Ball State students are encouraged not to lose hope despite Indiana having the eighth highest unemployment rate in the country.
The state’s rate as of April 2013 was 8.5 percent, according to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Lizz Frick, a senior advertising major, doesn’t have any jobs lined up after graduating in July, but she hopes her internship with Gannett Co., Inc., in Washington, D.C., pays off.
“Gannett’s a really big company, and I’m hoping this internship will lead to a job somewhere,” she said. “It has several branches across the country and I’m hoping that if I make enough good relations, the people in my department will be able to recommend me to another branch somewhere. If I get the feeling that it won’t, I’ll be job searching again.”
Frick found the internship at one of Ball State’s career fairs.
“Within a week I ended up interviewing and getting the job,” she said. “When Gannett offered to me, I knew that I definitely wanted to experience the big city and come to the capital.”
Luckily for students like Frick, Cecil Bohanon, a professor of economics, said the job market is in a slow recovery, but “it does seem to be gaining steam.”
“The good news is that there were 175,000 private sector jobs and that’s a reasonable number, better than the past,” he said. “It’s a big, complex issue. We don’t know how much of the unemployment is structural, the kind of thing that takes a long time to work out, or cyclical, which should be working itself out with robust economic growth. The point is that we haven’t had robust economic growth — we’ve had anemic economic growth — and that explains the high level of unemployment.”
Joseph Goodwin, assistant director of the Career Center, offers some hope for Ball State.
“One thing to keep in mind is that although unemployment is relatively high overall, it is less than half as high for college graduates,” he said. “That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. They need to start looking for work as soon as possible.”
Internships and immersive learning projects are two things Goodwin said are important for student to get involved in.
“Anything they can do to help build their skills to help them stand out above other job seekers is going to be beneficial,” he said. “They’re going to have to get used to a routine that’s not just go to class and come home. Most cases, they’re going to be working from 8 to 5. They’re going to discover that C-level work is not appropriate — they need to be doing the very they can if they want to move ahead. If they aren’t good already with managing money, they’re going to have to learn to do that. They’re going to act professionally at all times.”
The Career Center helps students build their skills with programs about resume writing and interviewing, and offering three Career fairs each year.
Frick networked with around 35 other businesses during the career fair she attended and found some effective ways to talk to them.
“Put yourself in their shoes and try to become the person that they want to recruit and hire,” she said. “Don’t just be the most qualified, but you want to be someone who would mesh with their company. Do research beforehand. You have to get your name out there to them so it’s more easily accessible.”
Accessibility is one of the biggest things Frick focuses on.
“Definitely have a Linkedin account, a Facebook, a Twitter. Anywhere that people can put a face with a name might help make a connection,” she said.
Bohanon said one of the best things students can do is not to lose hope.
“Sometimes it takes six, nine, 12, 15 months to get the position that’s a good fit,” he said. “Don’t be proud. Don’t be afraid to take a job at Walgreens to make ends meet. Continue to court potential employers and don’t be discouraged.”
