Advisors: Ample job slots for grads

LYNN – Despite rising national unemployment and bleak economic forecasts, North Shore career counselors remain upbeat as thousands of college graduates prepare to enter the job market.Elizabeth Dyke, a career exploration counselor at North Shore Community College (NSCC), said her office conducts tests to help students decide on career tracks.”When the students first come in, we try to figure out what they want to study here, and there are certain tools we use for that,” she said. “The tests basically ask the students to consider the activities they like to do, competencies they are good at, and occupations they might want to pursue. It leads to self-directed research in which they rate their abilities – mechanical, teaching, artistic. And after the process is completed, I can analyze it. I truly help students find out what they would like to do and what they would be good at.”According to Dyke, the state of the economy is not reason enough to point a student in a direction away from his or her passions and abilities, simply because job prospects may be better.”You can’t just go by the economy because the student might be miserable following a career in which they have little interest,” she said.Dyke also makes students aware of the fields of study mostly likely to land them a job upon graduation.”In 2009, there are good careers to be found in health care and computers. Those are two of the fastest-growing fields. Software engineering and network systems are both considered good careers tracks,” she said.NSCC students with an interest in health care can pursue degrees as licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, occupational therapy assistants, medical assistants, or medical administrative assistants. Other choices include a respiratory care program and a physical therapy assistant degree.”That means students interested in health care can come to North Shore Community College and leave with a career in health care,” Dyke said. “I think some of them are fearful, but others are determined to find jobs and go out there with a positive attitude and a willingness to look very hard.”A new national focus on the environment has led to an explosion of so-called green jobs and NSCC has positioned itself to take advantage of the change. “In the green area, we have programs in biotech and teachers are starting to develop courses in green technologies,” Dyke said.NSCC spokeswoman Peggy Justice said the college will graduate 985 students in the spring, roughly half of whom will go on to higher education rather than immediately entering the job market. “We don’t expect those numbers to go down in the coming year,” she said.Chris Sullivan, director of Career Services at Salem State College, reminds students that economic trends are cyclical.”What we are telling our students who are graduating or already out there is that even in a tight economy there are jobs. Sometimes, all they see is bad news on TV, doom and gloom, which makes them want to pull in. But there are opportunities,” she said.According to Sullivan, the better the students know themselves, the easier it will be to present themselves on paper and in person.”Students should also ask themselves, what are the skills employers are looking for so that they can target themselves to communicate with the employer? Given the economic climate, this isn’t the time when employers are going to think, ‘How can I use this student?’ This is the time when students have got to market themselves.”Sullivan said online resume posting services aren’t always the best choice of job-finding strategies. “It’s very tempting to put your resume on the Internet, on one of these giant job-listing places, and think, yes, I’m done. Because all that means is they are putting their resumes into the biggest pile possible.”Sullivan tells students to get out and network.”Get in touch with the people who are doing the hiring in your field. Go see who is actually doing the hiring because it doesn’t work the same for