College Graduates Tackle Dismal Job Market

CBS Evening News: Grads Learn To Be Flexible In Job Search; Government Still Hiring

(CBS)  The nation's unemployment rate is soaring, inching closer to 10 percent with each passing month.

And that spells trouble for graduating college seniors, about to compete in the toughest job market in decades, reports CBS News correspondent Priya David.

Blake Taylor, a senior at Catholic University in Washington DC, expected to be an accountant when she graduates this May. But then her fortunes changed.

She had a job offer that was rescinded because the company says it's no longer hiring.

"It's hard; it's definitely hard," she said. "When they told me, I definitely felt like I had the air kicked out of me and now, I was just like, 'Ok, I'm at square one again.'"

The jobless rate among college graduates has more than doubled from a year ago to 4.3 percent. Almost 2 million college graduates are unemployed and a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers predicts companies will hire 22 percent fewer graduating seniors than they did last year.

"The previous 5 years it was a sellers market for these kids," said Ed Koc of the National Association of Colleges and Employers. "They could pretty much demand what they wanted in terms of a job and what they got from an employer. That's no longer going to be the case."

One place recent graduates can look for work is the U.S. government. The government has postings for more than 40,000 open slots right now and expects to increase hiring employees straight from college.

College senior Peter Donald expects to find a job in federal law enforcement soon. But fellow senior Bill Frame is still looking for work. He spent months trying for a job on Wall Street without success, and has now widened his search to other industries.

"This is an every morning thing for me now. I wake up and check my email and spend 20 minutes checking on the different job sites, then usually another half hour to an hour doing applications," Frame said.

"What we say to them is your first job may not be your ideal job and so be more flexible be more open to taking positions that maybe weren't on your radar screen originally," said Dr. Alan Goodman, a career counselor at Catholic University.

That's a message Blake Taylor, at least, has taken to heart.

"As doors close windows open," she said. "If you can't go through the front go through the back. You'll find a way; you have to find a way."

An optimistic attitude that will help with the rigorous job hunt that lays ahead.

[BigESShi]

I also have to add to my comment this is not OBAMA"S fault this is just the clean up of Bush's HUGE MISTAKES. Jobs will be great in about 2 to 3 yrs and we will be able to pretty much demand what we want for jobs and money but probably not until then. The experienced will be able to demand more for jobs and money in probably a year year and a half but not yet for new graduates as Obama will be cleaning up Bush's mess. But the Clinton years are comming very soon and the middle class will be able to have GREAT GOOD PAYING JOBS!!

[BigESShi]

Holy moley is what new college graduates should be thinking because they are so screwed to find a job let alone a decent job in this economy. Whoever said that it is possibly for new graduates to find a job is just kidding themselves or that they can find a job soon. Yeah right College Graduates have to have a mid set that they will have to take very VERY low pay to start if they find a job. I think College Graduates will be LUCKY to get a starting salary at $8.00 an hour. Yes I know all these new college graduates will feel Jaded and fell like well I just spent a whole lot of money on a college degree and now they have to take and accept a secretary position if they are even lucky to get a secretary position to start. I think college graduates will more than likely have to start at like McDonalds but yet even McDonalds is VERY VERY challenging in these times because we the EXPERIENCED/VERY EXPERIENCED are taking those jobs. I know like even PHD students are taking McDonalds jobs. College grads should expect a minimum of at least a YEAR to find a job in not more than a year to land their first job. Articles saying expect 3 to 6 months are IS TOTALLY FALSE!!! Even VERY EXPERIENCED PEOPLE HAVE A VERY HARD TIME TO FIND A JOB IN 3/6 MONTHS LET ALONE A YEAR NOW!!!! Also new college graduates are just kidding themselves if they really think an MBA or even a law degree will help them. Maybe in the long run it might but they need to set their goals a lot lower and accept that they will not get their desired position right away. For example a new law graduate will have to accept a secretary position or fight for a Paralegal position but even Paralegal positions will be hard for them to get because the educated Paralegals will take those positions but for new law grads they will have to take a lot of GRUNT work to get the experience to get a position. Plus if new law grads think they will graduate and make a crap load of money they are kidding themselves. I have read and know that new law grads now days start at a very low salary around $30,000 or even lower. New College Graduates or Grad School Grads should not even try to be cocky or have the mind set of they deserve because they graduated college if they have that mindset they will not only not find a job but they will not be at their position very long or be shown the door PERIOD!!! New graduates might even SERISOUSLY have to accept like Lawn Mowing jobs just to get by for awhile.

[Abroady27]

Times are tough. Surprisingly, finance firms are still hiring. If you're looking for a job in finance, check out OneWire (www.OneWire.com). OneWire is a new job site that is completely free and directly matches finance professionals and students with opportunities at finance firms. My friend who works for OneWire said that 73 schools are using OneWire to help their students and alumni get jobs. Check out the site.

[WayAround]

lol

I'm amazed that CBS didn't automatically censor my typo "cuntries". Should have been "countries".

[WayAround]

bornin1952

"no kids"

Well, there's an important factor in your financial "success".

"What's so great about college? What's it REALLY going to get you?"

Ahh, the education that most other developed cuntries provide in their secondary schools?

[debinok1]

What gets me about this article is the fact that the state of the economy has been headline news for months. Did these kids not read the paper or watch the news? Or did they just assume that it would not apply to them?

[ontheleft]

Good news. There's a Domino's pizza in North Carolina that's looking to fill two openings.

