Stu Barnes, Jamie Douglas

An unemployment rate at around 10 percent, massive layoffs at many companies, and a sobering forecast for job growth are enough to give many job-seeking students pause.

“I think sometimes students will give up,” says Manny Contomanolis, associate vice president and director of Cooperative Education and Career Services, outlining the attitude he hopes to change. “They’ll read the newspapers. They’ll say, ‘Oh, I’m never going to get a job, so forget it. You know what? Why put in the time and effort? Because I’m not going to get a job anyway. I’ll worry about it later.’”

The national unemployment rate continues to hover around 10 percent as measured by the U.S. Department of Labor, but the numbers are a bit better for the college educated. The unemployment rate for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher was 5 percent in December 2009. That is a 3 percent increase from the 2 percent unemployment for that same group in 2007, before the downturn began.

The percent of graduating students employed or attending graduate school full time (the placement rate) for the class of 2009 was down about 3.2 percent from the previous class. It was about 97.5 percent for the class of 2008 and 94.3 percent for 2009, according to Contomanolis.

“I do anticipate that for the class of 2010, it will be a challenging year,” says Contomanolis.

Contributing to the increased unemployment are the cuts that have occurred at many companies, several of which recruit heavily on RIT’s campus. In January 2009, Microsoft announced a plan to lay off 5,000 workers; in February, Cisco Systems, Inc. said it eliminated or planned to eliminate up to 2,500 employees; and, Boeing planned to lay off 10,000 people. Despite cutting jobs, some of these companies continue to hire.

One trend stands out. “In prior recessions, we actually saw an increase in co-ops,” says Contomanolis. “Even though companies were laying off full time people, they were actually hiring more co-ops. Now, we’re not seeing that this year.”

“A lot of my friends are having trouble,” says Steve DeBellis, a third-year Applied Networking and System Administration major.

“We’re seeing fewer kids going out on co-op,” says Contomanolis. “Clearly, there are some of those kids [who] are putting off a co-op assignment, because of where they see the market.”

Technology, defense, healthcare, and energy are the sectors Contomanolis sees continuing to do the most hiring. Retail, construction and finance he says are hardest hit.

The nation continued to lose jobs in December 2009 after a slight increase in November, according to the Department of Labor. Predictions for the future vary, but some forecast a slow or modest recovery.

The result of this contraction is more competition for jobs and more effort required to secure them. “They’re going to have to work harder at their job search. It’s going to take longer to get that offer or offers, and they’re going to have fewer offers to choose from,” says Contomanolis.

“The jobs are not just going to come to you in this market,” he says. “You’re not just going to show up at a career fair and assume everything is going to be taken care of for you, because the companies will be doing so much hiring.”

“You’re going to have to be flexible, probably more flexible than ever before,” says Contomanolis. “Flexible in terms of the type of company, the type of industry, the area of the country.”

Networking is important, according to Contomanolis. “In this economy if a company, as an example, is looking to only fill one job, they’re not going to post that job and get 10,000 applicants,” he says. “Instead, what they’re going to do is work within their networks and say, ‘Gee, do you know somebody [who] we can consider for this job?’”

He recommends connecting with faculty, friends, family, RIT alumni and prior employers to gain access to networks and using LinkedIn and Faceboook as tools to facilitate that.

Contomanolis suggests staying positive, despite the challenging environment. “You cannot wait. You’re going to need to invest time in your job search, and you’re going to need to do it sooner rather than later,” he says.

He recommends using the resources provided by the Office of Cooperative Education and Career Services. Those resources include program coordinators that can meet with students to look at résumés and develop job search plans. They also include workshops and seminars. “All those things that we’re doing are now focused on this economy,” says Contomanolis.

Another tactic is to go beyond the co-op office listings. DeBellis, the Applied Networking and System Administration major, says he got a job not listed by the office and then got it approved afterwards. “I found a job near home,” says DeBellis. “I got lucky.”

The Office of Cooperative Education and Career Services is located in the Bausch & Lomb Center. For more information on program coordinators, events and other services that they offer visit http://rit.edu/emcs/oce/