Getting Through The Hard Times
Graduating seniors are confronting one of the tightest job markets in recent years. What are students doing to remain competitive?
By Ronald Roach
As a business administration major, Jermanne Perry, a graduating senior at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, recognized last year that the slumping U.S. economy showed little promise of turning around by spring 2003. By getting an early start on job hunting last September, Perry wanted to have the entire school year to search and interview for retail and financial management jobs.
“I knew people from last year’s graduating class who were still looking for a job last fall. I knew I had to start my job search early,” he says.
Fortunately for Perry, his efforts at sending out résumés and going to numerous interviews paid off this past April. After going to an informational meeting and making a presentation to a panel of recruiters, the Saginaw, Mich.-native secured an entry-level banking job offer from the Bank One corporation in Columbus, Ohio.
“I felt nervous and frustrated because I had been on so many interviews. I was doing a lot of searching,” says Perry, who will be graduating with his class this month.
This spring and summer graduating college seniors, such as Perry, are confronting one of the tightest job markets in recent years, according to experts. “The class of 2003 is having a more difficult job market than those graduating in previous years,” says Johnson Pennywell, director of career services at Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas.
Nationally, the unemployment rate for people between 20 and 24 jumped to 10.1 percent in April, up from 9.9 percent a year earlier and less than 7 percent in 2000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The jobless rate for the entire work force was 6 percent in April. According to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), manufacturers have projected that they will be hiring 8.4 percent fewer new college graduates this year than they hired in 2001-2002. The government/nonprofit sector, a bright spot in 2002, has dimmed in 2003 with employers in this sector projecting a 7 percent hiring decrease.
