As stocks on Wall Street continue to plummet, so have the hopes of many Penn seniors and graduate students looking for jobs.
The effects of last week's terrorist attacks, particularly in a global finance hub like New York, have already started to live up to economists' prophecy that an already tumbling economy will head further downhill.
And with many analysts forecasting an economic recession, recruiting season may have very different results than it has in the past few years. The once-burgeoning job market for college graduates may not yield as many lucrative positions as in the past.
"This is a bad year," said Dimitri Boylan, president and chief executive officer of HotJobs, an Internet search engine designed to match job seekers with employers. "Graduating seniors and MBA students are going to have a tough year, and many of them should be prepared for not finding the ideal employment."
Last week's attacks on New York and Washington only worsened what was already projected to be a down year in recruiting. Many of the major players in the investment banking and finance fields lost key assets in the attack on the World Trade Center.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, which generally recruits at Penn, saw 27 floors of office space destroyed, leaving almost 4,000 employees with nowhere to work. Lehman Brothers Investment also lost significant office space as a result of the attack.
For these companies and recruiters in similar situations, the emphasis for the fall may lie on recovery rather than recruitment.
The Dow Jones plummeted almost 700 points on Monday, its largest single day drop in history. The Nasdaq index fell more than 100 points as well.
Since trading resumed on Monday morning, the Dow has fallen almost 8 percent from where it stood before last week's terrorist attacks brought trading to a halt.
Boylan said he believes that if students are still counting on the major investment firms that were affected by the attacks, they could be in for a rude awakening this fall.
"That focus will result in too many of them barking up the tree that isn't going to give them any fruit," he said. "Breaking down and stepping out of the traditional well-worn path is the best solution."
The tourism industry has been hit the hardest since the attacks. Airline stocks experienced a free-fall on Monday, and several of the major carriers announced that they would be laying off tens of thousands of employees.
With travel almost nonexistent in the country, companies in the airline and hotel businesses may not have any open spots for workers fresh out of college.
Although it is difficult to determine exactly how much of an impact the attacks had on the markets, it is clear that after the attacks, some firms are in much better shape than others.
Management Professor Chip Hunter said that although no one knows how far the market would have dropped prior to the attacks, the end result may be the same.
"There are clearly not the same overwhelming opportunities that we've had in recent years," Hunter said. "The loss of human capital for some of the companies is going to be substantial."
Whereas the focus in the past few years has been on investment, information technology and financial firms, students may now have to look to less obvious sources to find work straight out of school.
"You have to recognize that there's an awful lot of jobs from companies who never did on-campus recruiting and never will," Boylan said. "The market is going to reward the proactive student."
But although the terrorist attacks have severely impaired some major businesses, many experts say that the poor recruiting season may have been, in some sense, inevitable.
"The economy was getting quite sluggish," Boylan said. "We were already moving at a pretty good pace down."
University Career Services Director Patricia Rose agrees. She said she believes that although they were devastating, the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington will not be the main cause of a poor recruiting season.
"The firms had already informed us that this year was not going to be the kind of recruiting year that we've had in the last couple," Rose said. "I think that the economic slowdown is going to affect recruiting more than the events of this past week."
And many students are well aware of what an economic recession will mean for their job prospects this fall.
One second-year Wharton MBA student, who asked not to be identified, said that after the attacks, several firms canceled recruiting interviews with him.
"I'm getting more nervous about the economy," he said. "I was looking into industry, but now I'm looking at everything because who knows what will happen?"
Rose said that most of the employer presentations scheduled to be held on campus last week were postponed for logistical reasons. She added that the focus for now is contacting recruiters to ensure that they are safe and well.
But if the reality of the attacks and the economic downturn hasn't set in with seniors yet, it will very soon.
Catherine Bredemeier, owner of Career Consulting Services Inc., said most companies are focusing on different areas for hiring students.
"Across the board, companies are still hiring in the front end in sales," she said. "But in the day-to-day running of a business, there are pretty much just replacement positions available."
With the changing face of the labor market, Bredemeier says it's no longer about which job to choose -- it's about finding a job at all.
"Salaries are not being elevated" due to competition, Bredemeier said. "People are just feeling grateful to get a job."
And that job may not come from the traditional firms or industries.
Boylan suggests that seniors broaden their search for employment. He said that although banking and finance might not be major players this fall, some defense-related contractors might be in the market to expand.
Other industries, such as pharmaceutical, food service and entertainment firms, may even see growth despite the economic downturn.
And Bredemeier said she believes that if students want to maximize their possibilities, they should not waste any time.
"I think that good people will always be able to get a job, but what changes is how long it takes," Bredemeier said. "Start today on your job search because it will take time."
Although this year's market may not be as strong as seniors had hoped, there is hope among underclassmen for an economic turnaround in the near future.
"I think [the market] is going to go a little lower, but eventually, it'll snap back," Wharton junior Enrique Glotzer said. "It's got a lot of problems, but most of them are transient and cyclical."
Hunter agrees with Glotzer, saying that although things look bleak for the economy, they could be much worse.
"If you put this in historical perspective, we've got to keep calm," Hunter said. "There are still people recruiting here and there's still demand for people with college degrees."
Another second-year MBA student said he believes that his time at Wharton will serve him well in the hunt for a job.
"The sectors that will emerge as recruiters would not usually be considered recruiters," the student said. "Those companies would love to have Wharton MBAs."
