Some grads still in demand despite economy - Kansas City Business Journal:

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“I graduated May 2 and started on May said Hall, 25, of Marietta, who worke in human resources at the Atlant a office of , a health-care technologyt consultant. “It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s goint pretty well.” Hall’s new company overlaps two sectors of the economyt that are going strong despitethe recession. Universit y career services directors say medical and technologyu companies are continuing to recruit and hire new employees even as othetr industries freeze payrolls and hand outpink “When recruiters call me to hire, they ask for computer sciencde majors or engineers,” said Ralpyh Mobley, director of career services at Georgiqa Tech.
“Our data indicate they’re doing better in the job marketgthan non-technical majors.” Overall, however, interest amongf employers in the Class of 2009 is down. The ’ws spring career fair attracted only145 companies, down from 215 that sent representativesx to the Athens campus last fall, said Scott executive director of UGA’zs Career Center. Likewise, the last three quarterlty career fairs held at drew about 20 percent fewer companies than thepreviouss year, said Ramona a career and employer relations specialist at the downtown Atlanta school.
Students are reacting to the tepidr response from corporate recruiters and the tighyt job market it signifies by applyinb to graduate schoolin droves. At Georgia State, for MBA applications for the coming schook year increased 22 perceng overlast year, while the number of students seeking mastedr of arts degrees went up 19 percent. Timothy Renick, GSU’s associate provost for academic programs, said many graduate schookl applicants are coming directly fromundergraduater programs.
“The decision makes sense,” he “Rather than face unemployment or takea minimum-wagwe job, students can increase theier academic credentials for a time when the economy takes a turn for the better.” The scarcityh of jobs is motivatingf other graduates to take a breakk from their formal educations or put off enterinv the workforce to enrol l in such service programs as the Peace Corpss or Teach for America. “We’re seeing an increase in the number of studentds who want to take a year off to engage in aworthwhile adventure, discover some things and make some said Paul Fowler, executive director of the Career Centeer at .
Hall said making connections provefd important to her landing a job so She said she met her new boss at McKessobn during a mock interview while she was an undergraduater marketing majorat UGA. “We just kept in she said. “When I was having troubl e finding a jobin marketing, he had a positiob open here.” Hall said it was also important that she was willinh to be flexible in her job “Finding a marketing job in Atlanta right now is impossible,” she said. “[But] this is a big If I want to moveover later, I While marketing jobs aren’t to be had, some jobs fieldsw are still hot.
Mobley said government jobs, particularlyg at the federal level, are in high demand. He said one growthh area is the , created after the 11 terrorist attacks.