NEW YORK, Oct. 9, 2003 - The majority of hiring managers (81%) in the New York metropolitan area say their on-campus recruiting efforts for undergraduate students will remain at the same level as last year, according to a just-released survey conducted for The New York Times Job Market. Few employers say they will increase (10%) or decrease (10%) their on-campus recruitment efforts of undergraduate students this academic year over last year. Of those undergraduate students who secured jobs last year through on-campus interviews, the vast majority (95%) remain employed with the same organizations.

Among employers who recruit at graduate schools, 84% say their recruitment efforts are the same, increasing (8%) or decreasing (8%) compared to last year and that virtually all (99%) of the graduate students recruited through on-campus interviews last year remain employed with their same organizations.

Beta Research Corporation, on behalf of The New York Times Job Market, conducted telephone interviews with 250 hiring managers and 200 job seekers in the New York metropolitan area. Job seekers are defined as those who are currently looking or plan to look for a new job in the next six months.

Hiring Criteria
According to the survey, hiring managers say that students can improve their likelihood for success with on-campus recruitment opportunities by participating in internships (40%), taking certification courses (14%), developing good business skills (13%) or getting involved in extra-curricular activities (9%).

Further, hiring managers say they consider several criteria when deciding which undergraduate and graduate students to interview on-campus for jobs with their organizations:

Hiring managers say they are likely to recruit undergraduate students with academic degrees in business (49%), technology (23%), liberal arts (21%), communications (13%), public administration (10%), public health (9%) and education or engineering (8%). And job seekers appear to agree that recruiters are most likely hire students with degrees in business (34%), technology (33%), public health (11%) or liberal arts (7%).

Hiring managers say they are likely to recruit on-campus for graduate students with a degree in Master's of Business Administration (46%) or Master's degree in the Arts or Sciences (39%).

Skills and Attributes
Compared to last year hiring managers say the following skills and character attributes are very important in their decision to hire undergraduate or graduate school students:

Pursuing Higher Education
Compared to 2002 job seekers say they consider the following factors as motivation to pursue a graduate degree:

Job seekers planning to pursue higher education to make more money believe they will earn an average of $22,731 above their current salary level by doing so. The annual salaries of job seekers interviewed for the survey were less than $50,000 (76%), between $50,000-$99,000 (21%) or more than $100,000 (3%).

Job Preparation
Hiring managers and job seekers expressed their views on how prepared college and graduate students are for today's workforce, noting:

Further, more than one quarter (27%) of hiring managers say that college and graduate school students have unrealistic expectations of appropriate starting salaries.

About Job Market
Job Market, the print and online recruitment services offering of The New York Times, provides employers and job seekers with comprehensive resources to streamline the recruitment process. Job Market appears in The New York Times every Sunday and is updated throughout the week at NYTimes.com, where job seekers can find job listings, career-related Times articles, exhaustive company research, a résumé database and valuable career resources.

Through the newspaper's national audience, which includes 5.0 million weekday readers and 5.5 million Sunday readers as well as the 1.2 million readers who visit NYTimes.com every day, The New York Times Job Market reaches a marketplace of high-quality professionals actively seeking new job opportunities or considering career moves.

Each week, The New York Times Job Market issues research on industry trends and workplace practices affecting employers and job seekers in the metropolitan New York region. On a monthly basis, The New York Times Job Market releases its Job Market Confidence Index. The Index tracks current conditions for recruitment in the New York metro area as well as future outlook for the coming six months. Copies of Job Market research reports are available upon request or at NYTimes.com/jobmarket. New York-based Beta Research Corporation, via random telephone interviews, independently conducts The New York Times Job Market research.

NOTE: Job Market research is not affiliated with the editorial operations of The New York Times newspaper and does not reflect the views of the newspaper or its journalists. Source all references to Job Market research as: The New York Times Job Market.

About The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2002 revenues of $3.1 billion, includes The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 16 other newspapers, eight network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and more than 40 Web sites, including nytimes.com and boston.com. For the third consecutive year, the Company was ranked No. 1 in the publishing industry in Fortune's 2002 list of America's Most Admired Companies. In 2003 the Company was named by Fortune as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

CONTACTS:
Diane McNulty, 212-556-5244; E-mail: mcnuldc@nytimes.com
Al Leach, 212-556-4483; E-mail: promo8@nytimes.com