3. JOBS: Environmental market less grim than most, but anxiety reigns amid Ivy League hopefuls (ClimateWire, 03/09/2009)

Nathanial Gronewold, E&E reporter

NEW YORK -- While Friday's release by the government of further grim employment figures confirmed the dismal conditions job seekers face throughout the United States, job prospects in environment and sustainability seem to be holding up better than in most other sectors, at least according to employers.

But students from the nation's top colleges aren't so convinced as they struggle to land in their dream careers before graduation sends them out to the real world. "Anxiety" was the dominant theme among job seekers at the annual All Ivy Environmental and Sustainable Development Career Fair, hosted by Columbia University Friday.

The event -- connecting companies with students in environmental programs at Columbia, Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Cornell and Dartmouth universities and the University of Pennsylvania -- had been growing by leaps and bounds during its five previous years as "green" came into vogue, but fear is what's driving this year's strong attendance.

"It's tough out there, but I'm optimistic," said Columbia student Nathan Chan, who will graduate this year with a master of public administration degree in environmental science and policy.

This is his third career fair since starting his job search in earnest last September, and he still has no leads. Chan said he's seeing the same thing everywhere he goes.

"Everyone who's searching is a bit stressed out," said Chan. "These career fairs are good for getting your foot in the door, but of course they're not going to hand you the job right now."

Chan was one of more than 1,200 students this year vying for the attention of only 73 companies, nonprofits and government agencies at the Ivy League career fair. The competition, even for green jobs, has grown much fiercer as the United States experiences its worst employment situation in more than 25 years -- last year's career fair saw 700 students networking with 77 potential employers.

Internships prevail over jobs

"There's not that many jobs out there," said Alex Kudroff, gesturing to the tables stacked with pamphlets and business cards.

An ecology, evolution and environmental biology major at Columbia, Kudroff is set to graduate this summer but says she is very pessimistic about landing any position, let alone one in her field. She's particularly frustrated by the large number of companies that don't have permanent openings, offering internships or just collecting resumes instead.

"Even in here, there a lot of the things I want to do, but I don't think they're necessarily hiring," she said. "They're just kind of here, which is unfortunate."

Kudroff and Chan, like most of the students packing Columbia's Low Library last Friday, admitted that they used to be picky about what type of job they would take upon graduation, figuring that their high-profile alma mater would give them an edge. But they are now casting a much wider net, looking for opportunities around the country and even overseas.

Many students say they have also put in applications to graduate programs, figuring it may be safer to continue their education, should no opportunities materialize.

Another factor to heighten the employment anxiety facing students from even the most elite and prestigious institutions was the U.S. Department of Labor's announcement, also on Friday, that the economy shed 651,000 jobs in February. The overall unemployment rate rose to 8.1 percent, the highest level since 1983.

All told, the Labor Department estimates, about 12.5 million people in the United States are now unemployed, while 8.6 million are being forced to cut back on the amount of time they can work because of the weak economy.

The drumbeat of bad economic news is weighing heavily on the minds of even the most competitive college graduates, say organizers of the environmental career fair.

"There's a tremendous level of anxiety among our students," said Louise Rosen, who directs the Office of Research and Academic Programs at Columbia's Earth Institute.

'A hell of a lot better than other sectors'

Rosen has organized this event for the past six years, watching it grow from a small networking opportunity for students at Yale, Columbia and Cornell universities into an all-Ivy event drawing more than a thousand students, some of whom were bused in from other states last week. But this year, the mood is noticeably different, she said. The total number of participating employers has slid a bit, while 35 organizations that had recruited at the fair in the past have now completely dropped out.

But Rosen and those employers that did manage to take part said it's clear that jobs in environmental engineering, management, consulting and education are holding up much better than expected, fueled by governments' push to go green and the anticipation of major climate change legislation working its way through Washington.

"Our numbers are looking a hell of a lot better than other sectors," said Rosen. "We're down five organizations. I've spoken to other sectors, and they're down 40 to 60 percent. So we're feeling actually really great about this."

Jeremy Esson of Green Careers Center, a company specializing in connecting prospective employers to environmental jobs candidates, said this sector knows it stands to make out well with the coming federal stimulus dollars, but companies are still in a holding pattern to see just how well.

"Everybody's in a wait-and-see mode right now," said Esson. "We have noticed a little bit of a drop-off in job listings, but I think everybody is kind of poised to see where a lot of the new funding is going to go."

And government seems to dominate in new job offers as the private sector shies away or retrenches.

Robert Unsworth, a recruiter with the Cambridge, Mass., environmental consultancy Industrial Economics, said his biggest clients of late have tended to be the federal government, state agencies and the United Nations. Success with government contracts will allow his 100-strong firm to add a further 15 employees this year.

"Right now, those are very busy sectors, even with the downturn," said Unsworth. "One of the reasons we're hiring people this year while other firms slow is that we take a really long-term perspective on our hires."

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