From Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, to the now defunct Lehman Brothers, the financial sector has historically been an enticing job market for newly-graduated Amherst students. Twelve-percent of the 241 members of the Class of 2006 surveyed by the Career Center reported entering financial services or banking following their departure from the College. But Wall Street is changing. With Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy, the government bailout of AIG, and ongoing debate in Washington about what to do next, the financial industry is becoming an increasingly risky and uncertain field.

Despite widespread public concern over the state of the economy and the financial sector, there has not been a flood of inquiries by students regarding the job market, according to Interim Co-Director of the Career Center Carolyn Bassett. “In the summer, the market was already looking daunting. It’s clearly dramatic, but it’s not a complete shock,” she said. Of all the campus visits that had been scheduled over the summer for the upcoming year, only Morgan Stanley has cancelled its information session. Instead, alumni employees of the firm plan to come to campus to answer students’ questions. According to Bassett, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch never had plans to visit this year.

The Career Center responded to recent events by hosting a workshop entitled, “The Search Beyond Wall Street” on Sept. 19.

The workshop “was unique because a lot of students have Wall Street on their mind,” said Basset who led the session. “I don’t think it ended up being that much different from other workshops, but we did talk about if you want to be in finance, how you can connect with people outside New York and the northeast.”

One of the purposes of the Career Center is to teach students how to be discerning about job offers. The Career Center has not been advising students against entering the financial sector, noted Basset. She did, however, acknowledge this year’s special circumstances, “This year, if someone gets an early offer, I might suggest they give that real consideration because this may be a year where they won’t get as many offers,” she said.

Searching for employment may be daunting, which is why in years past many seniors have felt the urge to reach for the first offer they receive. Firms such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch are unique because they are able to hire employees nine months before their first day of work. “I think there is a sense that so many people go into finance because there are such big names, and they come with such a splash in the fall,” whereas most companies contact the Career Center in February and March, Bassett explained. “I think it’s easy to give too much weight to that kind of very flashy evident presence when most people will not go that route.”

But education, and not financial services and banking, was the top job field for the class of 2006, with 24-percent reporting working in that field. The science/research/pharmaceutical industry was also more popular among 2006 graduates, with 13-percent reporting entering that field.

It has yet to be seen exactly how the state of the economy will affect job offers and employment rates of recent College graduates, but this is not the first time the market has been turbulent. “Historically, when the market’s down, we generally see an increase in law or medical school applications nationwide,” Bassett explained. “Now is the season people are applying to law school so that’s one of the things we’ll watch. This past summer saw an increase in medical school applications, but by less than one percentage point.”

In light of the economy, the Career Center is not giving students extra encouragement to enter the not-for-profit sector, nor are they discouraging students from pursuing jobs in finance. “What we try to do is help students figure out what are their choices, what do they aspire to do and how they access those choices,” Bassett said.