With graduation about a month away, seniors are left organizing their plans for the future. While some are more prepared than others, the class of 2004 is in a better position than last year's graduating class thanks to a stable job market, said Lee Svete, director of Notre Dame's Career Center. Svete believes companies are realizing they may have underestimated their need for recruits. Consequently, Go Irish job postings are up 23 percent from last year. In addition, Hewlett-Packard recently notified the Career Center of its need to fill 104 positions."I don't want to be over optimistic," Svete said. "It has been a competitive year, yet I have seen more activity then last year."Typically, within six months of graduating, 43 percent of seniors find full-time employment, 35 percent attend graduate school, 13 percent engage in volunteer work, four percent take military jobs and one percent take time off. The University will not know the percentages for this year until a survey is conducted after graduation. As of now, full-time job positions and graduate school attendance appear to be the norm, Svete said.Throughout the year, the Career Center has provided guidance for seniors with career fairs and personal counseling. In all, 1,230 seniors have utilized individual guidance sessions, Svete said.The 25 seniors members of the "Job Club" learned how to make alumni connections and were provided an online contact system. Svete, serving as director for the program, affirmed that many students found skills they learned in the club to be beneficial. Next year, he predicts the group will grow to 100 or more members.The Career Center also ensures that Notre Dame remains part of the largest online virtual career fair. The Big East Conference E-Fair offers names of companies and jobs available to students of member schools in the Big East Conference. This E-Fair can be accessed through the Career Center home page and offers information on employment with companies such as AT&T Wireless, Morgan Stanley and Bloomberg.On April 15, the Career Center will initiate City Tour, a new program designed to assist seniors in finding jobs and relocating. The program has a unique web site providing list serves capable of finding jobs for a student's particular field within a specific location. The program also helps students locate alumni in their area.Senior Caitlin Willard plans on giving a year of health service to either Providence Volunteer Ministry or Redeemer Ministry Corp. She said the service fair assisted her in finding this position. "I feel pretty confident in my ability to face challenges, but I feel I will not have an idea of whether or not I am prepared until I am put in the real world," she said.Jackie Barrett also received assistance from the Career Center in discovering her job at McKinsey Company, a management consultant firm located in Pittsburgh. "I was contacted by someone from McKinsey who looked at online profiles provided by the Career Center," she said.Senior John Kennedy will attend civil engineering graduate school at Marquette University or Tufts University. "In my four years at Notre Dame [two] things have prepared me for the real world - accessible, exceptional professors and close friends," he said.Other seniors plan to utilize time after graduation to pursue various interests."I am going to move to the middle of Wisconsin, I am going to drive in my VW bus cross country to California where I am going to surf and bartend until I have enough money to start my own record label," Joe Schmidlin said.While Schmidlin's plans don't classify as the norm, Gino Signoracci looks at the education gained in four years at Notre Dame as something to prepare a graduating senior for anything."I believe Notre Dame prepares you for the real world as long as you choose a path that makes things interesting for you," Signoracci said. "It is also vulnerable to people who come in with narrow minds that can easily go through four years without changing."
