UNIVERSITY
Graduates may face rocky times finding jobs
By Dan Eisler
Emerald Contributor
The University Career Plan
ning and Placement Service in
Juno callod graduates’ Job prtrs
pocts "almost rosy."
Those days the prospects —
if not exactly wiltod — have
lost their bloom.
And although Oregon’s econ
omy has fared relatively well in
tho recession, upcoming gradu
ates will face diminished job
opportunities.
Last summer, tho career plan
ning department estimated
about 82 percent of spring 1990
graduates had found employ
ment. and tho success percent
ages for 1991 graduates should
follow fairly close to 1990 esti
mates, said Larry Smith. Career
Planning and Placement diroc
tor.
Overall employment percent
ages for graduates have re
mained fairly consistent for the
past decade, bolwoon BO and B3
percent. Smith said.
"The difference is it may take
(graduates) longer to find a
job," ho said. "Employers are
more cautious about making
hiring commitments."
Smith said the number of
XANADU
A stony fortress in the Earth
Beneath the swan song on the rocks
Building a new chandelier for the store
Enough power to melt clocks
White hair lost to time
Leaving a second generation
Torn apart like two hands clapping
His home in his imagination
Dedicated to my grandfathar Joseph Chester Kime (Kime and Bonebreak, J C & E K , pho
tographers, Akron.) A pioneer In color photography, he bought his wite Margaret Peg C
Kime (a high school classmate of John S. Knight of Knight Ridder) a Wlllys Knight (whose
namesake W.J. Willy died with Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr in 1944 (Joe Jr s sister Kick s
husband William, Marquess of Hartlngton, also died that year. (Kick died in 48 ))) He died ol
alcoholism In 1944 (2'2) leaving 3 children: Joseph (a slide trombonist), Janet (a violinist)
and William (of DePere, Wl and salesman lor Employers' Insurance of Wausua (dec d 86 ))
Also to Richard Sternberg, attorney, whose son produced and wrote the Bangles hit record
"Walk Like an Egyptian."
TUDOR ROSE
The linenfold hallway to the music room
A little old lady In arrears
Her lace rose to the Iron light fixtures
And she asked If they were chandeliers
I told her they truly were
But said there were better ahead
I hurried her onto the card room
Where my usual piece was said
The red Is really blooming peach
And Is answered on yellow
A price Is placed upon each response
Just like the girls In a bordello
Write again upon blue
And hope for a reply on grey
Then you can use white paper
Which means you will have your way
But if a step goes backward
Your food Is on the line
A serious error in judgment
Your will is what you sign
A piece of green is trouble
Serious resistance has been met
Purple is Imperial rage
Your wager may be a losing bet
Wrenches tossed Into the system
The brown tries to sop It up
An offer of Indebtedness
A coin for the blind man's cup
Or they may be thrown out In sequence
Shown as a series of walls
Railroaded by the organization
A shot Is fired and the body falls
Dedicated to W E. Wright (son ol Christina Elchenberger) who helped his brother C Nelson
(born Nelson In Rltlman, OH) found Wright Tool & Forge Co In Barberton, OH In 1927 before
his death on Nov 18, 1929 HIs obituary In the Akron Beacon Journal, a Knight Ridder news
paper. appeared on page 1 under the headlines, "Announce Wright Services Are to be Held
at Home; Rev. Stephen E. Keeler May Come from Chicago to Officiate at Rites; Name C of C
Committee ." This very Interesting piece included a eulogy from Harvey Firestone, one of his
Florida neighbors, as well as an account of how W.E s chauffer tound him dead in the back
seat on the way back to the office from lunch (The day's overall headline was, Railroads
Speed Up Building," relating to a $1 billion program.) Nelson, who had sold tools from the
trunk of his car prior to founding Wright Tool, and whose son Richard B was born Oct 16,
1928, always kept an oil portrait of W.E. on the wall across the landing at the head of the
front stairs In his home (as well as a pair of antique dueling pistols atop the grey metal cabi
net In his upstairs office there.) He died Easter Sunday, 1972.
Al9o to Miss Helen Klme, a tough little old lady who lived stubbornly alone in her Civil War
era shotgun shack until her death in late 1983 at about age 90 She would never permit a
phone In the house (or anyone to go upstairs,) and, as such, all visits had to be arranged in
writing. (I only saw her 2 or 3 times.)
And to Krover Nachtarsch, a white Mosel wine with a really funky label depicting a large
man carrying a bare-bottomed child down Into the cellar for a paddling. I haven't seen any of
that spirit since I was about 9 years old (it was common on our dinner table )
And, dedicated as well to the partnership between William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pat
rick Kennedy that rasulted In F.O fl.'i nomination In 1932 (per The Kennedys: An American
Drama by Collier & Horowitz.)
