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Many students have tried to develop specialties that, they hope, will give them an edge for a position. Steve Blalock, 23, a senior at Southern Technical Institute in Marietta, Ga., majored in electrical engineering but had only a C+ average overall. Still, he has had three promising interviews and is waiting by the telephone. "I built a small computer this quarter," he says, "and if someone wants a computer science employee, that is going to impress them more than an overall grade-point average." Robert Nilsen, a University of Utah senior, might have appeared to be a poor bet for a job in business because he majored in German. But his marketing courses, plus a job doing market analysis last summer in Germany for a manufacturing company, landed him a position at Procter & Gamble as a sales representative.
Bret Allenbach, 21, a senior at Cal State-San Jose with a double major in economics and math, credits a fateful decision four years ago for three job offers. Instead of taking a high-paying construction job, he started working every summer as an administrative aide for the pro football Oakland Raiders (who have since moved to Los Angeles). Says Allenbach: "If someone has a choice between a summer job that will bring in lots of money now or working in a field related to his goals, I'd tell him to take the goal-related job. It's so competitive out there, it's the experience that counts." Allenbach has decided to become a corporate auditor for Crocker Bank in San Francisco.
Colleges everywhere are beefing up career-placement offices, offering seminars on interviewing techniques and workshops on resume preparation. Some schools are encouraging students to use videotapes so that they can see themselves in interview simulations and correct potential blunders. During a two-month trial period at Cornell, 200 students used the taping service.
Many seniors are postponing the day of decision by going on to graduate school. Applications are up as high as 20% at some universities, according to a preliminary check by the Council of Graduate Schools. But some financially pressed seniors cannot find the funds for further education. Says Indiana's Wallace: "Graduate school is not the safety valve you would think. If a student is undecided about a particular field, a graduate degree narrows his options." Notes Gary Margolis, director of counseling services at Middlebury College in Vermont: "Many students worry about the money it has cost their parents to send them to school, so they feel that they have to produce."
Jobs are dividing senior classes into the haves and have nots. Admits Drexel's Sue Smith: "There's a lot of stress and pressure between best friends who do and don't have a job." Her boyfriend at Drexel was interviewed by an engineering company that also talked to her. He got a job offer, she did not. Says Smith: "For a while, I sat there staring at him, thinking what's he got that I haven't got?"