Economic crisis take toll on fresh graduates

JAKARTA (JP): The 10 month-old economic crisis is taking its toll on new graduates from the prestigious Catholic Atmajaya University, a college official said on Saturday.

Antonius Yongky, who oversees the student career development program at the university, said that many company officials who regularly recruited Atmajaya graduates stopped visiting the institute last year.

"There has been a sharp drop in the number of companies offering positions to Atmajaya graduates. They have had to stop recruiting new employees because of the financial crisis," he told The Jakarta Post.

The companies most severely affected by the crisis have even fired some of their existing employees, he said.

"Between January and May there were only two companies which offered positions to our students. These companies have yet to decide how many students they will recruit," Antonius said.

In comparison, during the same period last year, 12 companies conducted recruitment exercises on the university's campus, he added.

Two hundred companies offered jobs to final year students at the university in 1997. In 1996, 100 companies visited the campus with a view to recruiting new members of staff, according to Antonius.

Antonius said the on-campus job recruitment program was designed specifically for fourth-year students. The program began several years ago and became a regular feature in 1996.

"Our students have found the program very useful because they have been able to secure employment before they finish their studies here," he said.

Around 50 percent of the companies which used to visit the campus operated in the banking sector and a further 40 percent were technical companies, he added.

Antonius said 70 percent of all companies looking for Atmajaya graduates were either managed by Atmajaya alumni or had former students from the university on their books.

"I have to admit that the 'alumni factor' played quite a big role. But it also means that our alumni performed well enough for their employers to return here in search of more of our graduates," he said.

A total of 494 Atmajaya students (481 undergraduate and 13 postgraduate students) graduated Saturday. (cst)