By: Jaclyn Johnson

Whatever experts might forecast about the 2010 job market, there’s no guarantee they’ll be right: Last year, hiring was expected to increase by 6 percent, but it actually decreased by 21 percent, according to a report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Perhaps that’s why economists and career development officials are hesitant to offer radical predictions now.

“Everybody is really unsure,” said Becky Vianden, associate director of program development for the Career Development Center. “This time last year, the market turned on a dime and, boom, things went bad.”

2010 graduates might have a slightly easier time finding a job than 2009 graduates,  said CDC Director Barbara Batson, but economics professor Javier Reyes said he expects the job market to be as difficult as ever.“There are a lot of people out there with no jobs, but with experience. It will be harder for graduates because they’re competing with people graduating and people with real experience,” Reyes said. “Companies might be stopping their hiring freezes, but it will still be challenging to find a job.”

Arkansas has an unemployment rate of about 8 percent right now, and it’s not expected to drop in 2010, he said.

Recruiting

Most recruiting will happen in the fall this year, according to the NACE report, but employers plan to attend fewer career fairs and shift their focus to social networking instead.

At the UA, though, a healthy 60 companies turned out for the engineering career fair and 34 companies for the all majors fair, Vianden said.

“This was much more than we had projected,” she said.

As this solid turnout suggests, NWA didn’t really experience the economic downturn as severely as the rest of the country, Vianden said.

Even in NWA, though, companies might not have quite as much to offer new recruits as they once did.

“Students will have to understand that salary and wages might not be what they once were,” said Rashad Delph, Tyson Foods, Inc., manager of corporate recruiting.

Given that, students might want to consider graduate school instead, Reyes said.

If students know what city they want to work in, they should look at graduate programs in that city, he said.

By the time they graduate and are looking for a job again, the market will have had time to recover, he said.

The intrepid who insist on looking for a job now will have to prove how they can contribute to a company, Delph said.

“When hiring, we look at our shortfalls (as a company) and where we need improvement,” he said. “(Applicants) have to establish (themselves) within a good foundation and prove (their) worth to that foundation.”

Sectors

Earning a job is easier or harder, though, depending on what sector it falls under.

NWA is a good market for service, medical, education, technical and finance positions, Batson said.

And, of course, Wal-Mart makes a significant difference in the local economy, as well.

“We’re in a unique situation with respect to Wal-Mart,” Reyes said. “The NWA (economy) follows the sales side of companies like Wal-Mart. Our market, then, is very much dependent on the consumer. How they do will affect how NWA will do.”

Nationwide, education and medicine are strong fields, Batson said.

Students need to be willing to relocate, she said, because that flexibility increases their chances of finding a good job.

Students with work experiences, such as internships, will also have an easier time with the job search, Batson said.

Some other top jobs across the country include public accounting, software design, engineering, nursing, teaching, sales and research, according to Job Choices: Diversity Edition 2010.

Green Companies

And, of course, any picture of the 2010 job market would be incomplete without a few words devoted to the green sector.

Newsweek has recently released the first major list of the “greenest” companies in America.

Hewlett-Packard was awarded the No. 1 slot as the greenest company in America. Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Intel and IBM followed to fill the top five rankings.

The Bentonville-based Wal-Mart has spot 59 in the overall rankings and sixth within the Industry sector, according to Newsweek.

Creating zero waste, operating entirely on renewable energy and selling products that help conserve resources are the company’s top three objectives.

Another local company, J.B. Hunt Transport Services is listed as 429 of the top 500 ranked companies. Tyson Foods Inc. follows closely at 479, according to the Newsweek list.

The rankings were created with the help of environmental researchers, who based the rankings on a combination of environmental policies, performance and overall reputation.

The “greening” of U.S. companies might help them compete financially in the future – and alleviate long-term costs to the public – because the controversial cap-and-trade system proposed by President Barack Obama would make companies pay for their carbon footprint, rather than pass the environmental cost onto the public, according to the latest Newsweek.