Global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. said that last week's U.S. Department of Labor report on the nation's job growth could spell trouble for the 1.3 million college students who are scheduled to graduate this spring. According to the report, the number of jobs created in February was 97,000, the smallest total in two years and down from 146,000 new jobs created in January. Compounding the weak job growth statistics were that many of the jobs added were in lowing paying health care and food service fields and that job losses surged to 33 percent, the largest jump in five months.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) projected in September 2006 that this year would see an increase in the hiring of new college graduates by 17.4 percent. Since then, however, more recent surveys of the largest employers in the nation have found more pessimism with two thirds of CEOs projecting either no increase or even a decrease in their hiring. Those predicting more hiring over the next six months fell from 37 to 33 percent. Also not helping were Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's recent remarks that the economy has a 33 percent chance of slipping into recession.

So what should students do? John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, advices students to cancel their spring break vacation plans and instead use the time to find a job. Contact hiring managers and prospective employers, Ask family and friends about job opportunities. Build your list of job leads and network, network, network. And of course, post your resume to entry level job boards such as CollegeRecruiter.com and then apply to the advertised jobs which are of interest to you and for which you're qualified. Set up job match agents (also called alerts) so that the job boards notify you by email when new positions are posted which match your interests. Then go away from the boards and don't come back unless you receive an agent email advising you of a position that looks like a great fit for your competencies, interests, and values.