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Girl Graduates Coeds' Opportunities 4 Widen, But Many Jobs! Remain Closed to Them

Raytheon, Litton to Step Up Recruiting, G E Concerned That Women Often Leave Crowding in 'Glamour' Fields

A WALL STREET JOURNAL News Roundup

Young women winding up their college studies this spring will find more jobs to Choose from than last year's graduates did. But. lingering sex barriers and fierce competition in some popular fields will force many of the graduating coeds to settle for less attractive positions than they had hoped for. This is the picture shown, by a Wall Street Journal survey of 30 college placement officials and 50 corporation personnel executives. The survey indicates that the current business upturn will mean some new jobs for women in industry, particularly for girls trained in mathematics and the sciences, but that women won't benefit nearly a s much from t h e ' quickened pace of industrial activity a s will m e n graduates. Women a r e winning growing acceptance in jobs above the clerical level in the world of finance, including insurance and banking. And demand ,-from t h e teaching field, which takes more than half of the women graduates seeking jobs, continues strong, a s does demand from such, traditional fields for women a s retailing, nursing and secretarial and library work. On the other hand, most business firms remain reluctant to open management training programs to. women, partly because of sheer prejudice but also because of wellgrounded fears that the girls won't stay around" long enough to justify investing a lot of money in training them. General Electric Co. notes' the average college, woman stays with thecompany only three years. "She regards h e r job as a n interesting interim, between school 1 and raising a family," comments a spokesm a n . "If we knew a m a n w a s going to be 1 with us only three years, we wouldn't hire'him." The "Glamour" Fields There's considerable evidence that t h e liberal arts graduate who boasts no particular specialty faces rough going, especially if she sets h e r sights on a job in one of t h e " g l a m o u r " fields—such a s publishing, advertising, television or foundation work. "Outside of teaching, there's no m a r k e t foE English, history and psychology majors," says; Andre Beaumont, New York University's as--' sistant director of placement in charge of theC business .and industrial fields. .A,,,girl.jyho sejg^ out to dazzle Madison Avenue a s an a d v ^ g tising copy writer frequently ends up by co'A? sidering herself lucky if she's offered a jqbj as a secretary to an account executive—aricC she won't have a chance a t • even that jolt unless she's proficient in typing and shorthand,' which often isn't the case with liberal a r t s graduates. ' .,

According to Government estimates, some 145,000 girls will receive bachelor's degrees this spring, up from 134,000 a year earlier and 116,000 five years earlier. Of these, if Labor Department studies of past graduating classes are indicative, around 80% will seek full-time work.'- Well o v e r , a third of the women* graduates will probably be • married within six! months after graduation, but a majority of this group will nevertheless continue to work. ] Girl graduates tend to be much more casual'. than m e n about lining up jobs, college place- j ment officers say. The girls generally a r e less conscientious about signing up for interviews with corporate recruiters who visit the campus.' —perhaps partly because they assume many recruiters a r e n ' t interested in them. Many girls like to travel during the s u m m e r follow-' ing graduation and a s a result don't get around to serious job hunting till several months after leaving the campus. Assessing t h e J o b Market ; Since .girls often do take their time about j finding a job and? frequently bypass the usual' placement and recruiting procedures, defini-" ti-ve 'answers to questions about how this year',s graduates will fare aren't, possible now. But many personnel and placement people have gathered enough information to make preliminary assessments of the job m a r k e t women graduates will enter. "There will be more jobs on the market'; more competition for graduates and more employers considering women for jobs who wouldn't have done so otherwise," says Mr. Beaumont of NYU. William C. Gutman, J r . , director of placement a t Temple University in Philadelphia, c o m m e n t s : " I wouldn't say there's going to be a tremendous jump in the number of women being sought this year a s opposed to last, but the trend has been upward for several years and is just as strong in this direction this year a s last." If data gathered by Northwestern University is any indication, the increase in job opportunities for college women this year will definitely be rriodest. Dr. F r a n k Eridicott; . placement director, reports that of 215 companies surveyed, only 42, the same number a s last year, plan to recruit women at the university. These 42 companies say they Will need about 870 women, up from 843 in 1961. In contrast to this 3 % increase for women, the companies plan to boost their total hiring of college graduates by almost 23% this year. Women in t h e Laboratory It m a y be, .however, that Northwestern's figures do not fully reflect one of t h e most clear-cut job trends—the mounting demand for female scientists, technicians and mathematicians. Many companies a r e after all the women they can sigh up in these categories, but the supply is frequently so limited that recruiting efforts accomplish little. At NYU, for example, less than 10% of next June's women graduates will receive degrees in the physical sciences and mathematics." f "The biggest demand for women is in eni gineering, mathematics and the physical I sciences," says Donald L a Boskey, of the J placement center a t the ' University of Calilfornia at Los Angeles. " T h e r e used to b e I prejudice against hiring women in these fields, ; but i t ' s being overcome now." Adds.Mildred