Engineers at a student-organized fair seek employment in a tough market

By David Brand

Cornell engineering students streamed into the Memorial Room in Willard Straight Hall Feb. 6 to find jobs in the toughest employment market in years. Mike Ng, a junior engineering student (operations research '03), spoke for many of the 1,500 students at the fair when he said, "I don't think it's going to be an easy ride, getting a job."

Dan Lichtman '05, left, speaks with Chris Westbrook, a recruiter from the Central Intelligence Agency, at the student-organized engineering spring career fair in Willard Straight Hall, Feb. 6. Charles Harrington/University Photography

The occasion was the first student-organized engineering spring career fair, hosted by the Engineering Student Council. The aim was to get a jump on the market for co-ops and internships, which most Cornell students don't get a chance to apply for until the Cornell Career Services universitywide career fair in the fall. (Co-op, or co-operative education, is a system that integrates classroom study with related on-the-job work experience.) This year, getting a jump on a job opening is more important than ever. According the Associated Press, a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers shows that colleges expect to hire about 20 percent fewer graduates this year than last.

"Recruiters are in the driver's seat for the first time in eight years," confirms Mark Savage, director of Engineering Cooperative Education and Career Services." His office started spring-semester recruiting at the beginning of February and had only 10 recruiters show up in the first week. "We should typically have 12 or 15 recruiters scheduled each day," said Savage. "This year it has been like falling off a cliff."

He added: "There are jobs out there, and that's what we have to keep reminding students. But they need to really do their homework, do research and spend a lot of time on the process of getting a co-op or internship."

From the comments of recruiters from many of the 29 companies present, the students had, indeed, done their homework. "I've absolutely seen good candidates here, and we've got the best," said Chandrasekaran Srini from Texas Instruments. "Yes, this year is a lot slower than previous years for co-ops and internships, but it is slowly picking up." Said Chad Hansen with Praxair/Global Engineering, "It's tough, but we're definitely hiring co-ops and interns. Next week we'll be interviewing 13 of the students I've seen here today."

Graduate student Regina Clewlow, president of the Engineering Student Council, explained that co-ops and internships are absolutely vital for young engineers because "to get a full-time job, you have to offer a company previous experience, and this is the only way to get it." The new fair, she said, will give engineering undergraduates a more competitive advantage in the search for these openings. "At the fall career fair, companies are mainly looking for full-time employees, but our students today are looking for co-ops and summer internships," she said.

Clewlow also noted that the first recruiters who signed up for the career fair were from defense industries. Recruiter Allan Corbeil with Technology Service Corp. said this is a reflection of the fact that in defense, "the engineering job market is good." His company, he said, does a lot of contract work with the U.S. Department of Defense "and business is very good."

But in one area, civil engineering, the jobs seemed to be going begging. Colleen Veltri with Vollmer Associates said that "the hardest part of hiring this year is in filling co-op positions." She has two co-op positions available and is having a hard time filling both, she said.

Savage confirmed that both civil engineers and chemical engineers seem currently most in demand. The reason, he said, is probably that the economic downturn began with and continues to affect high technology industries, whereas the basic industries are holding their own.

For students aiming at high-tech, the competition is likely to remain tough through this year. As student Ng noted, "There are lots of smart people out there looking for the same jobs."