Beggars Can't Be Choosers...More Like Graduates Can't Be Choosers

As someone who graduated from college in 2009, I fall into that group of recent graduates of the last couple years who have fallen into unstable job market with no much to grab onto. A lot of us how stellar academic records, extracurricular activities, and on the job training; also known as internships or light job experience. However, despite many of our best efforts; we still struggle to find a career that we hoped to land after four years of hard work in college. I guess that bachelors degree doesn't carry the same wait? I guess we have to be a little more realistic and less inclined to find that perfect job than many of our predecessors?

Last year at this time I was a recent college graduate with the feeling of success at my back and the feeling of uncertainty ahead of me. It was the worst job market we have seen in a long time. Many of us prepared months ahead in hopes of graduating with at least some certainty. Whether it be landing a job in their field of interest. Or whether it be setting up a handful of interviews for the coming weeks. Or whether it be having applied to several places and at least know that you have put in a dent of sorts in the mountain of landing a job.

I know that things were going to be different after four years at Rutgers University. I was going to be back home and not around many of my closest friends on a daily or nightly basis. I also knew that by the end of the year I was going to be receiving my monthly reminder that it is time to start paying back those student loans. Many people I knew were trying to scrap by to keep a job at the mall or a low end position that they might have had during college because they knew that it would ensure that they would at least have money for spending and any financial needs they had.

The horror stories of my graduating class were passed down to the incoming seniors and soon to be graduating class of 2010. I hardly heard much from the graduating class before me. The recession had yet to hit the hardest so "the fire" was not lit early on like the one that might have been lit by my contemporaries to those below us. The numbers were grim. Roughly 1 out of 5 graduates had landed job that would give them somewhat long term stability and was what they wanted to be doing. Of that number, I am sure that some might have been stretching the truth a bit as they were probably happy they found something at least remotely close to what they wanted. This past graduating class that type of statistic in the back of their mind as they worked their way through their senior year.

That perspective gave the class of 2010 a different approach; one that I began to adopt myself struggling for a few months trying to land that career job: do not get a perfect job, but just a job. Career services centers became even more vital and networking became a near necessity. Instead of trying to land a job they wanted, graduates and soon-to-be graduates took the first offer they got in fear of not getting anything.

Another avenue that many that I graduated with and whom graduated this year took was to hold off a career and go to graduate school. Increased applications for graduate schools especially law schools took a big increase in 2009 and 2010. Additionally, service oriented organizations like Teach for America saw an increase in applicants the last couple years. In 2010, 46,000 applications were sent in and was the top employer at some universities.

A recent survey taken showed that 13,000 graduating seniors revealed that 39% had received job offers and 59% had accepted them, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Compared to last year, the numbers were: 40% had received offers and 45% had accepted them. This clearly shows that graduates this year are less picky and willing to take a chance to wait for a better for job. Also compared to last year, 24.4% of graduates this year had a job lined up before graduation as opposed to 19.% of graduates last year.

As we enter another cycle where the class of 2011 looks to the future and a year from now, they have the last couple graduating classes as models to hopefully make the impact of graduating into the workforce slightly easier. There have been signs that this past graduating class had a slight improvement post graduation compared to the year before. But also we saw the expectations bar lowered. In this economic environment, we who once thought we had limitless potential are starting to limit ourselves in the bleak job market we entered. Instead of wait for the job I want; it is wait for the first call I get. There is a saying that goes something along the lines that beggars can't be choosers. If you don't have a lot, then something is better than nothing. Graduating college students are beginning to realize that philosophy now applies to their work force dreams. They who have no job can't be choosy of their career. Something is better than nothing. That is the realization I began to make last summer and that mindset has trickled itself down the last few graduating classes and the next couple. In this economy, college graduates with limited experience are the beggars.