We have to imagine that everyone is confused about the recovery. In the June 2nd Wall Street Journal there is an article entitled "Jobs Market Picks Up for Graduates" and then in the June 3rd edition the headline reads "Unemployment Rises as Hiring Slows". The issue for employers is that on campus recruiting has a very long lead time. Hiring for full time 2012 begins in the Fall of 2011. And so, employers must project out their needs almost a year in advance.
We recently completed an assignment for a client where we posted job descriptions at the end of April, about six months later than the usual timeframe for entry level hiring, and received almost 500 resumes from candidates at the top of their classes. And so, from where we sit, the market has improved because the demand for our services has risen significantly, but the candidate pool of unemployed recent graduates remains large.
We recommend that our clients start to build their bench for 2012 or even 2011 now. No one wants to find themselves in the hiring frenzy that employers experienced not that long ago.