By Ivan Pereira
The collapse on Wall Street stemming from the financial troubles of the nation's largest financial giants will hit college business majors hard, but with the right planning, they can ride out the downturn, a St. John's University professor said.
Anthony Sabino, who has been teaching law and business at the university's Tobin School for Business for 13 years, said the problems at Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, AIG and other financial institutions have made it harder for up-and-coming business majors to find a job in the near future.
With fewer companies operating at full strength in the city, more competition will develop for entry level jobs, the professor said.
“We have a lot of finance majors and they head to Wall Street immediately. Before they'd run to Bear Stearns, Lehman and others, but now with [the companies] not hiring, they're going to have to retrench,” he said.
During a job information session at the Fresh Meadows campus Tuesday, St. John's students who majored in business degrees expressed concern that their hard earned degree will not take them far in this bad market.
“The demand is great,” said sophomore Rajiv Sagewan, an actuarial science major. “I'm a little bit uneasy about job prospects at the end of my degree.”
Despite the grim outlook, Sabino said recent graduates can still make the most of the business world.
He advised job hunters to try their hand in the finance industry if it is where they truly want to work but be sure to have back-up industries, such as media or health care, where their skills can still be used.
Sabino said going to graduate business school for a first or second master's degree can be fruitful during this time.
“What you're doing is that you're adding more to your résumé,” he said. “About the time you're getting out, you're a better person because you have a higher value of skills.”
The additional education will not only buy extra time for students, but also give them a better shot at getting higher positions when the economic climate improves, according to the professor.
“For students, the news for today is lousy, but in a couple of years from now, it'll ease up and the major players will be stronger,” he said.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
