'84 college grads will find jobs tight

College seniors will be conducting their job searches on a first-come, first-nabbed basis, according to a leading authority on the subject. Jack Shingleton, director of placement services at Michigan State University and author of an annual survey entitled Recruiting Trends, says he believes graduates of the class of '84 will grab the first offer that comes along, thinking it may be the only one they'll get.

Despite the brisk economic recovery, Mr. Shingleton predicts only a very slight increase (1 percent) in corporate recruiting this year over last year's depressed market.

He no longer anticipates an across-the-board demand for engineering students, seeing instead a fragmentation of the field, with electrical and computer engineers remaining in demand while chemical- and agricultural-engineering graduates flood the market, reducing demand for their services.