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Grads struggle with job pursuits

Courtney Kindall, a UH graduate with a master’s in counseling psychology, spends at least four hours a day filling out job applications and combing through internet job search results in an attempt to find a full-time job.

Three months removed from school and with previous work experience the 26-year-old has repeated this routine for about three days a week in what she calls a grueling job hunt.

“It’s definitely an employer’s market,” Kindall said. “I knew it would be tough getting in, but I wasn’t prepared to not have a job at all.”

She is one of many students who have been hit with reality as they’ve begun searching for jobs in a nation with a 9.2 percent unemployment rate. A survey from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals a 12.1 percent unemployment rate for college graduates between the ages of 20-24 for July, a five percentage point increase from June.

UH Career Services counselor Becky Reiter said that the anxiety is reflected in the students who come to visit her daily.

“Everybody’s worried,” Reiter said. “Students that don’t have a job are worried about getting one, and students that have a job are worried about keeping it. It’s a really challenging job market right now, and I definitely feel for students.”

While searching, Kindall has worked part time with the UH Alumni Association and has another part time job lined up. She said a lack of work experience and certifications as well as insufficient preparation by the school as reasons why she is unable to find work.

“It’s just one hurdle after the next,” Kindall said. “I wish the school would have prepared me more. They just kind of said, ‘Hey, here’s your master’s, good luck finding a job.’”

Post-college employment isn’t as dismal as it may seem, though. According to The National Association of Colleges and Employers, employers are hiring more than 19 percent more graduates for 2011and 2012 than last year.

According to a survey on the UHCS website, UH students are offered $10,000-$15,000 more than the average salary.

Reiter said that the most important thing students can do to find a job is to prepare early.

“The biggest thing I would recommend is to do an internship,” Reiter said. “We always recommend that (students) start looking for internships the semester before they actually do it.”

Amanda Jolivet, another 2011 UH graduate, has felt undaunted by the bleak job statistics and unemployment that has affected her peers.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree in media studies in May, Jolivet found work on the community relations team at Fort Bend Family Health Center.

Jolivet said it wasn’t her degree that secured her a job at the nonprofit organization, but who she knew and met during her college tenure.

“I found a job quickly due to networking and good relationships with professors. I ended up knowing so many people that building a network in itself helped me get a job,” Jolivet said.

Although their career paths are different, Kindall and Reiter agree with Jolivet’s sentiment. While at Texas State University, Reiter did a one-year, unpaid internship in the bereavement department at a hospice while working 40 hours a week.

Jolivet participated in an unofficial, unpaid internship for Christian radio station 92.1 for four years, where she increased her personal network.

She was also a former employee at the UHCS and saw many students come for help in their senior year. Jolivet said students often regret procrastinating.

“The biggest mistake they make is waiting until the last minute,” Jolivet said. “They want immediate help with immediate results. It doesn’t work that way. You need to get experience, even if it’s unpaid.”

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21 Comments

  • ’09 Classical Studies, ’10 Classics (Upenn), I’ve been searching for approximately 5 1/2 months and nothing. There are jobs and I feel prepared…it just seems like a saturated market. The comp. is getting younger. Hopefully, advice such as the above helps!

  • Get a technical degree: accounting, engineering, etc

    counseling psychology has a more focused lower demand career path. In this economy that doesn't help.

  • I can relate to this story.I did my Masters in Computer Engineering with a little Management.Although you may think it would have been easy to find jobs in the Engineering field,it was not.I started searching for a job as soon as I started doing my Masters because of the tough time I went through after my Bachelors.I searched for a couple of years,had plenty of interviews (Even with ones I didnt like!).Finally I got a job for an internship AFTER I GRADUATED!That too in a job that I didnt even want to go to the interview for.Finally it worked out well though,I loved the job and they offered me a Full Time position at the end of the Intern period.I would advise you to persist and take up jobs related to the major although it may be unpaid.

  • I understand other careers have a wider job market but counseling psychology is my dream and has been for 15 years (since 8th grade). I would rather have difficulty finding a job that satisfies me than one that makes me miserable.

