Thursday, March 5, 1998
Community Briefs
Job outlook great for 1998 graduates
A booming job market will greet 1998 graduates interested in
technology-related fields.
A lack of engineering and computer science majors has job
recruiters scrambling to find new employees. Current offers for
graduating seniors are as high as $50,000 including bonuses of 10
percent to 20 percent.
A 40 percent decrease in computer science and engineering majors
during a shift from an industrial-based economy to one of service
has increased the demand for technology majors.
Liberal arts majors are also benefiting from the demand to fill
technological jobs. Job Outlook ’98, a survey conducted by the
National Association of Colleges and Employers, said the starting
salaries for graduating liberal arts majors has increased 6.5
percent since last year, to an average of $28,875.
Companies are willing to train graduates of all majors to fill
open positions, said Camille Luckenbaugh, director of employment
information at NACE.
"Liberal arts majors are attractive to employers because they
come prepared with communication skills and the ability to learn
technical skills," Luckenbaugh said.
The lack of computer-science students is causing somewhat of a
crisis for businesses desperate for experienced employees. The
Clinton administration has reported spending $28 million in 1997 to
train new workers, and the Department of Education said that
although there was a slight increase in computer science majors, it
is not enough.
Technological recruiter for ITS Technology Inc., Chad Fengley,
said he looks to hire graduates with job market experience.
"I look for students who have two years or more of experience
with internships or co-oping," Fengley said. "Experience in
computer design is also an attractive attribute."
Fengley said ITS is now hiring an average of one employee per
month. Only 3 percent of companies surveyed by NACE said that they
were going to cut back on hiring next year, and Luckenbaugh sees no
decline in the near future.
"With the way things are going, the demand for technological
jobs will be there," she said. "I can’t see that changing in the
next 10 years; if anything, it will become even more dominant."
More actors lighting up on movie screen
While declining in the general population, smoking in the
top-grossing movies is on the rise, according to UC San Francisco
researchers.
Sampling five of the top 20 grossing movies from 1990 to 1996,
researchers Stanton A. Glantz and Theresa F. Stockwell found that
57 percent of the leading characters smoked. Only 14 percent of
similar people smoke in the general population.
In the 1960s researchers found that tobacco was used once every
five minutes, this number decreased in the 1970s and 1980s to about
once in every 15 minutes. The number is now back up to once every
three to five minutes.
"The use of tobacco in films is increasing and is reinforcing
misleading images that present smoking as a widespread and socially
desirable activity," said Glantz.
Despite the warnings of the dangers of smoking, only 14 percent
present the negative effects of smoking.
Characters who smoke are overwhelmingly middle and upper class,
while the number of smokers from a lower socioeconomic class has
decreased.
"As in tobacco advertising, tobacco use in the movies is
associated with youthful vigor, good health, good looks and
personal and professional acceptance," said researchers.
Researchers pointed out that this increase in on screen smoking
corresponds with a decrease in advertising for tobacco. Glantz and
Stockwell suggested anti-tobacco advertisements be aired by movie
theaters to combat the smoking message in the films.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff and wire reports.