The New York Times Is Calling

“Skip, call on line 1, it’s The New York Times. They are doing a story about college seniors.” Predictably, given the time of year, other calls were received in rapid succession from The Economist, Forbes.com, Smart Money.com, and Time, each reporter wanting the inside scoop on where college grads are looking for work (assuming, of course, that my aerie in The Bank of America building in downtown Hanover, provides a bird’s eye view of the entire national employment scene:).

“I hear they are all heading to Washington to work for the federal government,” suggested one reporter. Au contraire, “I hear that they are all taking not-for-profit jobs this year. Isn’t that right?” queried another reporter.


Reporters, you’ve got to love them. At times they act like elementary school soccer players, all bunching together in a frenzied effort to chase the ball and score a goal for their team. Invariably, they keep their well trained eyes on the ball and resist efforts-such as mine- to divert their attention elsewhere.

As fast as I could throw sallies in from the sideline, the reporters kicked them aside. "I can’t say it is a trend but I’m seeing a lot of interest on campus in microfinance this year.” Pass. Or, “it may just be my imagination but students seem to be flocking to programs about international development and humanitarian health careers.” Drifting too far left. Feign interest, work your way back towards the center of the field. “I think climate change jobs are generating a lot of interest as well.” That’s nice, show me the money.

Inevitably, in the end, reporters get what they want and mostly- to their credit- they get it right. Take SmartMoney, for example. By keeping her eye on the prize, the reporter identified: “7 Places Where College Grads Can Find Work” (http://www.smartmoney.com/Personal-Finance/Employment/7-Places-Where-College-Grads-Can-Find-Work/).

And, true to form, The New York Times (“Business Grads Looking Beyond Wall Street”(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/business/economy/18grads.html?_r=1&pagewanted), dug beneath the headlines to find that- for some seniors- “the Wall Street crisis was a blessing in disguise” . Come again? The article even quoted yours truly, semi-accurately, as saying, that the crisis is offering students permission to "start looking at a wider array of brass rings".

To be perfectly honest, neither reporters nor career directors can state definitively where the jobs are this year. As always, they are here, there and everywhere. To be sure, they aren't clustered together like elementary school soccer players but spread out over a much bigger playing field. What we also know is- regardless of where the jobs are or aren't- you can't go wrong if you heed the wisdom of Poet Richard Lovelace's words: "Attempt the end and never stand to doubt. Nothing's so hard but search will find it out."