Applying for Jobs..Like Getting into Harvard?

As someone who has/had spent much time after graduation applying to jobs, this article caught my eye: http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/06/stimulus.jobs/index.html.

In most years, it is tough for college graduates to jump into the job market. In most years, it is tough for any average individual who is looking for work or to progress in another field to find a job. However, this year it is even more difficult. There have been over 600,000 jobs created or saved through the stimulus package. That, though, has only helped a little in aiding the millions of unemployed who are fighting for jobs with so few openings. The unemployment sits at 10.2% and the gap between the full-time job openings and number of people without a job has continued to widen. Little by little in the past two years, the number of job openings has decreased by 2 million like the number of available seats in an incoming class at a university. The likelihood that many of the unemployed who are applying get a job is less than 20%, which is like applying to one of the nation's top universities. What makes this worse is the fact that many statistics do not include individuals recently unemployed or those who have reached the point that they have given up. Essentially, the equivalent of someone coming to the fact that they have no shot at college and give up and don't apply/go. If these individuals were included in the other statistics and numbers, that less than 20% chance of landing a job gets worse. You then are left with close to a 10% chance; almost like getting into an Ivy League school.

Another group that is also not talked about much is the part-time workers. More and more people who are looking for a full-time position have taken part-time work. The number has roughly doubled to a little less than 10 million. If you were to add those individuals to the other groups and the unemployment rate get very close to 20% and includes a little more than 30 million people. That means there would be 30 million people applying for 2.5 million full-time openings and give individuals an 8% chance of landing a job. That is like getting into Harvard University; one of the top if not the top university in the United States.

This whole thing really is more than a game of numbers and percentages. This is people's lives and futures. The stimulus has given a little relief, but certainly more is needed as the number of unemployment can easily grow on a week's notice. I find the current lack of jobs to be something that hopefully will get better, but if people have as good a chance of landing a job as a high school senior does at getting into Harvard than reality should really set in across the board. This is definitely one of the worse of times our nation has faced and I am cannot believe it myself sometimes looking at those numbers. Just like applying to colleges including Harvard; people need to know that with patience something will come to you. At the end of the day, faith and hope will guide you through these rough times.