The economy is crumbling and I’m preparing for graduation; my future couldn’t be more reassuring. Economists and politicians are saying we are in the middle of the worst financial crisis in the United States since the Great Depression. “Crisis” and "my future" are two things I’d rather not have in the same sentence.
The national unemployment rate rose from 5.7 to 6.1 percent in August 2008 alone, according to the United States Bureau of Labor, while the National Center for Education Statistics shows that college enrollments are on the rise. Meanwhile, the country is in the midst of a recession.
Prior to the crisis, there were a lot of signs that the job market was going to decrease, says Reza Ramazani, chair of St. Michael’s economics department.
If it's true that education is one of the best investments, am I wrong for expecting a tangible and relative outcome—a job where I can utilize my degree? |
“Before this crisis a lot of people had a difficulty finding a meaningful profession within their major,” Ramazani says.
We’ve heard the all too common joke of a college graduate securing a job at the local Burger King. While I’ve never witnessed its validity, I’d rather not be the one asking, “Do you want fries with that?” I understand that as individuals we are extremely capable of cultivating new skills in the job market, but what about the skills I spent four years and over $80,000 cultivating and perfecting?
On average it takes three to four months for a graduate to find a job, says Ingrid Peterson, assistant director of Career Development. This number should be reassuring, and maybe it is to most, but it fails to tell if these jobs are relative to the person's major.
If it’s true that education is one of the best investments, am I wrong for expecting a tangible and relative outcome—a job where I can utilize my degree? I don’t want to have to lower my expectations just to make ends meet. I understand that placing a restriction on one’s job search will make things more difficult, but who wants to be stuck at a job where their day revolves around constant glances at the clock? Maybe I’m an idealist.
I considered going to graduate school immediately after St. Michael’s, but have decided to take a year off, gather my bearings, and gain the “real world experience” that I’m so often told employers want. What happens now that those opportunities for experience are becoming increasingly difficult to find? College used to be a means of avoiding military enlistment, now it’s a means of avoiding unemployment.
“It felt like last year all three of us (Peterson, Christine Clary, Donna Atwater) felt like ‘gosh we’re helping a lot of students go to grad school,’” Peterson says.
Because the vast majority of jobs in our country do not require a college education, college enrollments may begin to outpace the growth of professional and managerial jobs. I’m counting on the retirement of baby boomers.
The increase in college-educated persons inevitably leads to competition in the job market.
“You can control how good your resume, cover letter and interview skills are, but the bottom line is you don’t have any control over your competition,” Peterson says.
Since before graduation, Jess St. Clair '08, a journalism and mass communications major at St. Michael's, was looking for a job. She recently secured one as a reporter at the Essex Reporter and Colchester Sun.
It likely took her so long to secure a position because of competition in the job market, St. Clair says.
“I think it’s harder to move up nowadays without [further education],” St. Clair says. “That’s why I want to go back to school because I feel like there’s going to become a point where I’m going to hit a brick wall.”
The problem is that more and more people are obtainting post-graduate degrees. Who do you think an employer would rather hire, the candidate with a bachelor's or the candidate with a doctorate?
“Everyone has it drilled in their head that if you get that degree you’ll get the job, but a bachelor’s is like a high school diploma now,” says Sarah Pelow '08, a studio art major at the University of Vermont.
I’ve come to realize that even if this recession is part of a cycle where the market will eventually correct itself, right now the only thing I can count on in May is that I’ll graduate. |
