Grads promised Andersen jobs left scrambling

NEW YORK - College graduates promised jobs at Arthur Andersen LLP are scrambling to find other employment. <br> <br> In the past few weeks, the Chicago-based accounting concern has rescinded hundreds of job offers made to students finishing college this spring and more pulled offers are likely as the firm struggles to survive in the wake of the Enron Corp. accounting debacle. <br> <br> A number of this year&#39;s roughly 2,225 Andersen student recruits have sent their resumes to the Chicago firm&#39;s Big Five rivals, but, in many cases, without much success. In a sign of tough sledding ahead, Ernst & Young&#39;s Houston office told jobseekers it didn&#39;t anticipate making any full-time campus hires all the way through 2003. A spokesman for Ernst & Young did not return a call seeking comment. <br> <br> ``Right now it&#39;s a game of patience,&#39;&#39; says Leo Cailleteau, a 22-year-old accounting student at Louisiana State University who accepted a position at Andersen&#39;s Houston office, longtime auditor of Enron&#39;s books. <br> <br> That offer, made last August and slated to start this September, hasn&#39;t been rescinded yet, but Cailleteau says he hasn&#39;t been waiting around. <br> <br> About two months ago, after hearing that drug powerhouse Merck & Co. Inc. ditched Andersen as its auditor, he started sending out his resume to other top accounting firms. <br> <br> But so far, despite graduating magna cum laude as an undergraduate, maintaining a 4.0 grade-point average throughout grad school, and qualifying for the dean&#39;s list every semester, Cailleteau hasn&#39;t managed to get a single interview. ``To me, it&#39;s absolutely amazing that one of LSU&#39;s best students can hardly get a phone call returned,&#39;&#39; says Cailleteau, who will complete his Master&#39;s of Accounting this spring. ``I&#39;ve accomplished everything that I thought would land me a great job after college.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> In recent years a good personality and strong grades all but guaranteed an accounting graduate a position at a Big Five firm. Unlike many other professions, accounting jobs have been largely unscathed by the recession because of the sharp decline in the number of students over the past several years following an increase in education requirements. <br> <br> But the job market has seen a marked change with the collapse of Enron. Andersen, under fire for its botched audit of the now bankrupt energy giant, faces extinction as client defections mount. Adding to Andersen&#39;s woes, government prosecutors rejected a proposal from Andersen for a settlement of its obstruction-of-justice charge related to the firm&#39;s destruction of thousand of Enron-related documents. <br> <br> The accounting firm&#39;s woes have flooded the job market with thousands of potential hires. Earlier this month, Andersen announced layoffs of 7,000 employees, or 27 percent of its U.S. work force of 26,000, with audit staff among the hardest hit. As hopes for the firm grow dim, scores more employees in accounting and consulting still at the firm have been exploring opportunities at competing companies. <br> <br> Although Andersen&#39;s competitors are picking up plenty of new business as the beleaguered firm&#39;s clients bolt, their employment needs are more likely to be met by Andersen workers rather than student hires. ``They want people who can come right in and add value to the audit,&#39;&#39; says Cailleteau. ``At any other time they would have jobs for us.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> That&#39;s a marked change from last summer, when, of a dozen or so Louisiana State University students with internships geared at joining Andersen&#39;s Houston office, nine accepted jobs with the company. Among the few not offered positions was a student caught sleeping on the job. <br> <br> ``This year&#39;s been a really bad year for us,&#39;&#39; says Tim Louwers, an audit professor at Louisiana State University. ``Andersen has been one of our best employers over the years. We had a number of students with offers from Enron as well. Some of our best students are now scrambling.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> But accounting professors and other industry experts don&#39;t expect the Andersen effect to have a lasting impact on the job market for accounting graduates. ``This is probably a one-time blip as the firms scoop up Andersen expertise,&#39;&#39; says Louwers. <br> <br> According to a report issued by the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants, or AICPA, the number of students enrolled in accounting programs has fallen 23 percent from 1995 to 1999. <br> <br> At the same time, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an 18.5 percent increase in jobs for auditors and accountants to nearly 1.16 million by 2010 from 976,000 in 2000. ``As the economy grows, the number of businesses will increase, requiring more accountants,&#39;&#39; says Bureau of Labor Statistics economist Paul La Porte. <br> <br> In the meantime, it is a game of wait-and-see for many college students who had expected to be working at Andersen by this fall. <br> <br> Offices hardest hit by client defections, such as Atlanta, which lost Delta Air Lines Inc. among other high-profile audit clients, rescinded job offers to students a few weeks ago. <br> <br> But in some other Andersen offices, such as Houston, students have been told they may have jobs, with partners hinting at the possibility of deals for blocks of the firm to join rivals. <br> <br> ``Right now there are so many variables,&#39;&#39; says Tammie Blum, a director of recruiting with Andersen. ``It varies by market. We&#39;re trying to create opportunities wherever we can.&#39;&#39;