$1O,OOO Without Ulcers

It was only a matter of days before the big invasion, when some 150,000 graduating college seniors would fan out over the workaday U.S. in search of jobs. What kind of people would they turn out to be? This week, after interviewing deans, campus placement bureaus, business recruiters and seniors, FORTUNE gave an answer.

The class of '49, FORTUNE found, is a mature one (average age: 24). Seven out of ten male seniors are veterans, and three out of ten are married. "But it is in a different respect that the character of '49 is really extraordinary. For '49 ... has turned its back on what its elders automatically assume is ... one of the most cherished prerogatives of youth. Forty-nine is taking no chances."

Good Old A.T. & T. Of the seniors interviewed by FORTUNE, only 2% planned to go into business for themselves. "The men of '49 every where seem haunted by the fear of a recession. 'I know A.T. & T. might not be very exciting,' explains a senior . . . 'but there'll always be an A.T. & T.'"

To cut risk as much as possible, one out of every four seniors is planning to study for an advanced degree. Since "everybody's going to college now," the ordinary B.A. or B.S. no longer seems enough for getting along. Seniors are scornful of the Big Operator with his mounting blood pressure and his coronary thrombosis. "If '49 has a class bogy, it is ulcers."

Except in the southwest, FORTUNE found, seniors are talking less & less about money. One business recruiter reported that he went through 30 interviews without once hearing a senior mention salary. "Forty-nines simply will not talk of the future in terms of the dollar," says FORTUNE. "In terms of the Good Life, however, they are most articulate."

The Good Life seems to mean marriage, about three children, a comfortable home, one or maybe two cars ("a little knockabout for the wife"), and later, perhaps, a summer cottage. The senior's dream of the perfect salary: about $10,000 a year.

Good Old Insect Control. As for jobs, merchandising is still top choice (40%). The seniors do not seem to mind selling, though they prefer a salary to a commission. They dislike the high pressure of the insurance salesman's life (only 5% wanted to go into it) and almost none of them care for investment banking. But there is one rather new field that seems to be phenomenally popular: the field of "personnel." Seniors never know quite why the field appeals to them. They almost invariably say "Because I like people."

The 49ers, raised on the great depression and World War II, and conscious of their late start in college, were vocation-minded. They had majored in such subjects as radio journalism, labor relations, business management, insect control and ceramic engineering. Only 10% had majored in one of the humanities.

What sort of citizens would such men be? The FORTUNE tellers could only guess. They would probably be good technicians, good managers, good neighbors. But would they ever do anything creative or provocative--"furnish any quota of free-swinging s.o.b.s we seem to need for leavening the economy?" Said FORTUNE: "The answers will be a long time in coming."

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