What has been a trying last two years for those seeking employment has logically been a busy time for U. Nebraska Career Services as well. In the midst of a much different economy than that of a mere five years ago, adults of significantly varying ages and work experience have found themselves in a much larger pool of job-seekers looking at a lot fewer jobs available.

“We have more students using the system and especially more … alumni because of the recession,” said Dr. Larry Routh, director of Career Services.

“This was just a tough year,” Routh said.

In light of the ostensibly dismal job market, Career Services has born the burden of assuaging the discouragement many recent graduates and adults in their 20s through 60s have begun facing in their employment search.

“I knew one of the challenges we would face as an office would be giving students and alumni hope,” Routh said.

“They’re seeing reports of a (bad) job market and that’s discouraging,” Routh said. “It was our job to help students have a more accurate view of what was happening.”

Though only a few years ago employment had been a routine hump for all seeking to enter the workforce, more work is now required to get work, and many searching for work have already spent decades being comfortably fully-employed.

“A few years ago the job market was good,” said Tom Allison, an assistant director at Career Services. “The last two years we’ve seen a decline.”

“Some years ago, students were getting signing bonuses,” Routh said. “Employers were falling over themselves to hire students, but that is not happening now.”

“Instead of multiple job offers … they’re working harder to find one job,” he said.

Career Services, which helps students and alumni of all ages with the search process, interviews, resumes, cover letters, internships, major choices and other things, boasts Husker Hire Link, a sort of online job fair connecting students and alumni with employers.

The website is not devoid of listings and contains many jobs someone might not have thought about before, according to Routh, including scores of non-profit and government positions related to a person’s major or area of interest.

“In a tough job market you need to look (elsewhere),” he added.

Even so, many students have opted for a different path.

“We have seen a large portion of last year’s graduates and this year’s who have decided not to enter the job market,” Allison said.

“They may know what type of employment they want and are waiting … maybe working two or three jobs, applying to different graduate schools,” Allison continued. “Several of them are just waiting.”

The hope is that the wait will not last much longer.

“I think more organizations and most human resources people feel like it’s the beginning of an upturn,” Routh said.

“We have seen several different publications that would tend to agree with the outlook that the job market has definitely improved,” Allison said.

“The economy will improve before jobs will improve,” Routh said, indicating the best measure of the job market.

For students and alumni, the job market can be both a matter of reality and a matter of perception.

“Some students are eternal optimists,” Allison said. “Some are eternal pessimists.”

“I don’t see so much hopelessness,” he said, “I see a lot of students who are cautious but not hopeless about their future.”