    When I started the (masters and bachelors) degree I anticipated getting my license (I passed the test this tuesday and now have to submit to the state) but I was not prepared or told, until the very last day of my last class, that you very rarely find a job until you are fully licensed. Because the UH program isn't CACREP certified once you get a license from the state you still have to do 3000 hours of work, beyond your core required internship, to become fully licensed…. But no one will hire me for that. Its stressful, but again, I would rather love my job than get by in a field that makes my quality of life decline.

  • I think the most important thing for students to remember is that they need to research their career field well before graduation and figure out if internships are common/required/paid/unpaid etc. In my field, its almost impossible to get an entry level job without any internship, so you have to hustle well before graduation. It's different in other fields. You really have to know your field. Don't go to school and expect that a diploma is going to be enough to get you a job.

  • Are unpaid Interns eligible for Welfare?

    Here are more references to unpaid internships.

    Are unpaid interns able to participate in the companies Workers Compensation plan if they are injured at work? Are they 'agents' of the non-employer …employer?

    Are such unpaid interns eligible for welfare?

    Isn't it just wrong to ask people – Men and Women – to work without
    paying them a wage?
    ::
    GP

  • Ironically most unpaid interships that I have seen have been for people who are going for liberal arts degrees GP.

  • UH needs to start a degree program that teaches students how to live off of the land- eating wild berries, etc.
    it's a very green lifestyle and it will probably prevent a lot of starvation deaths when the rich completely pull the rug out from under us.

    • I don't know about that but I do think UH could explore some new degree programs. There are some interdisciplinary areas that seem right up UH's alley but I also have some crazy notions that UH could really do well if it went after the online-degree space currently occupied by University of Phoenix, etc.

      I saw an expose on PBS saying that online universities supposedly get a hugely disproportionate chunk of the federal grants and financial aid that is dispersed. Online universities are also much more expensive than both public and private non-online universities. So that is our tax dollars going into some extractive out of state corporation's pocket.

      By getting in on this, UH could do good things not just in terms of the dollar amount but also by keeping these grants and loans circulating locally.

      • I agree. Online is the future. Most of what I see taking place in lectures is something that could be done from home – i.e. stenography/note taking. Professors don't have time to talk to everyone in class, most students don't ask questions – why make them come to class when they could save gas/money and watch the lecture from home. Getting rid of their obligation to do live lectures every semester would free up time for them to do one on one with students, which is much more useful for educating them I think.

  • UH needs to start a degree program that teaches students how to live off of the land- eating wild berries, etc.
    it's a very green lifestyle and it will probably prevent a lot of starvation deaths when the rich completely pull the rug out from under us.

  • I graduated from UH in 2009 with a teaching certifcate and have still not found a job. There are so many more graduates graduating each semester and the job pool is getting smaller. There are no decent jobs left for UH graduates. UH degree has lost its value in the last five years. I wished I would have gone to a out of state university. UH has not helped students in finding job placements or even checked up. UH just wants your money and then forgetst you when you are a graduates. The only time I receive stuff from them is when they need more money.

  • I graduated from UH in 2009 with a teaching certifcate and have still not found a job. There are so many more graduates graduating each semester and the job pool is getting smaller. There are no decent jobs left for UH graduates. UH degree has lost its value in the last five years. I wished I would have gone to a out of state university. UH has not helped students in finding job placements or even checked up. UH just wants your money and then forgetst you when you are a graduates. The only time I receive stuff from them is when they need more money.

    • what makes you think it has to do with your degree being from UH? do people laugh when you say you went here?

      • UH degrees have now become too saturated in the TX area. UH focuses less on student success, rather on politics in Austin. NO one laughs, but they do not take the degree too seriously. Perhaps, if the manager, CEO are UH alumni, then you get a break.

      • UH degrees have now become too saturated in the TX area. UH focuses less on student success, rather on politics in Austin. NO one laughs, but they do not take the degree too seriously. Perhaps, if the manager, CEO are UH alumni, then you get a break.

  • I graduated from UH in 2009 with a teaching certifcate and have still not found a job. There are so many more graduates graduating each semester and the job pool is getting smaller. There are no decent jobs left for UH graduates. UH degree has lost its value in the last five years. I wished I would have gone to a out of state university. UH has not helped students in finding job placements or even checked up. UH just wants your money and then forgetst you when you are a graduates. The only time I receive stuff from them is when they need more money.

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