News of the economy goes from bad to worse. Wall Street has been dismantled and the job numbers are dismal. Time for Colby seniors to panic?

Not at all, says Career Center Director Roger Woolsey. But it is time for students considering careers in financial services to take a hard look at their futures. “Stay focused on what your goals and objectives are, and really take more of an aggressive approach,” Woolsey advises.

Contrary to what some might think, the job market for students looking at finance isn’t bad, he said. “Regardless of the recession, the early indication is that this is still going to be a decent year for grads.”

He reported that investment banks that recruit at Colby are honoring job offers already extended to seniors. And students who had been thinking of going into investment banking are considering consulting, sales, and other financial-sector fields.

Woolsey, who speaks regularly with alumni and Colby parents in the financial services industry, said the word from those in the business is for students to look beyond the obvious.

“Look at more of the medium-sized banks in the Midwest and the West Coast instead of always going after the big-brand firms,” Woolsey said.

As they consider career options beyond the East Coast corridor, students will need to be flexible⎯“in geographic location, in job-function within finance,” Woolsey said. “Don’t be as concerned with pigeonholing yourself in the industry.”

A recent alumnus who was laid off from a financial-services company recently called Woolsey for help finding another job in Boston. “I said, ‘We’d have a greater opportunity for finding you work if we could open that up to New York, Philadelphia, D.C., because we could use a bigger database of people,’” Woolsey recounted. “Sure enough, he agreed to that.”

Colby students are versatile and balanced and have a lot to offer potential employees. But, in an economic downturn they also need to know when to be conservative.

“I had a few discussions with students with their parents in this office,” Woolsey said. “In a good year, a student received two or three offers. We would try to advise the student in negotiating and try to come up with a better offer, leveraging one against the other. But there was a parent specifically this year who advised his son not to do that. It was the best advice. Feel lucky you have one offer on the table. Don’t play games, and accept it.”

To read a Spring 2008 insideColby Q&A with Woolsey, click here.