NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Eager to ride the high-tech tide, Andrew Zhou double-majored in computer science and finance when he arrived at Rutgers University in 2000.
As graduation approaches, Zhou is pinning his hopes on finance and dropping the idea he once had that computer know-how guaranteed him a job.
”Four years ago, it seemed like an awesome major,” Zhou said as he waited to speak with a recruiter for a telecommunications management firm at Rutgers’ annual career day.
”Now, nobody wants to get in because all the jobs are going to India.”
While there are hopeful signs outside the technology sector, outsourcing of computer programming and customer service jobs to China, India and other countries with cheaper labor costs have dimmed prospects for seniors like Zhou, said Richard White, director of career services at Rutgers.
A recent report from Forrester Research projected that close to 3.3 million American tech jobs will go to overseas workers by 2015.
”Jobs that used to be available for U.S. citizens are being diverted overseas where the quality is equal or better at a fraction of the cost,” White said.
”The entry level positions just aren’t out there now,” agreed Halbert Wilson.
A January graduate with a degree in information technology from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Wilson is counting on contacts made during an internship with a pharmaceutical company to help him get a job.
Experts say the best sectors for seniors to find employment are in finance, health care, advertising and government. A jump in the number of campus recruiters visiting campuses is giving students hope.
After two years of low growth, the National Association of Colleges and Employers is forecasting a 12.7 percent hiring jump this year.
NACE spokeswoman Camille Luckenbaugh warned that while 51 percent of the employers surveyed by the group said they would increase recruitment of college graduates this year, another 28 percent indicated they would curtail hiring on campuses.
Internal Revenue Service recruiter Doug Fuller was besieged at the Rutgers’ career day.
”The economy has perhaps changed the mind-set of this generation where they think more about jobs with greater stability than you could encounter in the private sector,” Fuller said.