Job Market Far Different:

Soon-to-be college graduates are likely not anticipating competition from outsourced and temporary employees. Increasingly companies prefer not to offer full-time jobs because they want less costly employment arrangements that also allow them more flexibility (just-in-time).

Another problem for spring grads: the concept of entry-level has changed. Entry-leveeliminated positions that could be held by individuals with little or no experience. Instead, entry-level tasks are being shared by the existing workforce, wiping out the need to hire new employees and cutting off opportunities for new graduates.

Here are more reasons why the record 1.2 million spring college graduates face a mixed employment picture:

-- Nearly one out of three jobs created is now being filled by a temporary employee, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of the 271,000 jobs created in January, 30 percent were through temporary employment firms.

According to a survey by the Conference Board, within five years, 35 percent of multinational companies expect contingent workers to make up at least a tenth of their workforce.

-- A record number of people are now in the workforce, and more women in the workforce represent new competition.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 67 percent of the population aged 16 and older is now either employed or actively looking for work. The job market is a numbers game, with so many in the workforce the competition is much more intense.

The number of women in the workforce has risen dramatically, climbing from 33 percent in 1950 to 59.3 percent in 1996.

A significant number of older women who have reared their families are among those now seeking to return. From 1985 to 1995, the number of women aged 55 to 64 in the workforce rose from 40.1 percent to 47.5 percent. These women, many with significant past work records, often are willing to take lower paying jobs because their income is considered supplemental to a husband's.

"It is possible, that for the first time, a college graduate could be competing for a job with his or her own mother, or even grandmother!" according to John A. Challenger, executive vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.