While unemployment rates are decreasing, students entering the job market this spring may have to work harder than their predecessors.
According to a news release published on Jan. 10 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “(The) unemployment rate declined from 7.0 percent to 6.7 percent in December.” President Barack Obama’s Twitter feed quoted part of a speech he gave in Raleigh, North Carolina on Jan. 15 stating “Our businesses have now created more than 8 million jobs.” With this positive outlook toward employment starting out 2014, what does this mean for students graduating from the UO this spring?
Director of the UO Career Center Daniel Aguilar emphasizes the importance of students being well rounded for their job search. “Recent data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, CERI, and Internships.com have told us that approximately 80 percent of jobs are never posted, that 59 percent of internships are expected to be converted into jobs, and that 83 percent of recruiters report hiring only college graduates who are going or have gone through meaningful experiential learning,” Aguilar said in a Jan. 21 email.
Aguilar said students who are about to enter the job market must have a focus on networking, previous work experience, internships and volunteer experiences.
“This data, stressed by the current job market pressures, emphasizes the need for students’ shift from career development through only searching for postings and submitting job applications to career development,” he said
UO Human Physiology major Lianne Steinmetz plans to take a year off after her spring graduation before attending graduate school in the hopes of becoming an athletic trainer. “I chose to go to grad school because I feel like I can get a better job with a master’s degree,” Steinmetz said.
Trevor Curtis, UO senior, plans to graduate this spring as well with double major in advertising and journalism to pursue a career in video production. “I am wary of the US job market and don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch even if my connections tell me I will have a job waiting after graduating,” he said.
According to the BLS news release, “Over the year, the number of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate were down by 1.9 million.”
Oregon mirrors the US in its declining unemployment rate. According to the Oregon Employment Department, the unemployment rate went from 8.4 percent in Nov. 2012 to 7.3 percent in Nov. 2013.
For some students, signs that the job market is starting to recover are enough to push aside fears of what comes after college.
“The current job market doesn’t worry me a lot. It more annoys the hell out of me because I’ve been searching for a job since September and have yet to get one,” Steinmetz said.
Curtis said, “The job market has reached such a bloated state, at this point the only thing I can do is be confident in my abilities and networking and hope for the best.”