“Plan, prepare, and persist” MSU career services expert advises students in a changing world

<p>“We started in 1970 with people like Jack Shingleton and Patrick Scheetz,” says Gardner. “They saw that they could add information and understanding to the broader community in college recruiting. The survey has continued to grow and evolve.”</p><p>Gardner says the pandemic is having a dramatic impact on the college labor market.</p><p>“It’s changing how companies recruit. The virus makes it very difficult for companies to decide on what their hiring needs are. There's a group of employers that have no choice but to hire, and they're hiring. Their businesses are going to go on whether we have a virus or not. Some sectors seem to be weathering this better. Then we have sectors that are completely being crushed by the virus.”</p><p>Recruiting on campus is different now. And he explains why associate degrees are faring better. He says some companies of all sizes are hiring.</p><p>“Twenty five percent of employers that typically would be on campuses are riding this out. They're not going to hire this year, or they're waiting until January, February, maybe even March before they decide if they're going to hire anyone. About 42 percent say they are going to lower their hiring, which is a significant number. We haven't seen that since we started coming out of the recession in 2008. Another 30-some percent that are increasing hiring are balancing that out. </p><p>“So there's a lot of uncertainty that makes these numbers kind of mucky. </p><p>“Around the country, employers are hiring community college students, particularly those coming out of applied technologies like computer science, IT, and health technicians. It's kind of sad that a lot of the community colleges have taken big enrollment hits at a time when there's probably going to be a demand for those students, depending on the regional economic activities around those community colleges. If there's any bad news in here, it's for MBAs. The market is down quite a bit. It's typical in an economic recession to see MBAs go in a swoon like that. It's a ques