Recent grads, how's the job search going?

[cjackson]

I'm concerned about graduating with six figure debt in such a tough job market. Any recent grads care to share their experience looking for work thus far?

[starmaker]

"Recent grads" is the wrong phrase for me (I've been working full-time and working on an MS degree part-time for a while), but I've job-hunted twice in the last 18 months (first I got laid off, then I got a contractor job that was supposed to lead to a permanent job, then the company where I was contracting to got bought out and I had to leave when the contract ended, now I have a job as a permanent employee again). For me - and I make no claims about anyone else here - it hasn't been too bad. In both cases I spent about three months unemployed. I kept pretty detailed notes of my last job search, and around half of the places that I applied to gave me some kind of "bite" - a phone interview, an in-person interview, a questionnaire, whatever the first step in their hiring process is.

[runonsentence]

If a little research would also help set your mind at ease, sometimes professional organizations within fields publish job numbers and statistics. The MLA does such things for English.

Anecdotally, the job market is pretty awful for humanities (as it has been for years), but the exiting PhDs in my program seem to have fared better than in previous years, this spring.

[runonsentence]

I'm cautious when interpreting employment statistics because I've found they tend to distort and inflate them. Employed simply means employed, whether it's the IMF or Mc Donald's...

If the statistics are well done (like the MLA's job numbers for English), they'll break down how many are employed in their field, how many employed within the field found TT lines, what year the TT appointments earned their PhD, etc....basically, as long as your numbers aren't coming from a self-interested place (like a university/program, for instance) you should be able to find some numbers that aren't so distorted.

[fibonacci]

The jobs that are being created by this economy are for the most part non exportable service and construction jobs, not jobs which require a college degree. During the years of 01 and 06, when times were still "good" and we hadn't entered into a Depression, the information sector of the US economy lost 645,000 jobs or 17.4% Computer systems design and related lost 116,000 or 8.7% of its work force. During that period of time, Oracle moved 2k jobs to India, among others including WS firms which moved their back room tech and analysis work overseas as well. And this was during the time when this economy was booming.

Engineering jobs in general are also falling, due to that fact that manufacturing sectors that employ engineers are in decline. Again if you bothered to look at the period of time when things were "good" (01-06), the US lost 1.2 million jobs in the creation and building of machinery, computers, electronics, semiconductors, communication equipment, electrical equipment, motor vehicles and transportation equipment. The BLS payroll job numbers show a total of 70,000 jobs created in all fields of architecture and engineering, which also included clerical staff, for that period of time. So when we were booming and money and wealth was supposedly flowing, this economy created a mere 14,000 jobs per year in arch/engineering. The annual graduating classes for those majors is far in excess of that, and that before the FEDS allowed a minimum of 65,000 h-1B visas annually for skilled foreign workers as well as many more L-1 visas.

All of the occupations with largest project employment growth in terms of the number of jobs for the next decade are in nontradable domestic services, meaning for this "incredible job machine" otherwise known as the US economy, are retail sales, registered nurses, postsecondary teachers, customer service representatives, janitors and cleaners, waiters and waitresses, food preparation, home health aides, nursing aides, orderlies and attendants, general and operations managers. Few of these jobs require a college education.

People are propagating a myth that education is an axiomatic good, one that many students believe and that is leading to economic ruin. As a percentage of population, there are more people in college than at any time in the history of the republic, and precisely at a time when the economy is incapable of creating high wage, high skill careers which cannot be shipped off overseas, or are not being filled by foreign workers. To insist that college is somehow going to create the income when those jobs cannot begin to pay back high debt is plain ridiculous....

[cliopatra]

I was contacted by a company that was referred to me by a prof. from my department. I was offered a position and was extremely grateful that this person referred me for the job.

The best thing you can do is tell your profs. that you are looking for work and to keep you posted on any opportunities they come across. Sometimes companies get in touch with specific departments when they have a position and need a person with education/experience in that field. This happened a lot within our department for government positions (Humanities oddly enough).

I heard about a job opening in my hometown, that wasn't even posted yet through one of my UG professors! I applied (didn't get it) but it was still awesome to know that jobs were opening up before they actually were posted. Reach out to your contacts who you met during your studies (potential employers, colleagues, friends and family) and tell them you are job searching.

Check company websites or send a cover letter and catered resume to a company you wish to work for, try and send it directly to the person who would be hiring you (even if there are no job postings). Basically keep on top of everything and, as you probably already know, don't be lazy with your cover letters! Don't send a generic one to every company but write one specific for the position/company.

Also, not sure how you are with your cohort (ours is kinda friendly with each other) so we usually keep in touch and send job postings to each other if we're not interested in them or can't apply. We also let each other know where we are working and how things are going (in case they interview with said company). We look out for one another but I think this is extremely rare because most groups would be competitive with one another.

Good Luck!

Edited August 24, 2011 by clio11

[2400]

I am completing my degree in about a year and have just started my job search. I figured it would be good to start looking around now so I can get a sense of the current job market. I'm also applying for a few postdoc positions that have deadlines coming up for positions next year. I do feel worried when I read the news though about high unemployment. However, I have friends that are in the process of completing their PhD's and have found adjunct teaching positions (they are working part time and wanted to work part time while writing up). A few friends found positions easily and I think in just a few months. I know it all depends on the field and how attractive your resume is....I'm hoping I have decent luck once my job search is in full swing...

[chaospaladin]

I'm concerned about graduating with six figure debt in such a tough job market. Any recent grads care to share their experience looking for work thus far?

Is the 6 figure debt came from Bachelor's degree + Master's degree / a professional degree? A PhD is suppose to be a free degree.