[curse914]

faboge --
That pile of dung you refer to must be Pelosi, Reid, Boxer and Rod Blagojevich,
and you are right Obama is'nt a communist he's a socialist at the urging of the liberal left.
enjoylife63 may be a bit harsh but he/she is right. The feeders off society dont creat any jobs. They raise taxes which in turn cost businesses more...which in turn prevnts the creation of jobs, and on and on...

Posted by variant_530 at 8:37 AM : Apr 19, 2009

Mixed economies work and we have had one since the depression. The most prosperous period of American history was under a Mixed economy.

You know absolutely nothing except for Dogma that you want to feed the rest of us.

It is no coincidence that the Reagan Revolution ushered in the second Depression.

[variant_530]

faboge --
That pile of dung you refer to must be Pelosi, Reid, Boxer and Rod Blagojevich,
and you are right Obama is'nt a communist he's a socialist at the urging of the liberal left.
enjoylife63 may be a bit harsh but he/she is right. The feeders off society dont creat any jobs. They raise taxes which in turn cost businesses more...which in turn prevnts the creation of jobs, and on and on...

[faboge]

Look this spineless enjoylife63! These guys amaze me, their policies have turned us into a 3rd world country with their incompetence and now that someone is trying to clean the pile of dung they left behind they call him a communist!

[saturn123]

bornin 1952. A good lier.

[saturn123]

I always enjoy a good lie.

[babooph]

The Bush trust fund babies & those who have the massive wad of $ from many years of tax cuts for the rich do not need a job,how many of the suckers at the tea party are in that boat?

[far_point200]

"One place recent graduates can look for work is the U.S. government. The government has postings for more than 40,000 open slots right now and expects to increase hiring employees straight from college."

I was wondering why U.S. government unemployment never showed up in the monthly stats.

THERE IS NONE! IT JUST KEEPS GROWING AND GROWING AND GROWING!

[WHOmentorsdotcom]

It's not enough to simply graduate from a college or a university. Scholars, especially F-1 OPT international students, may want to learn how to incorporate as a Nonprofit Public Benefit Organization or to organize as a Limited Liability Company before graduation. Direct-hire employment may trend downward if it counts against an allotted ceiling and a company wants to lower its risk. WHOmentors.com, Inc., an E-Verify H-1B cap-exempt employer, is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt 509(a)(2) research corporation that is primarily engaged in interdisciplinary scientific applied research to gain knowledge or understanding to determine the means by which a specific, recognized need may be met. Instead of crafting job announcements and undertaking a strategy to recruit novices to fit the description, the process is reversed to consider proposals only from bona fide consultants or an independent contractors. Sole Proprietors are ineligible for consideration. Reference 20 CFR 655.736(2)(i) and IRS Revenue Ruling 68-489. Each person is challenged to research an idea, product or service that accomplishes an exempt purpose, to be specific about the intended target demographic, and to highlight how much a customer may pay or will benefit. The narrative is required to be supported by market labor data to identify the appropriate compensation and should articulate how it is directly related to a specific degree program. Taking the steps to develop something from scratch, doing the legal research to see if the approach is viable, undertaking a campaign to convey why a partnership is advantageous and negotiating the deal is an option to selling yourself as others would suggest. Maybe this type of effort will yield more effective results and set realistic expectations than appearing desperate.

[hotwitch]

Darn, Four years of partying and there's no job waiting for them on a silver platter, boo hoo....!

Well, it gets worse, be ready to waste your time filling out job application after job application and never hearing back, they don't even send rejection postcards anymore.

And for the career counselor, unless they have a job in their back pocket, don't listen to them, they're pretty much useless even in the best of times.

[whitemale08]

This is what happens when we were told that a post-industrial, service sector economy would be the answer to hard physical work.

Baby boomers, who despised work, told their children to go to college and get an education so you can become 'high priests' of the worthless derivatives markets.

Now that the Greenspan bubble of worthless derivatives and credit-default swaps bubble has burst, what's left in its wake is nothing but deteriotion and hopelessness.

President Obama has to warned repeatedly to remove Larry Summers and the cabal of 'behaviourists economists' who wish to use this crisis as an excuse for austerity and suicidal sacrifices for the 'sake of the economy'.

[stn_sage]

Due to how unemployment is measured in the U.S., the figure is kept artificially low!

It's been over 10%, for several years now! This is NOT a recent situation! And, it will
probably get worse!

Until big business and government releases new technologies' enabling mass production of same, and job creation, the economy will probably not improve much, or fast enough!

[rhs648]

correction

This happened to my graduating class in 1971. There were three college graduates for every job available. The year before, there were three jobs for every college graduate. Many students deferred work by going to graduate school. Many people became doctors and lawyers who never planned to become these things. Some others took jobs ootside of the fields. There were some people who never really got jobs that required a college diploma. Remember, there is another graduating class right behind you the following year. Those who went on for advanced degrees until the job market opened up probably fared the best in the long run.

[rhs648]

This happened to my graduating class in 1971. There were three college graduates for every job available. The year before, tyhere were three jobs for every college graduate. Many students deferred work by going to graduate school. Many people became doctors and lawyers who never planned to become these things. Some others took jobs ootside of the fields. There were some people who never really got jobs that required a college diploma. Remember, there is another graduating class right behind you the following year. Those who went on for advanced degrees until the job markey opened up probably fared the best in the long run.