The number of students fully using the resources offered by Career Services has dropped this year as a result of several factors, such as more immediate job openings in the summer months and companies developing their own websites rather than students working through Career Services.

The difference may also result from students simply deciding which job to choose out of fewer options.

Nevertheless, employment numbers at graduation this year are predicted to be relatively similar to the past years, according to Career Services.

Currently, nursing, accounting and engineering majors all enjoy a healthy job market.

Chemical engineers are finding the search more difficult than in the recent years and computer science and management information systems majors are finding it increasingly difficult to find multiple job options now that the initial boom of their field has begun to slow down.

Career Services aids students in their job search in three basic ways: the campus interview program, general job listings on the Career Services website and the resume referral process.

The first two services require the student to be actively involved, as students must seek out interviews, search job listings and apply themselves.

However, students are passively involved with the resume referrals. Career Services receives a listing from an employer and sends the employer resumes of students that fit the job criteria.

Most students do not know the frequency with which their resumes are sent to potential employers; they are first aware of it when they are actually contacted by the company.

Nancy Dudak, director of Career Services, has seen more employers talking to students about immediate openings rather than positions available after graduation.

“It’s all going to happen very quickly – within one week,” she said.

Dudak said an immediate job opening “can be a good thing for students looking to find a new location after graduation.”

Even in the high-employment years, only about half of the graduating class has a job at the time of graduation. The majority of the remaining job seekers usually find positions over the course of the summer.

Dudak understands the “frustration” behind the pre-graduation job search and stresses the importance of knowing what to look for.

“I would be more concerned if they felt like they didn’t know what to do, rather than not getting a job,” she said. “They need to be doing the initial research and making contacts.”

Graduating senior Rico Lunardi, who landed an information technologies position in Philadelphia, is not worried about founding a job after graduation. He said finding the job in a tight job market was a matter of using the available resources.

“With a little effort and that Villanova degree in hand, you will find what you are looking for after graduation,” Lunardi said.

His advice?

“Talk to professors and counselors, and try to be involved so you meet people and alumni that are always willing to help Villanova students.”