Grads struggle to find jobs in faltering economy
Cody Ewers
Issue date: 9/10/09 Section: News
The struggling economy and a slimmer job market made finding a job hard for graduates leaving Hillsdale's bubble behind.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers recently conducted a survey showing that employers expect to decrease their college hiring by 7 percent for the Class of 2010.
Last year Hillsdale College graduates had a 92 percent job placement, including graduate school attendees, within six months of graduation. This was the lowest number in the last 20 years, Director of Career Planning Joanna Wiseley said.
"The number of companies interested in recruiting college students, as far as on-campus recruiting is concerned, is down," Wiseley said. "But the job fairs are looking stable."
Wiseley said although her office doesn't evaluate the job status of last year's seniors, she expects the number of teaching jobs in the private sector and graduate school attendance to be up among the fresh Hillsdale grads.
Joe McCleary '09, an accounting major, said he and had to work extremely hard to get an offer.
"I applied to a ton of firms," McCleary said. "And as soon as I got an offer I liked, I took it."
McCleary said accounting majors on average have an easier time finding jobs after college because there seems to be a high demand and Hillsdale's program prepares them well.
McCleary scored an offer with the firm Plante & Moran's Columbus, Ohio office despite cooler-talk groaning that his class was heading into the worst job market many accounting professors have ever seen.
He was hired and scheduled to begin on Aug. 23, but a summer call informed McCleary that the company was cutting 10 percent of their workforce and although he still had a job, his start date was pushed back to January 24, 2010.
But not all Hillsdale grads have even that thin veil of job security.
Betsy Stone '09 found out a week after graduation that the musical she'd been working on for the last two summers wasn't going on tour as planned. So, instead of hitting the road with her troupe making money and gaining acting experience, Stone headed to Chicago to try and net-work her way to work.
With a little help from a few family friends in her hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., Stone found an apartment and a job in the Windy City.
Armed with a demo of her goofiest voices, Stone hopes to make money doing voice-over work while she attempts to climb the ladder from cocktail waitress to center stage a The Second City Theater - a theater that boasts making names for such actors as John Belushi, Mike Myers, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray.
"The thing with this job is that you get to know people and if they like you enough they'll put you on the stage," Stone said.
Wiseley said that after her office completes the senior follow-up in November she'll have a good idea of how she and her staff can better help the Class of 2010 work above 92 percent job placement.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers recently conducted a survey showing that employers expect to decrease their college hiring by 7 percent for the Class of 2010.
Last year Hillsdale College graduates had a 92 percent job placement, including graduate school attendees, within six months of graduation. This was the lowest number in the last 20 years, Director of Career Planning Joanna Wiseley said.
"The number of companies interested in recruiting college students, as far as on-campus recruiting is concerned, is down," Wiseley said. "But the job fairs are looking stable."
Wiseley said although her office doesn't evaluate the job status of last year's seniors, she expects the number of teaching jobs in the private sector and graduate school attendance to be up among the fresh Hillsdale grads.
Joe McCleary '09, an accounting major, said he and had to work extremely hard to get an offer.
"I applied to a ton of firms," McCleary said. "And as soon as I got an offer I liked, I took it."
McCleary said accounting majors on average have an easier time finding jobs after college because there seems to be a high demand and Hillsdale's program prepares them well.
McCleary scored an offer with the firm Plante & Moran's Columbus, Ohio office despite cooler-talk groaning that his class was heading into the worst job market many accounting professors have ever seen.
He was hired and scheduled to begin on Aug. 23, but a summer call informed McCleary that the company was cutting 10 percent of their workforce and although he still had a job, his start date was pushed back to January 24, 2010.
But not all Hillsdale grads have even that thin veil of job security.
Betsy Stone '09 found out a week after graduation that the musical she'd been working on for the last two summers wasn't going on tour as planned. So, instead of hitting the road with her troupe making money and gaining acting experience, Stone headed to Chicago to try and net-work her way to work.
With a little help from a few family friends in her hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., Stone found an apartment and a job in the Windy City.
Armed with a demo of her goofiest voices, Stone hopes to make money doing voice-over work while she attempts to climb the ladder from cocktail waitress to center stage a The Second City Theater - a theater that boasts making names for such actors as John Belushi, Mike Myers, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray.
"The thing with this job is that you get to know people and if they like you enough they'll put you on the stage," Stone said.
Wiseley said that after her office completes the senior follow-up in November she'll have a good idea of how she and her staff can better help the Class of 2010 work above 92 percent job placement.
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jobs guy
posted 9/10/09 @ 4:18 PM EST
Good read. The economy should get better soon and more jobs for grads!
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