As I enter my last quarter as an undergrad at Ohio State, many feelings are washing over me: joy, sadness ... fear. Yes, fear. Along with the some 5,000 people getting their bachelors degrees this quarter, I am taking my first steps into the "real world." And with that comes the reality that those student loans that have been piling up over the past four years are going to come back to haunt me very soon. If that wasn't scary enough, add on the fact that my parents' insurance will soon stop covering me, and here's hoping my '97 Chevy won't finally kick the bucket. It has had some close calls recently.
OK, so my bills are going to increase dramatically. But the reason I decided to get a four-year degree was so I could get that high-paying job, right? But it seems every time I open a newspaper or watch the news, there is talk of the mortgage crisis and a possible recession because of it. Does this mean there are no jobs for me? Am I going to be left living in a cardboard box with my degree serving as kindling for a fire?
Not necessarily. The job market doesn't have so much to do with the talks of a recession. It has more to do with demographic trends. Many of the baby boomers are retiring. A lot of Gen X'ers are cutting back on hours to spend more time with their family. And with the low barriers of starting an Internet company, members of my generation, also known as Generation Y, or "millennials," are forgoing the job search all together in favor of entrepreneurship.
Take, for example, brazencareerist.com. Started by a fellow millennial, the site is a blog network focused on my generation's forays into the workforce. And it seems the options available to us are endless. With all the demographic factors adding up in our favor, it looks like we are going to be the ones making the calls about our careers, not our employers. We have a little room to be picky.
Although this all sounds great to the soon-to-be college grad, it might not seem as though employers are exactly lining up at the doorstep waiting to hand out offers for that dream job. A day spent at the career fair can turn out to be a total bust, and the jobs listed on a college job board might all seem uninteresting, low-paying or both. However, even if there is some settling involved in taking that first job, a couple years of experience might be worth it. Employers are looking for those college grads with one to five years of experience, and studies show this trend should last for about the next 10 years.
The point is, Generation Y is in high demand. And although searching for that first job out of college can be scary and stressful, don't give up hope and don't sell yourself short. The jobs are out there, but you might have to be a little more proactive in order to find them.
April Steinbrunner is a senior in marketing. She can be reached at steinbrunner.8@osu.edu.
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