The career center implemented a strict no-show policy last year, which helped curb the problem. Such cockiness worries Stauffacher. The list of companies that have recruited on campus so far this year is down about 15 percent, she said, although just as many companies have registered for the spring job fair as last year's. Although the Madison campus has rarely served as a big pool of technology talent, it has had trouble drawing even the small number of tech companies it once did. The students have also had trouble finding jobs in banking, traditionally one of the school's hottest fields.
Accountants remain in demand, however.
We're seeing the employers being much more cautious. Parents said they, too, are struggling to teach their children what an economic slowdown, or even a recession, can mean. James T. Madine of Pittsburgh said he often told his son, a sophomore at Duke University, stories from his early days in the workforce. As the 1970s oil crisis peaked, Madine watched many of his friends leave their hometown unwillingly, unable to find work as the last of the city's steel mills closed. Madine, who teaches computer science at a vocational-technical school, said he knows that his son's Duke degree likely will mean he can find work.