(U-WIRE) EVANSTON, Ill. - A booming job market will greet 1998 graduates interested in technology-related fields.
A lack of engineering and computer science majors has job recruiters scrambling to find new employees. Current offers for graduating seniors are as high as $50,000 including bonuses of 10 percent to 20 percent.
A 40 percent decrease in computer science and engineering majors during a shift from an industrial-based economy to one of service information increased the demand for technology majors, said Bill Banis, NU director of career services.
Banis said NU is receiving calls from job recruiters earlier than ever before.
"If we had more graduates to go around, this would be a record breaking year for us," Banis said.
CAS senior Noah Levine, a computer science major, said that three out of the four companies recruiting him were aggressive. He was called frequently and given various incentives to join the companies.
Levine chose to work for IBM as a technological application developer but hopes to move up in the company.
"The great thing about being in computer science is that the major gets you in the door, and then you have room to advance," Levine said.
Liberal arts majors are also benefiting from the demand to fill technological jobs. Job Outlook '98, a survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, said the starting salaries for graduating liberal arts majors has increased 6.5 percent since last year, to an average of $28,875.
Companies are willing to train graduates of all majors to fill open positions, said Camille Luckenbaugh, director of employment information at NACE.
"Liberal arts majors are attractive to employers because they come prepared with communication skills and the ability to learn technical skills," Luckenbaugh said.
She compared the current job market to a trickle-down effect.
"The open slots in the technological market are attracting those who would otherwise be going into marketing or business, which creates even more jobs for other graduates to fill," she said
CAS senior and psychology major Phil Jessel recently received a job from Electronic Data Systems, a large technological company in Detroit, Mich. Jessel said EDS will pay to put him through a 9- to 18-month training period with a salary of $40,000 to $50,000, plus benefits and relocation expenses.
"My psychology major was completely irrelevant to the job," Jessel said.
The lack of computer science majors is causing somewhat of a crisis for businesses desperate for experienced employees. The Clinton administration has reported spending $28 million in 1997 to train new workers, and the Department of Education said that although there was a slight increase in computer science majors, it is not enough.
Technological recruiter for ITS Technology Inc., Chad Fengley, said he looks to hire graduates with job market experience.
"I look for students who have two years or more of experience with internships or co-oping," Fengley said. "Experience in computer design is also an attractive attribute."
Fengley said ITS is now hiring an average of one employee per month. Only 3 percent of companies surveyed by NACE said that they were going to cut back on hiring next year, and Luckenbaugh sees no decline in the near future.
"With the way things are going, the demand for technological jobs will be there," she said. "I can't see that changing in the next 10 years; if anything, it will become even more dominant."