NORMA JEAN GARGASZ/Tucson Citizen

Kelly Frost has parlayed an associate's degree in nursing from Pima Community College into a job as a registered nurse at Tucson Medical Center in the cardiac intensive care unit.

Kelly Frost knew she would be able to write her own ticket once she graduated from nursing school.

It's one reason she chose the field.

"It makes a big difference," she said. "You can be promised all this (financial aid) money, but if you don't know you are going to get work when you graduate, it doesn't really help you."

Frost, 27, didn't even need a four-year degree to get hired as a registered nurse at Tucson Medical Center's cardiac intensive care unit.

She graduated in December from Pima Community College with a two-year associate's degree in nursing and was hired after passing nursing board exams in February. She will begin work this month after completing training.

Employers, for the first time since 2000, are actively seeking college graduates to fill entry-level positions, said Bill Ruggirello, assistant director of the University of Arizona's career services.

Companies are going after many of the 5,041 UA students and more than 3,100 PCC students graduating this month.

The state predicts 7,000 jobs will be created in Pima County this year, led by health care, government and trades, transportation and utilities.

Graduates aren't necessarily staying in Tucson or even Arizona.

"The firms that have been recruiting on campus are not local firms," Ruggirello said, noting corporations from Seattle to Minneapolis.

A buyer's market favoring employers persists in the still-tepid economic climate.

"They really, really want people to be on their toes and can afford to be more selective and more choosy," Ruggirello said. "Grades are often important ... (but) many times having that experience in the work place is just as or more important."

Cruz Contreras, 26, has spent two years working with computers, doing data entry and troubleshooting at the U of A Bookstores and working for the Santa Cruz County Juvenile Probation Department. She will graduate from UA this month with a degree in management information services.

She hopes to remain in Tucson to be close to her Nogales roots, but applicants with more experience keep beating her out for jobs.

"It's almost like experience is more important than a major," she said.

But the health-care industry is growing so fast, available jobs are for more than such things as applying compresses and staring into a microscope, said Frank Alvarez, TMC's chief executive.

Graduates with information technology skills also have opportunities at TMC.
"As much as we work around technology, we have not yet converted our hospitals into using more technology," Alvarez said.

Contreras' frustrations are not uncommon in the slowly improving job market, which is just beginning to boost prospects for new graduates, said Jack York, economist with the state Department of Economic Security.

Though new jobs are being created, productivity of the existing work force means the market still belongs to employers.

"Firms are able to produce more goods and more services with the work force they have now," York said. "But the thinking is, that's only going to get us so far because they've squeezed their workers as much as they can."

The so-called jobless recovery hasn't been that jobless in Arizona, where the market began improving in 2002, he said.

Still, many of Tucson's smaller businesses aren't ready to start hiring.

"Business is good, but I'm not going to hire new staff if I can help it," said Michael Bolchalk, president and chief executive of Bolchalk Marketing, an advertising, marketing and public relations firm.

It's not just salaries that are daunting. Taxes and health benefits can add 20 percent to the cost of adding an employee, Bolchalk said.

"We would rather pay people overtime to do a job than to hire more people," he said.

Nursing will be in high demand for the foreseeable future.

An aging population and poor performance by Arizona students in math and science combine to create a shortage of nurses and other health workers, an opportunity for those who earn degrees in the field, Alvarez said.

"In very unkind words, the K-12 system is not preparing students with math and science in sufficient numbers to be able to solve our problem in the short or long term," he said.

So TMC has begun taking caregivers, whose patience and empathy are rare enough traits, and training them to be nurses.

The public sector also will begin hiring as the improving economy leads to more tax revenues and increased government services.

Population growth in southern Arizona will always create demand for more qualified workers, Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said.

"We need well-qualified people and well-educated professionals," he said. "We have lots and lots of problems to solve in local government and need people to do it."

Jessica Peck, 22, will have a public-sector job when she graduates.

A week after UA confers her with a business management degree, she will begin work at the UA-sponsored projects services office, writing grants and overseeing grant spending.

Peck found that her internship last year at the campus human resources department was invaluable.

"My professional experience really helped me get the job," she said.

It's never too early to start getting that experience, Ruggirello said.

"In your sophomore year, start getting professional experience," he said. "Employees are looking for career-related experience."

WHERE THE JOBS ARE:

Total projected job growth in Tucson metropolitan area for 2004 7,000 (2% growth)

• Health services and education 2,200 (4.8%)
• Financial activities 500 (3.3%)
• Professional services 900 (2.3%)
• Government 1,600 (2%)
• Trade, transportation and utilities 1,100 (2%)
• Leisure and hospitality 300 (0.9%)

Source: State of Arizona 

TIPS FOR GETTING HIRED:

• Don’t give up. Keep searching even if the first few opportunities fall through.
• Take a less desirable job with a good company and work your way up.
• Interview the interviewers as much as they interview you, because recruiters value assertiveness.
• Get experience through internships or volunteer work before applying for a job.
• Get involved in the community. Good citizenship is a trait gaining importance in the business world.

Source: UA Career Services.