Seniors Fall Victim To Shift in Economy

Some seniors who thought they had secured jobs after graduation are now back on the job market, after a number of consulting and investment banking firms have sent out notices that their services will no longer be needed-the result of a faltering economy.

While rescinding an actual offer represents the most severe cutback measure, some companies have taken other steps to save money.

A number have asked students to postpone their starting dates in hope of a future economic upswing, offering only small compensation in the interim.

"This is an unsettling phenomenon," said Bill Wright-Swadel, Harvard's director of Career Services.

Three weeks ago, Swadell counseled a group of seniors whose corporate job offers were recently rescinded.

"For students making their first transition into the job world, this is particularly difficult to deal with," Wright-Swadel said.

Karen O. Sullivan of the Cambridge Strategic Management Group (CSMG), a consulting firm based in Boston and the U.K., said that her company rescinded offers from students at other universities, but not yet at Harvard.

While CSMG's full-time hires used to begin in the summer, the firm has pushed backed this year's starting date to the fall.

Wright-Swadel said that he and his colleagues at the Office of Career Services (OCS) have been especially surprised by the recent incidents because the experiences of graduating classes before have been so "upwardly mobile and upwardly progressive."

And the phenomenon is not just affecting those that are graduating in June.

Underclass students are bearing the brunt as well. Some firms have chosen to cancel their summer internship programs.

If and when the economy reblooms, Wright-Swadel said he believes students will be more suspicious of the companies that recently rescinded and postponed their job offers.

"Juniors are hearing the names of these companies, and they could very well show a decreased interest in them in the next recruiting season," he said.

But he added that the effects in the long run might not be all bad.

If students turn away from these consulting and investment banking firms, recruiters from other industries might gain more success with Harvard students.

"One negative aspect of campus recruiting that has been too top-heavy with consulting firms and investment banks," Wright-Swadel said.