"Attention seniors, I don't envy you. Soon enough you all will be graduating into one of the worst recessions our country has seen in decades. Finding a job will be difficult, finding your ideal job will be even harder and finding your dream job ... forget about it."
I wrote that about a year ago. It seems little has changed in the job market. Unemployment is still high. Firms aren't hiring due to uncertainty in the future. The only difference is now I'm a senior and looking for a job.
My column a year ago had a few points about graduating during a recession:
1) Graduates have significantly lower lifetime earnings.
2) Graduates often do no work in their ideal fields.
I also offered some alternatives to finding a job, ideas such as studying abroad, grad school, becoming a super senior or moving home with mom and dad. I now realize those suggestions don't really help someone looking for a job. They just delay the inevitable.
Being in the job market is a new experience for me. Every job I've had previously, I sort of fell into from acquaintances. Searching for a career job is a little different. I've been applying to large corporations, medium companies and even boutique firms. Last week, I got my first rejection e-mail, which was also new for me.
I know I shouldn't be disappointed. According to an article in Forbes, in 2007 the average entry level job posting had 73 applications. That was in 2007, before the recession. Now the number of applicants is in the hundreds, even for low paying jobs. Employers are becoming extremely selective in hiring, many requiring a 3.0 or 3.5 minimum grade point average to even apply.
Finding a job is a numbers game. I'm trying to stack the odds in my favor. I've redone my résumé, drafted a cover letter and updated my LinkedIn profile. I'm trying to apply to one job a day, in addition to attending the career fair and pursuing other opportunities. I'm also studying for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam in June. Hopefully, it will all pay off with a job offer before graduation.
There are opportunities out there. Thousands of new jobs are posted every day on Monster.com, along with thousands on other Web sites. However, it's estimated that career sites like Monster.com only account for 10 percent of the actual number of jobs out there. I've found looking at a company's actual Web site in the careers sections yields better results than job search engines. When looking for a job, make sure to check the companies that interest you.
Don't believe the doom and gloom picture that the media paints; I think the recession is coming to an end (if it's not already over). As I've said in previous columns, unemployment is a lagged indicator. We can reasonably expect it to hover around 10 percent for the next six to 12 months. Really, unemployment numbers are old news. The media should be focusing on what's ahead.
My perspective isn't all that different from last year's. I still think it sucks to be a graduating senior in this economy. Now that I am, I have to deal with it like every other senior does.
The jobs we get after graduating will reflect at least one of three things: time/energy spent, connections or luck. Since only two of those are controllable, it's time to get to work. The payoff will last a lifetime.
Write to Derek at dawilson2@bsu.edu.
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