Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Liz Garrett/Asst. News Editor Lincoln Financial Group, a financial services company, located in Radnor, Pa. is one company continuing to hire college graduates regardless of the current recession.

With unemployment numbers up to 5.1 percent, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report, graduating seniors are facing a tougher job market but some employers are still hiring.

Some businesses are laying off workers, while other employers say they are continuing to hire, according to interviews with human resource departments and published reports.

As for Cabrini, it appears that the economic slowdown has not been severely affecting seniors looking for jobs this spring.

This financial crisis in the news is the culprit for layoffs. Unemployment, now up to 7.8 million people, is slowing down hiring. According to JobWeb, a Web site specializing in career-search advice, even though the overall hiring outlook is still not considered negative, it has gone downhill since fall 2007.

However, not all company recruiters are following the crowd in cutting off the hiring of college graduates.

Lincoln Financial Group, a financial services company located right in Radnor, is an example of a business that is going against the trend. "The hiring has not slowed down. The markets always go up and down and it does not look like the recession has any effect on hiring," Deborah Brean, corporate and public affairs at Lincoln, said. "It is important for the company to hire college graduates because the diversity of talent is always needed."

JobWeb said that 44 percent of recruiters admitted to being negatively affected by the recession and have postponed the hiring of graduates. On the other hand, 48 percent of employers answered that there was no change in hiring.

"I attend many of the area job and career fairs and employers have been telling me that they are definitely looking to hire at the entry level," Nancy Hutchison, director of cooperative education and career services at Cabrini, said. "We had 55 employers at the Intercollegiate Career Fair, and over 90 at the Non-Profit Career Fair at St. Joseph's University on April 10."

"It is hard for a company to lay off its employees and then turn around and hire new college graduates," Mary Harris, business department chair at Cabrini, said.

Continued...

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