College Grads' Outlook Grim-Wall Street Journal Article

College Grads' Outlook Grim
by Sara Murray
Monday, April 5, 2010
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Students begin the search early and look to 'plan-B' as campus recruitment falls.
Despite signs of life in the job market, the outlook for newly minted college graduates remains grim and many are trying new strategies for landing positions.
Students are starting their job hunts months earlier than usual, while others are looking into short stints at positions outside their major.

Bob Tutag began beating the bushes in October, a time when most college seniors are barely back from summer vacation. But it paid off: The 21-year-old Michigan State University student in March accepted an offer at Developers Diversified Realty Corp., a commercial real-estate firm in Beachwood, Ohio. He starts in May.

Mr. Tutag knew he faced a challenge, having majored in accounting with a specialization in real estate, a sector of the economy hammered by the downturn.
Career-fair recruiting at MSU is down 25% this year. The same story is heard on college campuses from coast to coast: Companies have cut back hiring and when they do have jobs, they have plenty of experienced applicants to pick from. College graduates typically need further training and seasoning, so many employers are skipping college career fairs this year or tapping former interns if they need fresh talent.

Meantime, the job opportunities that are available aren't spread evenly—either by sector or region—and can be hard to spot. And unlike previous years, employers are making offers, and students are accepting them, early in the fall to lock in specific candidates.

Usually, graduating students have held off until the spring to accept positions.
"Some employers might be encouraged enough to begin to add some employment," said Philip Gardner, director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at MSU. But he said, "I'm really not anticipating a significant turnaround until this time next year." But there are some bright spots: The unemployment rate for people ages 20 to 24 with a bachelor's degree was 7.2% in March, down from 7.6% a year earlier and below the 21.9% jobless rate for those in the same age group with high-school degrees only. Preliminary data from a spring poll of employers by the National Association of Colleges and Employers show college-graduate hiring could rise 3% to 5% this year after falling 22% last year.

Erika Skalski, 22, another MSU student poised to graduate in May, is still searching for a job in event planning after studying hospitality, another area hit by the recession, and Spanish. She was encouraged by the interviews she has had, but so far has no offers. "I'm actually very nervous about it," Ms. Skalski said, adding that if nothing pans out she will apply to programs that would allow her to move to Spain and teach English for a year or so. Such plan-Bs are common this year. "We are seeing more students coming into the office talking about what we call the 'gap-year opportunities,' " said Rebecca Sparrow, director of Cornell University's career services, where recruiting is down slightly this year. She often directs them to programs such as AmeriCorps, Teach for America and similar alternatives.

At the University of Florida in Gainesville recruiting has fallen 40% to 50% from the 2007-08 school year. Education is one of the hard-hit career paths this year, said Wayne Wallace, director of the university's career-resource center.
"Several years ago the state of Florida could not find enough teachers," Mr. Wallace said, "now we have school districts that are doing massive layoffs."
Meanwhile, business and technical majors are likely to see the most demand, particularly as Wall Street resumes hiring.

A recent survey from 7city Learning, a financial-services training company, found that 76% of Wall Street firms plan to hire more recent graduates than a year ago.
Certain regions of the nation are expected to do better than others. At the University of Texas at Austin, the communications school attracted 77 employers at its spring career fair, up from 51 last year. Meanwhile, Facebook Inc., which is opening an office in Austin, has been collecting student resumes to help fill 60 jobs.The country's south central and northwest regions are expected to increase hiring more than other areas.

But with such a competitive market, the biggest worry for hiring experts is that students will give up on their job search without ever starting. In some cases that means heading straight to graduate school, an investment that is only likely to pay off if students know what they want to study and why that will better position them to land a job in the future. Graduate-school enrollment rose 6% last year and will likely continue to rise this year.

"So What Are You Doing After Graduation?"

"What are you doing after graduation?" is the famous and frequent question I get now. But honestly, I ask myself the same question everyday. Graduation is considered the most depressing time for a college graduate. Some people have to return home to a strict household, some people are unsure about their future, and some are afraid they may never get that job. The school year is winding down and graduation is fast approaching. After May 9, lives will change forever and some people will begin to see the real world for what it really is. No longer will some of us feel the comfort under Tuskegee's wing. This will become the time when life will truly show who has what it takes. No longer will it be about who has the best poster or policy paper but rather who has what it takes for the position. Who has that drive? I have started applying for different jobs and I have come to learn that it is not about what degree you have or how cute your resume looks but rather how you market yourself. Of course your degree and resume matter. Most of the time employers are not fully reading your resumes but rather how determined, focused, and assertive you are. In the classroom, it can be easy to outshine seven other people, but in the job force, you are going against hundreds even thousands of other people for one job. (I learned that by applying for the state jobs) What your resume says, someone may have said something even better on theirs. I think this is the best time to build not only education and experience but mostly confidence. Confidence plays a major role for me, if I am confident about who I am and what I can do, I am more likely to persuade someone else the same idea. Some people end up in jobs that have nothing to do with their degree then there are those that do not know what to do with their degree. Overall, it is important to think about what one has passion for. With passion in your work, you will be willing to give it your all. I believe post graduation will teach people alot about who they truly are. For some it may teach them that they took college for granted. It is nothing worse then to see someone your age talk about how they wish they had stay in school or attended in the first place. Some of us may change then some of us may just stay the same. Regardless, I think everyone will sit back one day and remember and miss the college days.