The “Class of 2009†balloons have long since deflated and that graduation bouquet is now a withering pile that serves as a reminder of your personal milestone. With hopes of the future riding high, many recent graduates have found their zeal dampened by a less than favorable job market. Employers cut 247,000 jobs from the economy in July, pushing the unemployment rate to 9.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Nearly two-thirds of recent graduates are concerned about finding a job, and 61% see the economy as an impediment to their getting a job, according to a survey released by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. But they’re not discouraged. More than half of the graduating seniors said they were confident they will be employed within three months of their graduation,†according to the NACE .
“The current job market is very tough,†says Robin Fisher Roffer, author of The Fearless Fish Out of Water: How to Succeed When You’re the Only One Like You (John Wiley & Sons Inc.; $24.95). “Companies are looking for ways to create efficiencies in terms of cutting costs and how to drive revenue.â€As companies look to cut costs and drive revenue, graduates have to figure out how they can become apart of a companies overall mission as they seek to go from interviewee to employee.
“It’s not about conforming to the norm, it’s about how what you do can make a company thrive,†Fisher adds.
Check out how these recent grads are maneuvering this economic rough patch on a mission for success:
Nicole Blake
University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida
Journalism
I started applying for internships in the fall of my senior year. I couldn’t apply for a job and ask whether they could hold the position for six months until I finished school. Instead I said, ‘Let me apply for these internships and hopefully that internship can lead to a job.’ As a lot of interns have seen, people are not hiring. My internship at the Indianapolis Star will be up in about two weeks.
I’ve been getting more serious about my job search. Before, I e-mailed editors to let them know what I’m doing. Now I’m trying to polish my resume to hit [certain] bullet points and show employers I have what they want.
I feel like the economy has made it that much harder. Everybody is looking for a job– even people who have already have one– because some of them don’t feel secure. If anyone is hiring they want three to five years experience. They want you to be the editor, photographer, and reporter. Employers are able to do that because jobs that people wouldn’t have taken in the past, they’re taking now.
If I don’t have a job by time my internship ends I will have to go back home with my mom. While I’m there I’ll continue to job search.
Paul Fischer
Lane College, Jackson, Tennessee
Biology
I started my job search really early. The job search was kind of tough with me being a senior in my fall semester. I was also searching for graduate schools at the time. It’s mostly been about who I know and the people I’ve made connections with. Right now, I’m going through a recruiting process at with the Association for the Help of Retarded Children (AHRC). They’ve got me entered into the system, but they’re trying to figure out where they can place me.
I found out about the job through my mom, who works at the company. She’s made some great connections at the company, and I was able to go and just market myself. I talked to people, told them what I want to do, and what my goals are. I was trying to decide between an internship in Washington D.C. at the Department of Health and Human Services and this job I’m up for now. My research project coordinator at school helped me get the application for the internship together. I decided, after talking to my mother, to apply for the job with AHRC and allow the job to pay for graduate school. I’ve also applied to CAMBA Inc. , which deals directly with the research I was involved with at school, infant mortality and pregnancy prevention. I’m still going for a couple jobs right now but these are the two that I’m focusing my attention on.
Raven Holloway
Temple University, Philadelphia
Public Health
My friends and I have been in school for four to five years and we kind of feel it’s the worst time to graduate. Some of my friends have been working at clothing stores so they’re going to keep those jobs. I had been actively looking for a job for about eight months and looking into graduate programs since the job market is so bad. I sent out three or four resumes a week. I found there weren’t a lot of entry-level positions available. A lot of jobs say a bachelor’s degree is required, but master’s degree preferred. I feel like my bachelor’s degree is the equivalent to a high school diploma.
In July, I was accepted into the master’s degree program in Higher Education Administration program at Rowan University in New Jersey. I came across the position through my work as a resident assistant at Temple University. I wanted to move away from my undergraduate major, public health, since I eventually want to be a dean of students. Along with attending grad school, I am also in the middle of training to become a resident director at Rowan. My tuition will be paid in full, and I’ll also receive a partial meal plan and a stipend.