start at the bottom and work their way up.

"It's well known that starting salaries are terrible in entertainment," said Jeff Sommerville, assistant to a producer at a production and management company.

"The idea of becoming a Hollywood producer and becoming a millionaire is a pipe dream," he added.

Assistants' salaries average $26,000 per year, but graduating seniors typically start out as trainees and production assistants, who earn as little as $18,000 per year, Sommerville added.

On the other hand, students fresh out of law school have potentially large salaries.

Tobin Lippert, a lawyer specializing in corporate financial transactions and with a degree from Loyola Law School, said that a graduate entering into a top-drawer New York or Los Angeles-based corporate law firm can expect up to $100,000 to start.

Though statistics show that most graduates are entering into business and technical fields, a survey of 130 seniors in the cap and gown pick-up line revealed otherwise.

Education and health care seemed to be the most popular career choices, and law and medicine were the most popular graduate programs.

"I think a lot of people are teaching just for a year or two while waiting for grad schools," said Alicia Dunams, a fourth-year English student.

"It's so easy to get a teaching position. You just take a test that any high school student could pass," senior Jim Roberts added.

Of the students in the survey, 28 were undecided about their future, 36 plan to attend graduate school and 66 had jobs lined up with starting salaries ranging from $20,000 to $50,000.

Jason Yoshimura, a fourth-year civil engineering student, gave up his job search when he was accepted to graduate school in April. Yoshimura will be studying environmental engineering at UCLA.

"I know several people that are leaving the engineering field entirely and going into consulting," he explained.

"It's kind of hard to find a job, and the business consulting firms were recruiting heavily earlier this year," Yoshimura added.

Nevertheless, Thompson advised graduates to keep their eyes open for large companies that promise upward mobility.

"It's much easier to pick up a good job in a big company now, whereas three or four years ago, it was much harder," Thompson said.

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