Today's Job Market after Graduation

Today’s graduating seniors are facing one of the worst economic downfalls in the history of the United States. As many of us may already know, now is not exactly the best time for graduating college students looking to land immediate career moves. The current job market is a harsh one to face, with many companies not only on hiring freezes but downsizing at the same time. Things may not be looking too desirable yet many students at several universities here in Ohio are using several strategies to keep a positive attitude during such rough times. These students, as well as the recent college graduates that I have spoken with will give perspective college graduates a idea of how students just like themselves are not only preparing for jobs after graduation but the economy itself.
While speaking with many current college seniors from several different universities, I quickly found out that most of them feel the same way about the current state of the economy and the job market. Senior Brittny Justice of Miami University feels that the opportunity to land a job in the following months after graduation will be quite challenging for herself. “With companies getting rid of many of their employees, I find it quite challenging to believe that many of them would be willing to bring on young inexperienced workers.” Justice believes that best bet for many students would be to try to land an internship with a company that is most likely to hire from within. This is definitely a good idea due to the fact that most companies that are actually hiring are usually looking for experienced workers. An internship would seem like a worthy option of giving you the best opportunity to score that highly coveted job opportunity.
One of the many similarities that I heard while speaking with everyone was the common concern of how seniors should go about searching for perspective jobs. I myself was most concerned with this issue, being that graduation is only a few months away and I needed to kick my job search into “hi-gear”. Lisa Fowlkes of Xavier University, explained that her best method of finding job opportunities was through the universities career development center and job fairs. “The CDC will help put you in the best position to start applying for jobs while most job fairs will give you direct contact with popular employers that are looking to hire in your local city.” Every university has a career development center on campus, while job fairs are held quite frequently and are open to students from other universities as well.
After talking to current graduating seniors I figured that it would be most helpful to everyone to speak with students who have already graduated during this current recession. Two students, Lindsay Escaja (Ohio State University) and Matt Ricca (Ohio University) who both graduated in spring of 2009 were able to give me a detailed perspective on how the job market has been in their eyes and the best ways to land a job currently. Matt started by informing me that he has found it especially tough to find a job here in Ohio. Even with his finance degree he has been unable to find a solid entry level job in the near year that he has been out of college. “I would inform all current seniors to start their job search as early as possible during their final year and half so that they can give themselves the best possible opportunities…My biggest regret is that I didn’t start up soon enough.” On the other hand, Lindsay found that even though the job search these days is extremely challenging, there are many entry level jobs out there that can get you on your feet. She has currently started working with University Hospital in Willoughby, Ohio. She insists that if a decent job comes your way, you should be quick to accept it being that times are tough and that rent has to be paid.
After gathering all of the information that I received from the current and past college graduates, I began a plan of success for other students who are looking for a bit of assistance in going about the post graduation process. First, stay involved with your universities career development center and plan on attending as many career fairs at your university and others as possible. These resources are here for our success and will give you and idea of what jobs or companies you plan on applying to. Next, begin applying to jobs as soon as possible and to as many as possible. Being that the job market is in a tough position, you can never send out enough resumes right now. The following step would be to not shy away from entry level positions that may have not been what you were initially expecting. Even though they won’t bring in the salary you expected, they are adding experience to your resume and helping you to move up through the workforce. The final step is to stay on top of your current classes and finish college as strong as possible. Many jobs look at how strong you finished your senior year of college and relate such to your work ethic. Hopefully the seniors out there will find this insightful and helps them worry a little less about the big life experiences that they await in the next few months. BEST OF LUCK!


"The future depends on what we do in the present" - Mahatma Gandhi