By VAUGHN COCKAYNE
BG Independent News Correspondent
Close to four million newly graduating college students have just walked into the most hostile employment environment since the Great Depression. The work environment is hostile to all workers, but especially to the younger generation.
Since March of 2020, and the declaration of the stay-at-home order, unemployment has skyrocketed. The unemployment rate is standing in June at just over 14%, or 39 million people. The global pandemic has seen a record number of businesses being closed and individual filings for unemployment. For many college grads, this moment of celebration is soon rushed away by the creeping feeling of uncertainty.
“Honestly, who even knows what the job market will look like once I’m done. Who knows how this global pandemic’s aftermath will affect the economy. It’s a really unfortunate time for some college graduates as businesses and companies are just trying to keep their heads above water, the last thing they’re worried about is adding someone new to the payroll,” Haley Weis, a 2020 Bowling Green State University graduate said.
Even the most qualified of BGSU graduates might find looking for a suitable job challenging. Many nonessential and essential businesses have had to cut down their standing workforce significantly.
“I really enjoy journalism and telling stories, but something they don’t teach you at school while learning to be a journalist, is that journalists get paid near to nothing. And unfortunately, if you’re like a large portion of college students in America, you have student loans,” Weis said.
The current unemployment situation has made some graduates look for alternative ways of using their degrees.
“There will always be a market for video, especially with the rise of social media. If content is king, video is queen,” Owen Cappellini, a 2020 BGSU graduate, said. “However, it is always important to be adaptable, especially with COVID-19.”
Many graduates had their internships or jobs immediately canceled once stay-at-home orders were put into place – ripping away much needed experience from young professionals eager to enter the workforce.
“I had accepted a year-long internship in February and was going to start in August. The place closed at the beginning of the stay home order and they have not replied to any of my emails in the past two months,” Mia Herd said. “So I have been applying for jobs nearly every day now. Most are biology jobs, but some are just cashier jobs so I can have some money while I wait to hear back.”
This lack of professional experience can be detrimental to the job search. An economy that is already unfriendly to new additions to the workforce will only be more so without the relevant experience. Most college graduates will see the dreaded “two to three years experience” attached to many open positions around the country.
Many college graduates may find themselves stuck in minimum wage jobs, or jobs that do not relate to their degree while the economy recovers, however long that may take.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gave his estimate in a “60 Minutes” interview last month. Powell predicted that recovery will be a long and bumpy process, possibly lasting until May 2021.
The BGSU Career Center has been pushing its services ever since the beginning of the pandemic. The center website offers a link to the Ohio COVID-19 Job Search, which provides workers with information about who is hiring in their area. The Career Center is also available for personal counseling with current students and graduates to help improve job search tactics, resumes and interview skills.
