“Tough job market greets college graduates”

Tough job market greets college graduates

Posted: 05 Dec 2010 09:29 AM PST

Over the summer, Steve Yingling, a May graduate from Missouri State University's MBA program, sent out more than 100 applications.

In return, he got one interview for a paying job and zero offers.

"It's kind of discouraging," said Yingling, who moved back to his hometown of St. Louis, where he now lives with his parents and waits for an offer for a full-time job to come along.

College graduates around the country have found themselves in a tough job market, where job searches are longer, harder and likely to result in lower starting salaries compared with the years preceding the economic recession.

At MSU, Jack Hunter, director of career services, said the number of graduates who have found full-time jobs or have gone to graduate school six months after graduation now hovers around 70 percent of their class, compared to 90 percent before the economic crash.

Fewer 2010 graduates had jobs on hand upon graduation this year compared to better years, Hunter said.

Employers still are visiting college campuses to recruit fresh graduates, however, he said.

Each year, about 800 employers come to the MSU campus, and that number has not changed in recent years, as both the university and the employers desire to maintain that relationship, Hunter said.

The employers have not reduced job openings or internships for college graduates, but they are less likely to convert internships into job offers, Hunter said.

"That's the change," he said.

At Evangel University, Sheri Phillips, director of career services, noticed a big drop in the number of graduates who had job offers upon graduation.

In 2008, 39 percent of Evangel graduates had jobs to go to after graduation, compared with 27 percent for the 2009 class, Phillips said.

Concerned about finding employment, students also are more likely to choose to go to graduate school, she said.

But the gap narrows after six months, for the university consistently saw more than 70 percent of its graduates employed, in addition to those attending graduate school, Phillips said.

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Drury University tracks its graduates for a year after their graduation. Jill Wiggins, Drury's career services director, said there has not been much fluctuation in the percentage of students placed a year after graduation.

Drury officials consider a student "placed" if he or she has found a job, is attending graduate school or has decided not to enter the work force.

Less than 2 percent of the 2009 class was not looking for jobs, and reasons include traveling, volunteering or getting married, Wiggins said.

Lower pay, fewer offers

Some of today's graduates also are having to contend with getting paid less, MSU's Hunter said.

Starting salaries -- after declining slightly for the past two years -- are about 5 percent below the pre-recession level, Hunter said.

He said that is partly because graduates now are more likely to seek jobs in educational and nonprofit sectors, which tend to pay less than the for-profit sector.

When they have a job offer, today's graduates are less likely to turn it down, Hunter said.

"The expectation is there won't be multiple offers to choose from," he said.

A report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers notes the 2010 class had learned from the experience of the 2009 class. This year, graduates were more willing to accept the offers, and the percentage of graduates with jobs upon graduation increased over 2009.

At MSU, Hunter said he has noticed more alumni are using the university's career services -- the number remains steady at around 600 since late 2008 and early 2009 compared with 100 in earlier years.

"That's been a sign of the times," Hunter said.

At Evangel, Phillips said the job market for college students has become tougher as they also compete with experienced workers, not merely fellow graduates.

That was the case for her own daughter, who was a psychology major and found a job only after six months, Phillips said.

"I know this year the students who are getting jobs are more intentional, more focused," she said. "You need to be more focused on the resume and interview skills."

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A "geographical flexible" applicant is more likely to land a job, Hunter said, but relocation can be a tough decision for graduates.

Their worries apparently are bubbling up at MSU's Counseling and Testing Center, where students are fretting over whether they should take a job away from home now or wait for a local job to come along, said Doug Greiner, the center's director.

"That can be a pressure on students," he said.

Greiner said students also are debating which fields of study they should pursue, as jobs in some fields have become harder to find.

Overall, the center has seen 11 percent more students seeking help since a couple of years ago, Greiner said.

"There's a general sense of worry and anxiety about wondering whether they will be able to find jobs," Greiner said.

Career services directors are advising graduates to start their search earlier, be more thoroughly prepared and get some work experience, such as an internship, on their resume.

And that's exactly what was missing from Yingling's resume.

"I didn't have (an) internship," said Yingling, who took summer classes instead of finding an internship.

Now, Yingling has taken a four-month, unpaid internship at a local advertising agency, and he is more optimistic about landing a job with his work experience.

"I'm hopeful," Yingling said.

Casey Wormington, a 2009 Drury graduate who left the campus without a job offer, now is working at an advertising and marketing agency in Fayetteville, Ark., after a brief stint with another ad agency in Springfield.

"You just need to keep up your portfolio," Wormington suggested. "If you take a job, try to find something that applies to your field.

"But if you need a job, take anything," she said. "A paycheck is something that is better than nothing."

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