Current job market looks promising to graduating seniors

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.