Are your students feeling jittery about the job market? Here at the Career Center we’ve got a front row seat to what’s going on. Our perspective is that while the job market is not as healthy as it was a year ago, it is also not in critical condition for Cal seniors looking toward graduation.

Employer Hiring Trends
Toward the end of December 2008, we surveyed 700 employers that participate in our career fairs and recruit at Berkeley, representing everything from business to non-profit to technical career fields, to get a sense of their plans for this year. The results are a snapshot of the mid-year situation, with some employers having completed their hires and others still in process and projecting the year's activity. So, things may still change in this uncertain economic situation.

While some firms indicated planned reductions, over 45 percent of employers report that they intend to hire for full-time positions at the same or greater rate than last year, and an even larger percentage (65 percent) will offer internships at the same or greater rate. Comments such as, "We grow every year," "More quality candidates in the market," and "Need more interns to staff our expansion" reflect that there is still a strong market for Cal students.

Beyond the Numbers: Employer Activity at Cal
Fall ’08 saw robust employer activity at Career Center fairs, On-Campus Recruiting, and CalJobs job and internship listings. Early spring employer activity indicates changing conditions. For example, the Diversity Career Fair, our first career fair of the semester has been scaled back from its usual three days to two and from 256 employers to 105.

However, these numbers do not tell the full story. Many employers tell us that they completed their hiring in the fall (including both fall and spring graduates) and also plan to convert many of their interns into full-time hires, thus negating their reasons for attending a spring career fair.

Further, economic conditions are forcing employers to be more selective about their campus outreach methods. For example, they may choose to participate in fairs or On-Campus Recruiting (OCR), but not both. So while career fair registrations may be declining, these numbers do not necessarily mimic employers’ hiring plans. Besides fairs and OCR, employers have the option to list job and internships in Callisto and participate in Externships, Employer Info Sessions, Resume Books (database of student candidate resumes), Employer of the Week, and career related events.

Cal Talent: Always in Demand
While the employment outlook for graduating Cal seniors is not as strong as it has been in the recent past, it is not a mirror image of national hiring trends. Five factors provide some explanation:

1. Employers place high value on a UC Berkeley education and are keeping us as a target school even in rough economic times.
2. An unprecedented number of employers are using college internship programs as a competitive strategy to meet their hiring goals by converting internships into full time positions.
3. Employers are projecting that a sizable number of workers will retire in the next few years, so they are looking to college hires to fill the gap.
4. Entry-level college graduates command lower salaries than more seasoned professionals.
5. Many organizations learned from the last economic downturn in 2000-2002 that ceasing to hire new talent, especially in areas of high tech, put them in a position where it was hard to stay on top of emerging trends and technologies.

Tips for Students
Are you seeing an increase in student anxiety around the job search? Here are some basic tips and insight to share with them:

• Reference the information in this article to give students a reality check about the differences between the national job market and the market for Cal graduates.
• Use the Career Center before you graduate! Career searching takes time and you want to have a team of professionals behind you.
• If other priorities keep you from fully utilizing the Career Center as a student, our full array of services is available to alumni through our Alumni Advantage package.
• Remind students to balance their course work with hands-on experiences such as internships, externships, part-time jobs, volunteering, research projects, and student group participation.
• Encourage students to expand their contact list. Attending Employer Info Sessions, Career Fairs, and panels with employer participants provide valuable face-to-face networking opportunities.

Learn More
For more information on employer activity at Cal, contact Career Center Assistant Director Nancy McFarland. For more information on assistance for students, contact Career Center Associate Director Jim Sullivan.

The Cal Externship Program is celebrating its 10th anniversary by expanding its accessibility to lower income students. This year, through the efforts of the Educational Enrichment Leadership Council, a group of 10 alumni who help guide the Externship Program’s growth, the program included travel grants to Externs with Pell grants. A record number of externships, 293, took place over the winter break and took students across the country and the globe.

Through Externships, students can observe the day-to-day activities of their Cal alumni sponsor, discuss specific jobs and careers, and sometimes obtain limited hands-on experience. In addition, students can learn how to apply their academic major to the world of work through discussions with a professional who has a similar background.

Externships by the Numbers
1,000+ ...students who have externed
Over 95% ...students who said their externship made a dynamic impact on their career plans
Over 50% ...externs who received leads for internships or employment
Over 90% ...sponsors who said that they would be willing to host an extern again
700+ ...participating sponsors who have made the Externship Program what it is today
10 ...years the Externship Program has been connecting Cal students and alumni

Extraordinary Externships 2009

Externs in Action

Cal student extern Sam Kaplan and Ed Murashie, an electrical engineer at Instrument Systems Development Center.

"We were able to show Sam the work life of mechanical, electrical, optical, and managing engineers. We hope that this will be valuable for him in choosing the direction of his engineering career."

Cal student extern Farah Ereiqat with Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) Executive Director Paul Schmidt and Jacqueline Whitelam, CADA's Deputy Executive Director.

"Farah was very well informed and inquired about the different facets of community development, planning, sustainable communities, and finance. She participated in our legal team meeting, our Development Projects meeting and attended the Capitol Area Committee, public advisory committee to the State of California. She also met with individual employees who explained how they came to the careers they had developed. She found the day very informative and appreciated the opportunity to experience different career paths. We think your program is excellent and look forward to meeting with other students in the years ahead."

Learn More
To learn more about the Cal Externship Program and the Educational Enrichment Leadership Council, contact Career Center Coordinator of Alumni and Special Projects, Jennifer Sugiyama and read the Externship Express, a newsletter for Externship sponsors.

A screen shot of "Making the Most of a Career Fair."

Over the past semester, the Career Center has produced online videos geared toward today's plugged-in student. Students can now access video workshops on resume writing, interviewing, and making the most of career fairs as well as brief orientations to our website and services.

Stay Tuned
These videos represent another piece of our online portfolio of services for students. Future videos will feature internship topics and recruiter insights on a host of issues, from the job and internship search to graduate school admissions.

Have a Minute? Watch a Video! [requires Flash Player]

See all our videos and stay tuned for more to come.

It's probably happened to just about every advisor on campus: students rush into your office at the eleventh hour and plead for your signature on an employer's form because without it they won't get that dream internship. What exactly does the form say and should you be signing it?

In most cases, employers are seeking a waiver of their liability responsibility for the student, and academic advisors do not have authority to do this on behalf of the University. In fact, signing such forms could put the advisor at personal risk. There are alternatives, however, including a University program of liability coverage for student internships that meet certain criteria.

The campus Internship Council (with valuable input from the Office of Risk Management and the Chief Campus Counsel) has created a fact sheet outlining the basics regarding internship liability responsibilities, the University's liability coverage program for internships, and references for where to seek further information. We encourage you to take a few minutes to review the Internship Guidelines fact sheet (PDF) in order to be informed and prepared before this semester's wave of students with internship forms is at your door!