When Batch 2009 graduates this month, they will enter fields crippled by the global financial crisis, leaving them with lesser employment opportunities.

According to Ateneo Placement Office (APO) Director Consolacion Concepcion, while certain Information Technology (IT)-related and manufacturing companies are interested in accepting the school’s graduates, sectors that are most affected by the financial crisis such as banking, manufacturing and investment companies, have opted to accept fewer applicants.

Also, although APO receives numerous offers from governmental and non-governmental institutions, this year’s graduates are not inclined to accept them. (See sidebar “Life after graduation” for details).
“[The school and I] still do not know how our graduates will bear [the situation] now,” she says.

Labor gains and pains

According to a New York Times special on the credit crisis, the global financial crisis originated from the boom and bust tech bubble during the late 1990s. This meant extreme gains for the market, which “burst” into massive losses over the years. The United States (US) then went into recession in 2001, forcing the Federal Reserve, its central bank, to lower interest rates, causing mortgage payments to become cheaper.

The crisis deepened when, in June 2007, investment companies such as Bear Stearns and the Lehman Brothers suffered from huge losses and even bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve had to bail out other poorly performing companies.

The poor performance of the US stock market created a domino effect on other countries, particularly those in Europe and Asia.

Concepcion projects that, because of this crisis, the rate of this year’s graduates in finding jobs “will be a little bit slower.” She adds that, “In the past a lot of graduating students would be employed within the first month up to the third month [after graduation].”

She also says that the graduates cannot afford to be too picky when choosing jobs.

Optimistic

“I think it’s an interesting, real-life illustration of how mechanisms of greed and fear can drive and cripple the world of finance, and the economy as a whole,” says Paul Diomampo (IV AB MEco) of the financial crisis.

Diomampo, who will be among this year’s graduates, believes that the issue is not the availability of jobs but the availability of jobs that are a “good fit” for graduating students.

“I think that many graduates will surely be underemployed, if not unemployed, after graduation,” he says.

Despite the crisis, this year’s graduates remain optimistic in getting the jobs they want. “With his Ateneo education, the average Atenean who seeks to work believes that he is qualified enough to easily land a job and even get in his preferred field of work,” says the Ateneo Statistics Circle (A-Stat) in the survey it has conducted for The GUIDON.

According to the survey, graduating students from the Loyola Schools are generally optimistic about their job expectations. While those from the Schools of Humanities, Management, and Science and Engineering have as much as 11% who are pessimistic, all survey respondents from the School of Social Sciences display job optimism.

For Diomampo, finding a job might not take him that long because “there is some expectation or pressure…on landing a rewarding job in a renowned company.” He also says that the length of time it would take him to get a job depends on his interest in the job offers he gets.

For John Patrick Delas Peñas (IV BS Mgt), that length heavily depends on the student’s resumé and whether his academic and non-academic performance fits the needs of the company he’s applying to. In his case, he got job offers from local banks after submitting his resumé in this year’s Ateneo Job and Practicum Fair.

“I was fortunate enough to satisfy the needs of the companies that wanted to hire me,” he says.

Meanwhile, Justin Dunn (IV AB IS) and Andrew Bautista (IV BS HSc) believe that their Ateneo diploma might give them the edge in getting accepted by employers. Dunn, who plans to rest for a few months before looking for advertising-related jobs, says that his field has room for more ideas; thus, more room for jobs.

“If [the companies] tighten their budget on new employees, that’s like destroying their core competence.”

“I’m open to other [job] possibilities and opportunities,” says Bautista, who remains undecided on whether to pursue medical school or look for medical research jobs after college.

Taking flight

“We should remain hopeful that we were able to give good formation [to the students], so there will always be room for the best graduates,” Concepcion says. According to her, most companies give top priority to graduates from the University of the Philippines, the De La Salle University, and the Ateneo.

To help the Ateneo graduates adjust to life outside of school, APO has a year-long series of activities for the graduates, which is divided into two parts.

The first part is the information-gathering phase wherein APO wants graduates to know two kinds of information: information about themselves (self-assessment sessions) and information about career fields.

The next part is the packaging for employment phase wherein resumé writing sessions, mock job interview sessions, company presentations, on-campus recruitments, and a job fair are conducted for the graduates. APO also has a directory of resumés that interested companies can scan for hiring purposes.

Also, one of the goals of the formation received by Ateneans is to form them as professionals-for-others. Concepcion explains this as being sensitive to the needs of others and using Ateneo education for the benefit of the community.

University President Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, SJ says that graduates may find problems in dealing with other people who uphold different values from them.

Nebres suggests that they develop a support group of people who share the same values in their workplace. “If the people talking to you really speak from values that are contrary to yours and that’s what you hear all the time, after a while you feel discouraged.”

For those who do not have any job offers yet or are resting, Concepcion and Nebres suggest that they take the time to learn new skills, to learn new skills, take part in traineeship, or pursue further studies in the academe, because this will help them especially those that will help them increase their employment opportunities.

*with a report from Angela C. Espinas

Life After Graduation

In an Ateneo Statistics Circle survey commissioned by The GUIDON, this year’s Ateneo graduates were asked about their plans after college, their optimism, and their attitudes on getting jobs. A +/- 5% margin of error applies to all statistics.

• 69% of the respondents plan to work right after graduation. This includes working in industries in the country and abroad.

• 28% plan to take further studies after graduation, as compared to 18% in 2007. Most of them come from the School of Science and Engineering.

• Industries most preferred by Ateneans
1. Advertising and public relations (14.3%)
2. Fast moving consumer goods (13.4%)
3. Finance/banking (12.9%)

• Industries that are unpopular among the batch
1. Non-governmental organizations (1.4%)
2. Government (0.9%)
3. Art and design (0.5%)

• 3.28 is the university-wide composite optimism on getting a job and getting into a preferred industry, company, or department. It lies within the optimistic range (2.51-4.00).

• Graduates from the School of Social Sciences had the highest composite optimism score of 3.46. Meanwhile, those from the School of Management got the lowest, with 3.16.

• 87% of Ateneans look for jobs through the school job fairs, while 56% look for jobs online.

• Majority of the respondents expected an initial monthly salary of P15,000-P20,000.

• Most Ateneans look for growth opportunity, compensation and benefits, and field of interest in the companies that they’re applying.

• They also think that companies consider their applicants’ leadership and communication skills and academic performance when accepting them.