In Mike Nichols' classic film, "The Graduate," Dustin Hoffman returns home after graduating from college and is told one word about his career path: "Plastics." Hoffman's character might have agreed in 1967, but fast-forward 40 years and the word has changed: Diversify.
Due to the recent crisis at Bear Stearns as well as the downturn in the financial markets, reports suggest that jobs are becoming increasingly harder to snag--not only in the financial and consulting sectors popular with many undergraduates, but across the board. For at least the near future, the outlook seems gloomy.
Lance Choy, director of the career center at Stanford University, said he expects the real impact of the financial crisis will be felt in the upcoming fall. While there are some areas in the economy that are doing well, he anticipates it is going to be more competitive than ever and that students must-here's that word-diversify their options.
"If a student comes to me and says, 'I want a job in investment banking,' it's going to be tough, and he or she might want to come up with alternative strategies and alternative types of career paths," Choy says. "I can't predict exactly what is going to happen but my best guess is that there's going to be a slow down. I can't tell you how severe it is going to be; that's why I don't read crystal balls."
The financial industry is trying to recover from the huge liquidity and bank capital shock from last summer, says Connel Fullenkamp, associate director of undergraduate studies for Economics.
Fullenkamp is optimistic about the future of the job market, although some students may have to settle for a firm without a "big name." This downturn is just part of the cycle, he says, and a correction is forthcoming. For some students, though, the economic cycle is less important, he says.
"The trend is definitely toward more rather than fewer financial services in terms of careers," Fullenkamp notes.
Choy and Fullenkamp agree that students need to avoid getting their hearts set on only one career path. This concept of-wait for it-diversification is echoed by David Lapinksi, associate director of employer relations at the Career Center.
Lapinksi says he has seen an uptake in the hiring by consulting firms with students who in the past might have looked at an investment banking opportunity. He recommends students look at the wide variety of areas even at some of the non-traditional companies that are out there because the job market has become more competitive.
Although he does not feel there is a shift away from students going into the financial industry, Lapinksi, like Choy, expects fall recruiting to be slower. Many banks and financial service firms have said they are going to defer some of their recruiting to their internship conversions.
"Duke students remain highly marketable. They are wanted all across different industries," Lapinski says. "You are not going to see an advertising agency that is looking for their one or two candidates to make a trip down for a career fair because it is not in their strategy. If you really break down the numbers, there are a lot of other types of companies that are out there that students just tend to bypass, even though they have great opportunities."
Fullenkamp attributes the heavy emphasis on the financial industry at Duke to the fact that students do not want to go through the classic "pavement pounding" process. In other words, it can be a daunting prospect for many students to send out resumes and cover letters to firms who don't have a preset impression of Duke graduates and are not necessarily recruiting.
Many students look to the Career Center for help in their search, and Fullenkamp feels the menu of jobs is limited due to decisions that students have made in the past. Fortune 500 companies such as Proctor & Gamble, Ford and General Motors have fixed recruiting budgets and thus want to go to campuses where they will not only get the talent, but also where their yield will be good, he added.
"Duke students have kind of self-selected the recruiters that come here, and now we have this very limited menu and it seems like your menu is investment banking and consulting," Fullenkamp noted.
One of those pavement-pounders is rising senior Daniel Freshman (not a joke). Working for a consulting firm in Boston this summer to fulfill his public policy internship, Freshman applied to numerous jobs in the financial industry last spring but received very few interviews. He continued sending his resumes to non-traditional companies without success.
Freshman says that recruiters he spoke with anticipated bringing in fewer people this coming fall. Accenture, a global consulting firm, told him they took seven Duke applicants out of 250 and they expect to take only six from 300 applicants, he says.
His principal concern as he begins the job hunt this fall is students who have internships at some of the bigger name banks and consulting firms who, according to Lapinski, are in a better position because of internship connections. Freshman attributes some of his troubles to the high level of competition for jobs this year in particular.
"I was stunned to come back after my freshman year to learn that so many kids had held jobs with such prestigious companies," he adds. Freshman, who spent the summer after his freshman year working at a golf course, felt he was behind.
"I think the concept of diversification translates into students becoming more competitive," he says. "People are trying hard and doing as much as they can to diversify themselves. With the job market so tight, I think you are going to find a lot of people settling for something less than they would like and other people who will be going to go back to school where they normally wouldn't."
Although Freshman says Duke could do a better job of attracting lesser-known companies to campus, he recognizes that the heavy emphasis on the financial sector is due to the culture of competitiveness at the school.
"Having a job in finance has been passed down as a 'metric for success.' I think people come to Duke and believe it is what they have to do."
Fullenkamp, a strong endorser of the "pavement pounding" model, said the students who are truly focused on making a career on Wall Street will find a way to do that. His solution: start at any well-respected place and do a good job.
"I always tell students that if you have your heart set on working for Goldman Sachs, you will someday," Fullenkamp said. "You might not necessarily start there."
-Josh Chapin
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