Facing a tough job market this year, universities and their students are working harder to connect with employers through increased emphasis on networking opportunities, career management skills and awareness campaigns.

While the number of recruiters making formal campus visits has decreased, early indications are that the job market may not be quite as bad as one would expect in a recession, according to career experts at DePaul University, the ninth largest private university in the nation.

“The good news is that a recent Collegiate Employment Research Institute survey of employers found that only 6 percent say they will do no hiring this year,” said Karen Allen, associate director of DePaul University’s Career Center. Small to midsize employers surveyed were more confident in their intentions to hire than larger companies, she said.

Christa Hinton, director of the newly formed Career Management Center at DePaul’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, which focuses its career services on DePaul’s MBA students, has seen this trend. “The number of formal, annual recruiting trips by large employers has decreased, however no company I’ve talked with has said they are not hiring this spring or fall,” she said. “It’s the number of hires they will make that has yet to be decided. Meanwhile, we’re still getting plenty of year-round job postings, particularly in finance and accountancy.”

Kellstadt launched the Career Management Center in November to focus on the unique career issues facing its graduate business students. The majority of the school’s student body studies part-time, providing a challenge for the business school to provide career services. Most students are working professionals who may need career management and networking help; others may be looking for work.

“Going to school is just one slice of their very busy lives,” said Hinton, a DePaul MBA alumna. “The goal of this new center is to find ways to build a community by not only forging connections between the business school and area employers but also bring together DePaul business students and alumni to help each other.”

Kellstadt’s sizable number of students and alumni are among its greatest assets, Hinton said. With about 2,100 students, the school’s part-time MBA program is the largest accredited program of its kind in the nation and ranks among the top five in U.S. News & World Report’s ranking. About 72 percent of DePaul’s approximately 14,000 MBA graduates live or work in the Chicago-area, providing a wide network of career contacts.

Elsewhere at the university, the focus on career management and networking, as opposed to career placement, represents a shift in how DePaul is helping alumni and part-time students in all disciplines prosper in their careers and assisting full-time students make the transition from school to work. The placement model, in which the university arranges interviews for students or alumni with employers, removes control from both students and employers. Instead, DePaul focuses on providing tools, resources and connections that allow students to decide which career opportunities to pursue and employers choose whom to interview.>

For example, DePaul’s Alumni Relations office launched a Business & Technology Alumni Network with a November event that drew 300 alumni in search of career connections and professional development. Meanwhile, DePaul’s Alumni Sharing Knowledge mentoring program is connecting current students with alumni who want to share career advice. Students also are banding together to boost their career aspirations. At the business school, students formed the DePaul MBA Association last year with two goals: to enhance the value of a Kellstadt MBA degree among corporate leaders and to develop more career and networking opportunities for students.

The 1,500-member association hosts a monthly “Storytellers” event where successful DePaul alumni and Chicago business leaders share their career stories with students. To help members stay in touch between events and classes, the association has launched a Web site to create an online community for business students and alumni. In January, the association sponsored a weeklong business school awareness campaign, urging students to show their b-school spirit by wearing Kellstadt sweatshirts.

“DePaul’s MBA program is very pragmatic, and it attracts people from many disciplines,” said Emil Paguia, president of the MBA Association. “Students come from a wide range of backgrounds, and this provides different perspectives of the job market. The association offers opportunities for aspiring leaders at the many large companies headquartered in Chicago and professionals at the city’s small businesses to network and find talent.

“A lot of people involved in the MBA Association believe firmly that it’s important to remain networked far beyond their time at DePaul,” he said. “Fifteen or 20 years from now we will be at the pinnacle of our careers. Maybe someone here might be the next CEO of Motorola or the head of a small start up. They will be looking for managers among alumni because they are familiar with talent that comes from this program.”