Results of a 1984 survey on policy and practice in the employment of college graduates in 250 well-known business and industrial firms are presented. The number of companies hiring graduates in nine bachelors-level and five masters-level fields are specified for both 1984 and 1985, along with the number of graduates for each field and salary levels. Information is also provided on: respondents' views concerning the importance of 18 factors often considered by companies when selecting an institution for interviews; an assessment of the current year's business and recruiting activity and the outlook for 1985; the percentage of campus interviews that resulted in second interviews and the percentage of offers resulting in acceptance by field; the fields for which hiring goals are difficult to meet; and the effectiveness of services that placement offices provide to their graduates. Fields for which hiring goals were most difficult to meet were electrical engineering (33 percent), and computer science (26 percent). About two-thirds of the companies indicated more career counseling should be made available to college students and that such counseling should become a function of placement offices, while more than 70 percent felt that colleges should offer a course in career planning and job search techniques. (SW)