As the election gets closer, I begin to look at the issues and become a little nervous about what the future will bring when I graduate. I used to think that having a diploma automatically meant that I would get a job, I was naïve.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the unemployment rate in the United States is up to 6.1, and ideal unemployment rate would be around 4.1. Also in the last year around 27,000 jobs were cut in business professions.
To me, this means that when I graduate finding my dream job in marketing will be that much harder than I ever thought. We will not only be competing against other graduates but we will also be competing against others who have lost their jobs and have five years of experience. It is a scary time to be graduating.
Even with two internships, I’m still scared for what the future may bring, especially with the job market getting worse and worse every day.
This past summer I worked for a Major League Baseball team. While I was there we would have meetings about not getting discouraged about the economy and about future jobs. The only problem was, I was an intern and there weren’t any openings. After talking to one of my bosses, she made me realize that the number of jobs available were becoming smaller because of the economy and that the sooner I started looking for a job, the better.
Last year, the economy wasn’t nearly as bad as it is now and many seniors had a hard time finding jobs. I had to listen to lots of my friends talk about how hard it was to find a job and how having a college degree can only get you so far, you have to put the work into find the job. For us seniors, this means that we should take advantage of all of the resources that we have and start our job search early.
I don’t want to graduate in May of this year and still be looking for a job. I don’t want to be the senior who has to say “I couldn’t find a job.”
Alex Hercules is a senior from Kansas City, KS and is majoring in mass communications and marketing. She can be reached at
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