Please see my ads In the 1985-86 Emerald; 3/16/90 Boston Globe (p. 9); 4 13 90 Washington
Post (p. 2); 6/22/90 Cleveland Plain Dealer (Friday! section); 7/20 90 Oakland, CA Tribune;
8/28/90 Texan (Austin); 9/14/90 Harvard Crimson (p. A5); 11 30 90 Emerald; 127 90 Kent Stat
er; 12/28/90 LA Times (p. A17), Boulder Camera (Friday section); 1/15 91 U of Akron
Buchtellte (p. 2); 12591 (NM State) Roundup, Register Guard (p. A11); 2 191 Camera (Fri
day section.) Never forget Alice Cooper's "Billion Dollar Babies" and watch out for spiders!
Richard Bruce Wright, II
b. 831/60, c. 9 am, Akron
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
companies recruiting on cam
pus appears to be down this
quarter from tho same period
last year. However, he also said
certain job fields oflor bolter
prospects than others for col
lege graduates.
Graduates searching tho job
markot will find tho best oppor
tunities in technical and profes
sional fields, Smith said.
Majors such as accounting,
computer scionco, journalism,
financo, marketing, manage
ment, rhotoric and communica
tions, and architecture have
consistently done well in em
ployment opportunities, Smith
said.
Overall prospects for educa
tion majors are good, because
of a teacher shortage outside of
Oregon. The University's edu
cation program, which has
drastically reduced due to high
er education budget cuts, has
been reduced in size over the
lust several yoars and become
extremely competitive, Smith
said.
"(Education majors) ure of
extremely high quality, but tho
number of them is extremely
small," ho said.
Finding technically-oriented
jobs is more difficult than it
was a year ago, but still remains
a strong area, whilo the most
frequent job openings ure in
sales- and management-trainee
positions, Smith said.
nowuvor, mn.MUMJ ui uiti iu*
cession, the demand for em
ployees in these fields is still
tightor than before. Smith said.
"Hopefully, the response of stu
dents is to move into their job
search If they’re not already.”
Additional job growth will bo
found In the service and elec
tronics side, said John Lively,
executive director of the Eu
gene-Springfleld Metropolitan
Partnership, a quasi-public
agency that promotes economic
growth.
Other potential growth fields
aro in biotechnology and metal
fabrication industries and com
puter software development.
Lively said.
And when times aro tight and
businesses have a hiring freeze,
they turn to temporary workers
to fill the gaps, said Jan Cox,
Eugene office manager of Man
power Temporary Services.
The highest demand is from
offico automation is for tempo
rary workers with “hard skills"
— such as word processing,
Cox said.
"Oftentimes at every desk
there's going to bo a computer
torminal." she said.
Job prospects In Oregon soom
better than in the rest of the
country nocauso oi mo state s
continued growth, said JofT
Hannum. stato Employment Di
vision economist.
The Pacific Northwost is still
the relative bright spot In the
national economic picture, said
JofT Hannum.
"The economy is still grow
ing but the growth is slowor,”
he said.
And businesses haven't
waited for the recession to hit
before taking procautionary
moasuros, ho said.
Manufacturers have boon
keeping their Inventories low.
Hannum said. Traditionally, a
major factor In recessions has
been manufacturers' overpro
duction and excess inventories.
"Diversification will help,
but we're not insulated, just
hotter able to cope with a reces
sion,” Hannum said.
Whilo timber and related in
dustries are currently in a re
cession of their own, state con
struction employment is way
up at the same time, Hannum
said.
The state's economic condi
tion also benefits from the fact
that the country isn't in a high
lntorost-rate recession, said Joo
Stone, University economics
professor. "Interest rates really
aren't that high, which helps to
mitigate the construction in
dustry slump.”
Tho Federal Reserve Board
has cut its lending rale to banks
several times in the past few
months, in an effort to alleviate
existing economic conditions.
"Thero‘11 still bo prospects,
but not as good as in the last
couple of years,” said Gary
Slncick, labor economist with
tho Employment Division’s Eu
geno office. "Thoro’ro still good
prospects for peoplo who have
degrees.”
Because of the state's slump,
employers and consumers are
taking a wait-and-see attitude,
which in turn is causing the
economy to lose its momen
tum, Sincick said.
That trend has helped re
duce, but not eliminate, |ob
prospects for upcoming gradu
ates, Sincick said.
According to the usual defi
nition, a recession occurs aftor
six months of docllno in the
Gross National Product— tho
total valuo of new goods and
services in the nation.
However, Fnderal Resorve
Chairman Alan Greenspan told
Congress in September ho’d
prefer a less rigid definition.
Tho last national recession
lasted from July 1981 to Nov.
1982.
Engine Service
1000 S Bertelsen Rd fl Eugene OR 07*02
One Block North of W 11th Nolan Ind Plata
Specializing in Volkswagen Service For 32 years
342-3952
Student and Faculty Discounts
Recycle This Paper