Not a Good Year to Graduate if You Need a Job

The financial sector problems of last year and unemployment rates north of 8% in many states have meant that the entry level position job market faced by college graduates is the worst in many years. As David Maley's story illustrates, even students who would have been highly desired in recent years may have to modulate/go to Plan B for the time being. The accompanying "Tips for College Seniors" has good pointers; such as networking and making sure to make a real effort on each interview.

Having come out of a Master's program in 1982 (a similarily dreadful year for the economy) I have some sympathy for the graduates, whether graduate, undergraduate or high school. Accounting probably will do better than some disciplines, but laid off financial employees crossing over into accounting may take at least some of the better jobs and I expect that APSU's stronger 2009 graduates will not get as good or as many offers as the better graduates of 2008. In some liberal arts fields, it may literally take prayer to find a job related to one's course of study.