University graduate jobs down by half

WARWICK SMITH/ Manawatu Standard

PROSPECTS POOR: Honours students from Massey University's resource and environmental planning course are without job prospects. Top row, from left: Danielle Simpson, Simon Stewart, Matt Stulen, Bo Zhao, Shaun Harvey. Bottom row, from left: Kirsten Hauschild, Wendy Robinson, Dave Bracey, Brent Cryer.

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More university graduates could end up on the dole queue with the number of graduate jobs on offer cut by up to a half in a year.

Careers advisers at Massey, Victoria, Waikato and Otago universities say students in all subject areas are finding it tough to get work, with the number of positions on graduate recruitment programmes also being cut.

Victoria University's career development and employment manager, Liz Medford, said in addition to falling numbers of advertised jobs, the number of employers looking for graduates fell from 449 last year to 370 this year.

Massey University's careers information officer, Nicola Stone, said that while the service received half as many adverts for jobs this year, some listings had advertised more than one role.

However, numbers were still down, with the most dramatic drop being in planning jobs – reduced from 60 to five.

Waikato University's careers advise,r Sharon Jefferies, said graduate placements for law clerks had shrunk significantly, with some larger firms reducing them from 60 to 20.

Students studying finance were also finding it tough, and Mrs Jefferies said ASB, BNZ and National banks had reduced the programmes they offered to graduates this year.

ANZ National confirmed it had reduced its programme, but BNZ and ASB did not respond to requests for numbers of places on offer.

Westpac's senior recruitment consultant, Sonya Bloomfield, said the bank had hired 16 students for its programme.

Although that was unchanged, demand had skyrocketed, with 1134 applicants for places this year compared with about 850 in previous years.

Deloitte offered 140 graduate positions this year, the same as last year, talent acquisition manager Richard Long said, and 3000 people applied. While the applications were up on previous years, the number of strong candidates had not increased.

University of Otago's Career Development Centre manager, Mark Cumisky, said the recession and economic downturn had caused the drop in graduate recruitment.

Final-year students were also affected. Mrs Jefferies said that instead of being offered permanent jobs, they were being offered internships.

Some of these were unpaid, while others offered payment for only a small number of hours or a short, fixed contract with no long-term security.

Ms Medford said that with existing staff reluctant to leave secure jobs, even firms where work was picking up were not hiring.

Four years' study, big loans, no jobs

Only one of the 21 students sitting their final bachelor's degree exam in resource and environmental management at Massey's Palmerston North campus next week has a permanent job lined up.

For the other 20 competing for the few advertised planning jobs, the immediate options are moving home, applying for the unemployment benefit, and taking whatever work they can get.

Mike Duindam, 22, has been offered a summer job but said he felt "cheated" about that being his only option after four years of study.

"We had all these fairy tales told to us about how planners are in great demand and we would be walking out with late-$40,000 starting salaries and we would just be picked up."

Instead, he was spending sleepless nights worrying about paying back his $45,000 loan.

Matt Stulen, 21, will spend the summer working in a bike shop after applying for 12 planning jobs and having no luck.

"I hadn't been wanting to get out of my field. I want to apply skills I've learnt over the last four years."

Facing the reality of a $40,000 loan, he was planning to move back home while looking for work.

Wendy Robinson, 22, said she would have to consider the unemployment benefit after discovering a few weeks ago that a job as a planner had fallen through. "Resource consent numbers are so low that they don't have a position for me. They don't have enough work to give me anything."

JOB ADVERTS WITHCAREER SERVICES

* Massey University 2009: 413 2008: 828

* Victoria University 2009: 3092 2008: 4617