Bear Market in Sheepskins

The Class of '70 is having a hard time passing the ultimate examination --in campus placement offices. The business slowdown and defense cutbacks are being felt in the form of fewer job offers and more demanding company recruiters. Starting salaries for nontechnical men with baccalaureates are only 4.6% above last year's average of $8,200.

The College Placement Council reports that compared with 1969, job offers to men are down 16% at the bachelor's degree level and 26% lower for M.A.s. Dr. James Souther, placement director at the University of Washington, says that the job market is tighter than he has seen it since 1953. At Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, recruiting is off 10%. At Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., interviews by Standard Oil of California, Boeing, Uniroyal, Gulf Oil, Carborundum and Volkswagen of America were canceled. For the first time in 30 years, Du Pont is not interviewing Princeton seniors.

Boom in Bookkeepers. The only exception is in accounting, which has replaced physics and aerospace engineering as the specialty most sought by corporate recruiters. Michigan State University has already placed 250 June accounting graduates. At the University of Texas, accounting firms are recruiting in the law school and among liberal-arts undergraduates. "They're willing to train anybody with an interest in the work," says a placement officer. Starting salaries for new accounting graduates average $10,000 a year.

Why are accountants so popular? The merger boom of the late 1960s and increasingly complex tax laws have heightened the demand for specialists who can decipher the numbers. In addition, the business slump has put a premium on men trained in the fine art of conserving cash.

Down with Eggheads. The tight job market may be curbing student anti-business attitudes, though there is some evidence that they were never as strong as popularly believed. There is, for instance, a marked decline in the harassment of campus recruiters. Perhaps there are just too few of them around to picket. Duke University's director of placement services, Patricia O'Connor, has seen little indication of students avoiding business, but feels that many are now "more flexible" about whom they will work for. William W. Wells, director of selection and placement for Genesco, notes a new humility among undergraduates: "They want a job and are not so particular."

Recruiters are becoming particular about whom they will take. James L. Lubin, placement director at Newark College of Engineering, notes that the vague, egghead type is being left out. Says he: "Companies appear to be going for the student who can turn a buck."

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