Economic crisis take toll on fresh graduates

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)