By Kristina Goetz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

They may not have landed their dream jobs yet, but all have full-time positions some six months after graduation.

Earlier this year, the Enquirer introduced readers to five Tristate college graduates who stepped off their college campuses in May and into a shaky job market.

Recent graduates still face a tough job market, especially in engineering and computer science fields. But while overall hiring will be down by 1 percent throughout 2003 compared to 2002, the job market is showing some signs of improvement, according to a recent national survey by the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University.Last year's graduates who are looking for a better opportunity will have an advantage over this year's May graduates when the market opens up in the spring or summer.

"They will fare better," said Philip Gardner, the institute's director. "They've got a little experience and they may be in a better position to see opportunities before the more recent graduates. But the opportunities will be with the small and medium employers again because the really large companies are still cutting labor."

Here is an update on how the graduates are faring:

Michaela Siewert, 22, Xavier University. Hometown: Milwaukee, Wis. Major: Organizational communications.

Michaela was put to work Aug. 29 by AmeriCorps, a national service program that places more than 50,000 people a year into social service-related jobs,

The primary local organization she works for is the Genesis Men's program, which helps people gain employment. She also works in conjunction with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati, a youth-service organization, and Beech Acres, a mental health facility that offers family services.

Her primary responsibility is to match mentors and mentees. Her stipend is $13,500 for the program, which runs through June 13. Michaela hopes the program job will turn into a full-time salaried position with the main social service group, Genesis Men's.

"It's a lot more work on my plate than I initially anticipated, but the work is worthwhile," she said.

Michaela, a former high school baskeball player, also is getting a taste of coaching. A chance meeting with her boss, whose cousin is the head women's basketball coach at Taft High School, helped her land a position as assistant coach of the freshman girl's team. She will coach some of the same teens she helps to place in the mentoring program.

Michaela said she has always wanted to coach.

"We want them on the team, but the main goal is graduation," she said, adding that study time through the social service agency will help the girls meet that expectation.

"Whatever I have to do to see this succeed, I'll do it."

Brett Bombick, 23, Miami University. Hometown: Springboro. Major: Mass communications.

Mr. Bombick accepted a job shortly after graduation at Cole, Layer, Trumble Co. in Crown Point, Ind., about 15 minutes south of Gary, instead of looking for something in broadcast journalism, which he intended to pursue after college.

His first job was to measure houses for the company that does mass appraisals, but now he has moved on to measuring farms.

"It's still the same job, in the same area, but now it's hog farms and dairy farms and regular corn farms," he said. "When I went to college, I thought I was going to be the next great businessman, but after calculus I spent the next few years working on TV broadcast."

Though he didn't look for a job related to his major after graduation, he makes good money and is able to travel. After the standard 90-day review, he received a raise when his salary went from about $28,600 to $31,200. The company still pays his rent and for trips back home to Ohio a few times a month.

"I'm looking forward to actually buying people presents for Christmas instead of making up coupons for my parents for a free car wash," he said. "You have to be creative when you're broke."

Amanda Clayton, 22, University of Cincinnati. Hometown: Philadelphia. Major: Music education.

Since Sept. 5, her first day on the job as an elementary general music and strings teacher at Watertown (Mass.) Public School District, near Boston, Ms. Clayton's life has been all about trial and error.

In her $32,000 a year position, she has worked to organize classrooms at three different schools, to learn the names of all her students and develop detailed lesson plans.

"If something doesn't go well, I'll write it down for next year that it doesn't work," she said.

Since her mother is a music teacher, too, she has someone to help her plan lessons and determine what is grade appropriate. She also is getting a lot of help from mom to plan her July 19 wedding. "Teaching is work but it comes pretty naturally to me," she said.

However, organizing equipment and making sure students have their instruments is much more involved than she expected.

"I have this giant bag filled with papers and every night I have to come home and sort through it," she said. "Some of the newness has worn off. I am ready for a break. I'm exhausted, but it's a good kind of tired.''

Demetrius Perkins, 24, Northern Kentucky University. Hometown: Lexington, Ky. Major: Finance.

Mr. Perkins started working July 1 as a retirement planning specialist for Fifth Third Bank, downtown, where he collects a starting salary of $27,000 plus benefits.

"I'm loving it so far," Mr. Perkins said.

While his caseload has increased, Mr. Perkins has learned that only some of his college experience prepared him for this job.

"There are a lot of things I took classes for that aren't helping me at all, but some are," he said, such as principles of risk management and insurance, and personal finance management.

His field of concentration in college was corporate finance, but he now manages 401(k)s and pension plans.

"I'm learning a different aspect (of finance) than what I learned in school,'' Mr. Perkins said. "It's more of a personal aspect rather than the overall company."

On the personal front, Mr. Perkins got engaged in September to Wende Abernathy, his girlfriend of five years. They are planning a ceremony for June 20, 2003.

"The only thing they told me to do was bring my men and show up," he said laughing. "But I plan to do more than that."

Jeff Hershner, 27, College of Mount St. Joseph. Hometown: Miami Heights. Major: Computer information systems.

The last of the graduates to land a full-time job, Mr. Hershner signed on with Besse Medical Supply in West Chester on Oct. 10.

Mr. Hershner had been a co-op employee in the company's information technology department for the past year, setting up computers, upgrading and downloading software and working on the help desk. He works 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and is pleased with his salary. Though he has an agreement with his boss that he won't disclose the amount, he said it's enough to cover the student loans he must pay off.

"That was one of my concerns," he said. "I asked myself, `How much am I going to be able to accept?' But the benefits are awesome. Dental, vision, the whole nine yards."

Jeff said he plans to stay with the company as long as he sees potential for growth.

"The better I get at what I do, the more I'd like to move up," he said. "I want to grow as the company grows. It's such a great company to work for. I have a family away from home."

E-mail kgoetz@enquirer.com