Last Year's Seniors Talk About the Job Markets
By J.p. Lawrence
The real world is miserable, Hamza Haya-ud Din ‘11 says.
It is seven months after his graduation from Bard College, and Haya-ud is back home with his parents, searching for a job.
“It’s not even a dog-eat-dog world,” he says. “It’s like two dogs lying on the side of the road have been hit by cars and a starving college graduate eats them both.”
Bard’s Class of 2012 will enter the workforce this summer. They follow in the footsteps of last year’s class, who graduated into what the New York Times described as the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The March 23 article states that nearly one in ten 2011 liberal-arts graduates remain unemployed.
The diminishing amount of entry-level jobs has affected graduates such as Haya-ud, whose job searches have lasted much longer than expected. Haya-ud says he applied to more than 100 jobs and was only interviewed for three.
“I got rejected by McDonald’s because I was overqualified,” Haya-ud says, “and I got rejected for a position as a dishwasher because I didn’t have enough experience.”
He’s applied for everything from an arborist assistant to a systems technician at a computer repair company. He has also spent time as a dog trainer and as a fashion show model.
“Clearly, it is still a very tough job market,” says April Kinser, Director of Bard’s Career Development Office.. “Each year it is getting a little better—for I guess the last two years. But it is very, very tight.”
Students should be aggressive in their job search, Kinser says. They should be tenacious, disciplined and ready to spend 20 hours a week working to find a job.
Cold-calling, or sending an application without the company expecting it, is the least effective method of finding a job. Kinser says 75-80% of jobs are found through networking, both in-person and online. Students should spend as much time as possible applying and reapplying to websites and thinking about whom to contact.
Family members can be a good source for making connections or introducing students to other people, Kinser says. Students can also find people to talk to while volunteering or working a part-time job. The key is to always be making connections and not to stay at home.
“Networking is simply building relationships and making friends,” Kinser says. “Always be talking to people in your job search. While interning or volunteering or working a part-time job, you have the opportunity every day to meet people.”
Travis McGrath ‘11, for instance, got a job through a professor at Bard.
“A professor’s husband came to join the company, and they needed somebody young who was willing to do a lot of work,” McGrath says.
The job was at a start-up software company in the Hudson Valley. McGrath, a math major, says life at a small company means he has to do a little bit of everything from programming to blogging to graphic design. He says he wishes he had taken more classes outside his major in college.
Students have to be flexible in this job market, Kinser says. A liberal arts education is a solid foundation for a first job, but a lot of learning happens on the job. Even if the job is not a dream job, there is still a chance of meeting the person who has the right connections. Haya-ud says students shouldn’t assume they deserve a job because they have a degree.
“I was surprised at how weak a bachelor’s degree is,” Haya-ud, who graduated with a degree in political science, says. “I was at least expecting to be able to get a foot in the door with an international organization.”
Haya-ud says he learned a lot during his job search. Looking back, he said he wishes he had spent more time on his homework instead of playing video games.
He adds he was accepted into a variety of law schools, including one in his native Chicago. His future is his hands.
“I'm just taking a path to see where it goes and whether or not it works out will be determined as I progress,” he says.