Smith College’s career office sent its jittery job-hunting seniors a letter last month with a reassuring message: “There ARE jobs, and you can find employment.” Unfortunately, there are far fewer jobs than anticipated, according to a report out today from the National Association for Colleges and Employers . The companies surveyed for the group’s spring update are planning to hire 22% fewer grads from the class of 2009 than they hired from the class of 2008, a big letdown from the group’s projections in October that hiring would hold steady. Some 44% of companies in the survey, conducted last month, said they plan to hire fewer new grads, and another 22% said they do not plan to hire at all this spring, more than double last year’s figure
