A grave new world for college graduates

By James Fischer

As an undergraduate, I made the dean's list repeatedly, dual-majored in English and sociology, participated in countless service activities, and graduated magna cum laude. I also worked almost 20 hours a week as a cook to pay my bills and purchase necessities.

I thought my four years of hard work in college would help me land a good job after I graduated. But, 14 job interviews and as many rejections later, I realized that hard work is not always enough in this job market. I had to take full-time hours as a cook to begin repaying my student loans.

U.S. unemployment is at 9.1 percent, but the figure for young adults (ages 20 to 24) is about twice that. For those graduating from college in this economic slump, finding full-time work, especially in one's chosen field, has become a lot like a game of roulette. The odds are not high, and young people are scrambling for ways to swing them in our favor. More and more of us are going to extraordinary lengths to make ourselves attractive in a job market that asks for experience but fails to offer it.

I recently met up with a friend to watch an Eagles game at a bar we frequent. What made the occasion different from any other night of drinking Bud Light on special and watching football was that it would be our last meeting for a year. The next day, she was leaving for Newcastle, England, to attend graduate school. Moving across an ocean for another year of education and a better chance at a job is just one of many unexpected paths I've seen young adults take.

Many other recent graduates are taking part-time positions well outside their fields of study to get by. Rebecca Faller returned to a job at a Lord and Taylor's in New Jersey to earn money for graduate school. An education major with student-teaching experience, she told me, "I'm just lucky they were willing to take me back."

Andre Bickley, who earned his degree in digital arts in May, is still searching for a position in his field despite having two internships, a strong portfolio, and an online publication to his name. He is working at a restaurant and considering graduate school in the meantime.

Others were able to find what they were looking for with a lot of time and patience. After Matthew Doyle earned his M.B.A. in 2010, it took him nine months to find work as a brokerage services associate. "I must have applied to over one hundred jobs from my senior year up until I took my current job two years later," he said.

Lauren McGlone, who graduated last year with a communications degree, had to be almost as patient. "The seven months it took to find my current job felt extremely long, and I felt more and more defeated with each rejection," she said.

Christina Cherry, a health-care marketing manager, looked for her job for almost four months and then moved from Philadelphia to Washington for it. "It was stressful and discouraging," Cherry recalls.

Taking part-time work, finding their schooling is far from over, traveling long distances, and waiting months or years for opportunities, today's college graduates are a long way from the days when a college degree could almost guarantee a good job. They're finding it's only the beginning of a process that's long, tedious, and often disappointing.