"Because of the depression, we are unable to
hire anybody and will not be able to until there has f) p n n c
been a substantial improvement in the economy." CI " I o
Dennis Hetherington, who received the above
response, has written 106 letters and gone through
about seven interviews in the hopes of finding, a
job. He has received 52 replies and only nine
applications out of these.
A journalism and political science major who
will be graduating in June with a bachelor's degree,
Hetherington isn't lacking in experience. He has
worked for the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper
in New York on a summer internship, has written
tor Associated press for two summers in Lincoln
and has been a student assistant for sports
information at the University.
Hetherington has sent letters and resumes to big
and small newspapers and to large companies for
public relations jobs. He also has applied for several
government jobs . and for jobs in the sports
information field.
"It's gotten to the point where I don t think
that I can choose the area that I would like to
work in or dictate the salary that I will receive,"
said Hetherington. "It used to be that you usually
had a choice." ....
The scarcity of jobs is explained by
Hetherington by the lack of turnover in positions.
"Nobody is quitting because it's so hard to find
another job."
Rochelle Roth is a Ph. D. candidate in English
who has been looking for a job since last spring and
now has a temporary teaching job in New York
City.
Hpr inh will end in earlv June and. according to
Rochelle 'They would be happy to taice me again
but they have no money to pay me."
That is the main reply tor not Demg nirea saia
Roth "It's not that the people don't want to hire.
it's just that they don't have the money."
She has applied to about ix ainerent piaces
almost all in the New York area, where she is
originally from. She teaches at Brooklyn College,
part of the City University of New York.
The fact that she has a higher degree doesn't
seem to be any help and, in fact, may be a
hindrance. When applying for one job she was told
outright that she was "overeducated."
"I have a cousin who has three different
master's degrees and two different PH. D.'s in
engineering in addition to a wife and three
children," said Rochelle. "and he has been layed
off."
She thinks that there would probably be better
opportunities in Europe where "they are crying for
educated people. There must be a mix-up in
priorities when they can find the money for say, a
snow storm, and then when a real crisis comes
along like education they can't find it"
Rocfiee
Lucy Constock has to find a job around the
Princeton, N J. because her fiance is doing graduate
work there.
"The east is popular with a lot of people and
whereas I might have been able to get a job there
ten years ago it isn't quite as easy now," she said.
Lucy, who is looking for an English teaching
position, has written about 50 letters and has gone
through interviews during semester break. Schools
are not hiring because they don't have any
openings, are not expanding and have literally
hundreds of applicants.
"It's very disheartening to spend the time and
energy going through school and not be able to use
your professional skills," Lucy said. "Teaching is
what I love and I want to stay in the classroom."
She was told by a member of the faculty from
Rutgers University that they receive from 200 to
300 letters in a three week period. Obviously, then
prospective employers can be very selective in who
they hire, if this prevails in other areas.
"I'm going back sometime in April for more
interviews," Lucy added, "I haven't given up hope
yet"
Lucy
If a senior can survive his
last semester of classes, and
avoid being drafted, there is a
fair chance he will find a job.
That is, if he is not too
picky about where he wants to
work, and if he's not in one of
the fields that is hopelessly
saturated with student
job-seekers.
The University of Nebraska
Placement Director said
the number "'.. of
companies holding job
interviews on campus during
the first semester was down
almost one-third. But, Frank
Hallgren added that the drop in
interviews doesn't necessarily
mean a similar drop in the
number of jobs available.
In past years companies had
interviewed more widely and
offered more jobs because
there were fewer graduates to
go around, he explained. Now,
companies seldom extend a job
offer unless they have good
reason to believe it will be
accepted.
IT WILL BE more difficult
to find a job in most areas this
year. Hallgren said, but it will
not be impossible. He advised
students to interview more
widely than they would have in
the past and to follow up their
interviews more diligently.
"People looking for jobs
need to examine what they
want and consider alternatives
open to them" Hallgren said.
"They will have a better
chance of getting a job if they
are flexible and realize they
may not get exactly the
position they want."
