Franklin Rea '08 expected to get a job as the intern director for the Columbia University Institute for Tele-Information, where he had previously worked as a research assistant, after he graduated from Dartmouth. When the person who planned to leave the position was himself unable to find a new job in the weakening economy, Rea was soon without employment. Seven months after graduating, Rea is still sending out cover letters in an attempt to find a full-time job.
Dartmouth graduates like Rea who are early in their careers continue to face a bleak job market as employers lower their hiring targets and organizations in some sectors freeze hiring entirely. Many alumni say, however, that Dartmouth graduates are having greater relative success surviving in the workforce, especially in the hard-hit finance industry.
David Maher '99, an associate at Deutsche Bank, said none of the Dartmouth alumni he knows working in the financial sector have lost their jobs in the crisis, while graduates of other elite schools, such as Harvard University and Yale University, have.
"I think that's a testament to the quality of Dartmouth grads on Wall Street, and their staying power when firms are looking to cut head-count," Maher said.
Chase Arnold '95, a vice president in investment banking at Deutsche, credits the Dartmouth alumni network with providing a strong safety net for the College's graduates during the economic crisis.
"In a downturn, relationships matter, and the Dartmouth community is at least as, if not stronger than, that of any other school," Arnold said.
With fewer job openings, banks are choosing to recruit only from the best colleges, and Dartmouth has a strong reputation with leading financial institutions, Arnold said, explaining that this continues to give Dartmouth alumni an advantage in the financial sector.
"Dartmouth is going to show up on the core list of pretty much every bank," Arnold said.
Another bright spot in the weakening economy is the health-care sector, according to Susan Dentzer '77, editor-in-chief of the Health Affairs, a journal of health policy, and a member of Dartmouth Medical School's Board of Overseers.
Many Dartmouth-educated physicians work in research hospitals, Dentzer said, where people receive treatment regardless of economic conditions.
Doctors practicing general medicine or working primarily with Medicare patients also tend to remain unaffected by the economy, she added.
"I'm guessing these folks aren't seeing any impact from the current recession," Dentzer said.
Other sectors of the economy, including non-profits and research, have been particularly hard hit by the financial crisis, according to Josh Marcuse '04, president and founder of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization.
Many colleges and universities, like Dartmouth, have frozen new hiring in response to the financial crisis.
Larger companies will see the sharpest declines, reducing their employment forecasts by 9 percent.
Some government employers reported hiring declines as drastic as 15 percent, according to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
While the federal government continues to have job openings, many think tanks and non-profits have frozen hiring and salaries, including several well-respected firms whose budgets rely entirely on grants, according to Marcuse.
"People that would have gotten a job very easily last year are finding that they cannot get a job this year," he said.
Marcuse warned recent graduates to take the weak market seriously.
"I would advise seniors to take what they can get," Marcuse said. "This isn't over. It's going to keep getting worse, and people need to be prepared for that."
Daniel Belkin '08, a web intern at The New Republic, is still working without pay due to the weak job market for college graduates interested in foreign policy.
Other Dartmouth students interested in non-profit organizations are facing similar difficulties, Belkin said in an e-mail.
"I have a few Dartmouth friends who are in D.C. and are looking for non-profit work," Belkin wrote. "They are in the same boat as me -- working unpaid internships and waiting on pins and needles for the job market to thaw.
Exact statistics about the employment of Dartmouth graduates have not yet been released, according to Monica Wilson, associate director of employer relations for Career Services.
Belkin is a former Opinion editor of The Dartmouth.
