Frozen job market restricts graduates

With the thrill of the holidays at an end, December graduates are putting their skills to the test to find a job that pays.

Compared to last year, however, the University’s Career Center predicts that graduates can expect a chillier job market.

“Employers have reduced hiring significantly from last fall to this fall,” said Tom Halasz, director of the Career Center. “Unlike last fall, when there were still pockets of relatively strong hiring in some industries, all areas of recruiting were impacted this year.”

Even USC’s Career Center has been affected by the frozen job climate.

“Our recruiting visits dropped from 106 visits in Fall 2008 to 99 visits in Fall 2009, but the number of employers at the University’s career events slipped by nearly half from 200 last year to 108 this year,” Halasz said.

A poll conducted in October by the National Association of Colleges and Employers to gauge the college job market showed that college recruiting is expected to decline through the end of 2009. According to channelinsider.com, 37 percent of employers also plan to minimize benefits this year such as bonuses and medical coverage which has risen 6 percent from 2009.

What has also risen is the number of environmentally minded employers. The Web site says that many plan to add positions that focus on improving ecological conservation and sustainability.

After graduating just last month, Preston Evans has already felt the strains of being unemployed in the new year. While the University has been helpful in preparing Evans for the road ahead with the Career Center and providing upper-level classes focusing on interview and resume preparation, he is still unemployed. Evans has also made multiple resumes in order to cater to employers’ specific needs.

“My resume gets updated every few weeks,” he said. “I actually have three different versions of my resume depending on the type of job.”

Evans is also considering graduate school “as a way out of the economic insanity,” he said.
Also a recent USC graduate, Beverly Lee currently earns money waiting tables and doing some freelance design work. Still in the process of updating her resume and portfolio, Lee said she is open to jobs outside of her visual communications degree.

“I wish I had participated in an internship and had been more involved as an undergraduate,” she said. Lee also said that she is interested in graduate school, just not right now.

Halasz encourages past and present students to not give up hope and continue to stay up-to-date.

“With this difficult job market here from some time to come, students and graduates will find opportunities as they utilize all their resources to develop experience and search for work, he said. “Gaining work experience prior to graduation and maintaining flexible goals will be keys to success.”