The director said that
persons with doctorate degrees
are having the most difficulty
finding jobs. This is because
highly trained people are more
expensive to hire, he said.
Also, companies do not like
to underemploy higher degree
people because they tend to
become dissatisfied and leave
the jobs as soon as they can,
Hallgren said.
DIRECTOR OF THE East
Campus placement service.
Franklin Eldridge, said he saw
no indication of a saturated job
market in agriculture fields.
But, he added that there does
seem to be a better balance
between the number of
graduates and jobs than in past
years. He said that things are
little different in his off ice this
year than in the past. There
have been no more interview
cancellations than usual,
Eldridge added.
"There are one or two
people with higher degrees in
agriculture still looking for
jobs, but this is usual," he said.
Quoting from a survey
Eldridge said that there were
148 "agribusiness" jobs open
in Nebraska in January. About
200 students are expected to
graduate with degrees in
agriculture this year, he said.
"About 20 per cent or 40 of
these graduates will
Nebraska grad
if hes not picky,
he can probably
find job
immediately go into military
service," he said. "This takes
them out of the job market."
Eldridge speculated that
another 40 will go into farming
or ranching, about 36 will go
on to graduate studies and
about 20 more will become
vocational agriculture teachers
in Nebraska high schools.
THIS WILL LEAVE only
about 63 graduates to compete
for the "agribusiness" jobs.
Teacher placement director
Lee DeJong predicted that
"most" teachers college
graduates would get jobs. He
speculated that students with
the greatest teaching ability
will find jobs more easily than
those who have yet to prove
their ability.
There is about a 20 per cent
turnover rate each year among
the state's 1.800 teachers,
DeJonge said. This means that
about 360 new teaching jobs
open in the state each year.
He said he had always been
a pessimist about the job
market, but added that the
picture should not discourage a
prospective teacher.
A teacher who cannot find a
job in a large school system
might do well in a smaller one
where there is less competition,
he said. Graduates who are
flexible in their possible
locations have a good chance
of finding a job, according to
DeJonge.
Quoting a survey of 10
Nebraska college placement
directors taken March 10 he
said there seems to be an
adequate supply of teachers in
the fields of social studies,
men's physical education,
business teacher education,
biology and speech.
FIELDS WHERE THE
survey indicates a shortage of
teachers are chemistry, physics,
library, science, vacancies of
two or more teaching areas in
combination and music, with
critical shortages of special
education and speech therapy
teachers.
In other parts of the
University, the chairmen of
several departments indicated
that though there were less
jobs available now than in the
past, the situation was not
critical.
Lyle Young, associate dean
of the College of Engineering
and Architecture, said: "It is
not at all hard to find a job - it
only takes a little more
hustling."
"Job opportunities are
expected to be on the upswing
by June," Young continued.
"This is indicated by a slow
increase in recruiters showing
interest on the campus."
Pharmacy College Dean
Robert D. Gibson said,
"Pharmacy students have all
the job opportunities they
want." He added that one drug
company had mentioned the
possibility of hiring the entire
graduating class of the college.
OFFICIALS IN the colleges
of law and home economics
both indicated that there was
no trouble in placing their
graduates.
J. A. Fagerstrom, chairman
of the geology department,
said he does not know of any
geology major who has had
trouble finding a job. But, he
added that most geology
majors must have advanced
degrees to be hired.
Though the situation in
chemistry is not bad, for
undergraduates, the story for
chemistry Ph. D. graduates is
much more grim, according to
John J. Scholz, professor of
chemistry and placement
consultant for the chemistry
department.
Scholz said there are two
reasons that Ph. D. graduates
are finding it difficult to get
jobs. First, industry has
stopped expanding and in some
cases, is cutting back research
programs. Second, defense
related industry has been cut
back a great deal as has
government research.
He added that there is a
steadily increasing supply of Ph.
D. and that the market is
becoming saturated. So,
industries are forced to become
more selective, he said.
All in all. though, the job
market is tighter than the easy
market of the 60's, a student in
most fields should be able to
find a job. - if he works at it.
Hallgren
J.
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PAGE 5
THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1971
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
