LEWISTON – Bates College graduate Erin Russ feels fortunate.

The 21-year-old Buffalo, N.Y., native graduated Monday with a degree in sociology. She soon will move into a three-bedroom apartment in a small Greek neighborhood in New York City.

But most importantly, she has a job. “I feel very lucky that I do have a job and it’s a well-paying job and something I’m interested in,” Russ said. “I didn’t have to settle.”

Throughout Maine, thousands of new graduates like Russ are leaving the safety of college to start their careers. A few years ago, these new grads would have been wooed by technology companies, dot-coms and financial businesses. Some would have earned thousands of dollars in signing bonuses. Most would have received job offers months before graduation and with little actual searching.

This year, all that has changed. As the economy continues to falter, area career counselors say work won’t be easy to find.

“I think that there are jobs out there but people are going to have to work to find them,” said Dennis Maxwell, a career counselor at Central Maine Technical College.

‘Long haul’

In her job search, Russ sent out 50 resumes for fellowships and entry-level jobs. At one point, she found herself fighting 300 other applicants for a single administrative assistant position.

“I won’t lie. It was definitely a long haul to get a job,” she said.

According to a spring study done by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, a nonprofit group based in Pennsylvania, hiring is expected to remain flat nationally this year after falling 36 percent in 2002.

In the Northeast, hiring is expected to be up by 3 percent.

“It’s nothing phenomenal, but out of the four regions, that’s the best-looking one,” said Camille Luckenbaugh, employment information manager for the association.

She believes that this year’s job outlook will be much like last year’s. More students will opt for graduate school as a way to sidestep a tight job market. Grads who do want jobs will likely find them, but they’ll have to hunt for them.

“It’s not easy out there,” Luckenbaugh said.

Who’s hiring

At the University of Maine at Farmington, Career Services Director Bob Pederson has seen many job openings for foreign language, math and science teachers.

At the school’s April education job fair, Pederson said, “We had a number of people get job offers right there at the table.”

For UMF graduates who didn’t get teaching degrees, Pederson believes they’ll need experience, unique skills or an internship to get jobs in their fields.

“I think students need to have more than a degree in their hands to break into this job market,” he said.

Pederson estimated that so far 10 percent to 25 percent more UMF seniors looked into attending graduate school this year rather than hunting for a full-time job.

For new grads from Central Maine Technical College, the job outlook depends on what kind of job they’re looking for.

Medical jobs are easy to find, Maxwell, CMTC’s career counselor, said. Automotive and construction jobs are growing more common, but all other fields are struggling, Maxwell said. Although he has tried to forge relationships with area businesses so his grads learn about their job openings first, he sees many companies still laying off workers or placing a freeze on new hires.

“I think they’re still hanging back and saying, ‘Are we going to come out of this or is it going to get worse?'” Maxwell said.

Persistence pays

At Bates College, companies involved in health and sciences still recruit. Technology companies do not.

Career Services Director Charles Kovacs tells his graduates to go after the jobs they want by networking and searching out companies they’d like to work for. He urges them to be persistent and creative.

“In other words, it isn’t going to fall in your lap. You have to be proactive,” Kovacs said.

To help, the career services office has started its own job hunt, searching for small and mid-size businesses interested in hiring recent graduates. That search helped bring 1,076 new job opportunities to campus this year.

The office also started e-mailing job announcements to all seniors. Bates has joined other liberal arts colleges in forming a Web site where employers and job hunters can find each other.

The e-mails, the Bates College job fairs and the career services resume assistance helped Erin Russ.

So did her persistence.

After nearly five months of searching, Russ landed a $35,000-a-year job as a researcher in one of New York’s largest law firms. It’s her dream job in a great location, with a salary she can live with.

Said Russ, “It’s all about sticking through to the end.”

[email protected]