News Highlights

New grads facing tough employment environment

But most are coping

New graduates are finding ways to cope with a tough economy.

2008-12-15
By Mark Fischenich, Free Press Staff Writer [published in The Free Press, Mankato, MN, 12/15/2008]

Graduating into school of hard knocks 

If Saturday was a day for Minnesota State University graduates to celebrate their academic accomplishments, and if Sunday was a day for recovering from the celebration, then today is the day to face a grim reality.

More than 1,400 MSU graduates have now left academia and arrived in the toughest economy in 26 years, or in 34 years, or in more than 60 years — depending on the level of pessimism of the economists making the judgment.

"It's something that's in all of our minds," said Kristen Frederick, an honors graduate in psychology Saturday. "... It is a fear, of course."

The focus on the bad economy during the final months of the presidential election made it impossible to miss that times were tough, Frederick said.

Since then, the news has only been worse. Two days before MSU's first-semester commencement came the release of unemployment statistics for the week ending Nov. 29. Some of the numbers were the most unfavorable since 1982, others the worst since 1974.

That same day, The Wall Street Journal reported that the current recession might "turn out to be longest and most painful downturn since the Great Depression," based on a survey of 54 economists. They predicted the unemployment rate would remain above 8 percent into 2010.

"Everyone that I talk to is just kind of sick of hearing about it," said Joe Peters, who graduated Saturday with an aviation degree. "Most of the people I work with just work and deal with it."

Other graduates are planning to delay their entry into the full-time job market.

"I'm actually going to grad school," said Robert Brown, who earned a speech-communications degree.

Brown's decision wasn't made out of fear. He was offered a job as a teaching assistant at MSU, which makes grad school affordable.

Alecia Prins, who graduated with a double-major of Spanish and marketing, is taking the same route. Hired as an assistant coach of the Maverick women's golf team, Prins is relieved she won't be heading into the difficult job market.

"A lot of my friends who have graduated from here or elsewhere are having a difficult time finding jobs," said Prins, who hopes to eventually work in marketing in the golf industry. "... I'm very glad that I have a plan. And hopefully when I get out, the job market will be a little better."

Frederick is getting used to life being a bit tougher for people her age. She notes that her peers were the first high schoolers to face the stricter graduation standards. They entered college after and during some of the steepest tuition hikes in state history. For them, a bachelor's degree — or even a master's degree — is no longer considered enough to generate good job offers.

And now, just as they're entering the job market, comes a recession expected to be the worst in decades.

"It's a pattern with my generation," Frederick said.

The concern goes beyond just having a steady paycheck. There's also a mountain of student debt coming due. And many students are facing the loss of the medical insurance.

Frederick, who works in guest services at the Alltel Center, intends to work through the summer and try to develop a plan for her future — one that might include grad school.

Peters, the aviation major who's tired of all the media focus on the recession, will continue loading trucks for Federal Express. As he does, he will be working to accumulate the flight hours he needs or his dream job of flying for Fed Ex.

He's worked while going to high school and college, graduated a semester early and is confident that his attitude can overcome a bad job market.

"If you have a strong enough work ethic, you'll find a way to get through it," Peters said.

Pamela Weller-Dengel, director of MSU's Career Development Center, hasn't seen statistics yet that show MSU graduates are finding it significantly more difficult to get a job in a career related to their field of study. But there's a several-month lag in the stats, and she doesn't doubt that hard times are coming.

"We would like to see more of that sense of urgency (from students) and we're not seeing it," Weller-Dengel said. "... They're so focused on their education and finals and getting through their graduation ceremonies, and they're not really thinking about the next step."

That's one point the graduates agree on: They deserve to rejoice a bit before worrying about what comes next.

"Celebrating all your years of work and the freedom of being done," Prins said before commencement. "Yep, everybody's going to be pretty happy."

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