Tough Job Market for Graduate

…………………The major in international studies with a focus on Latin America said she has wanted to live in Brazil for a long time, but the economy there is just as bad as here……….Students were able to interview with several law firms in one day. Herron-Sweet said that while there has been plenty of angst on campus about trying to enter the workforce while the economy is in crisis, everyone she knows seems to have found something to do after graduation………..While it was hard this past week to find a member of the class of 2009 who had nowhere to go after graduation, Middlebury's executive director of career services ……….
"Although they are quite qualified to do almost anything, some of our students believe their competition will be stiffer because they don't have finance degrees or accounting degrees or engineering degrees,"
The National Association of Colleges and Employers estimates employment for the class of 2009 will be down by at least 22 percent nationally, across all disciplines. Roseborough said Middlebury is projecting a 10 percent drop in employment for this year's graduates…….Monique Couture, about to graduate from Green Mountain College with a self-designed degree in environmental management, said she was only too happy to be bypassing the American job market by going into the Peace Corps.
The number of students going to graduate school from Middlebury is up about 4 percent, "It is a gamble, "Unless a student is sure he wants to practice law, going to law school to wait out a recession is an expensive, risky proposition."Even a master's degree in history or English, won't do much for one's chances to get a job that does not specifically require such a degree. Getting a master's and then applying for a job that doesn't require it, she said, could even be a mark against a candidate…..With an estimated 80 percent of Castleton State College's graduates getting hired, director of career development Judith Carruthers said she is more worried about finding part-time and summer jobs for undergraduates.
Carruthers said students do seem to be taking the job search more seriously this year, but the job market is easier on them than, say their parents.
"The students that are spending most of their time on online job boards, applying through company Web sites, are working in a very low rate of return area," Roseborough said. "It's akin to mass mailing. … It's a big numbers game. There are gazillions of graduating seniors who do that...[View Full Article]