College graduates are going to have a hard time finding jobs this spring. In an article for Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Reginald Stuart reports that:
Gone are the days when even the best candidates at the best schools can be picky. College job fairs and career days, popular recruiting tools since the 1980s, are having a hard time drawing recruiters as their ranks thin. Signing bonuses and relocation allowances are now few and far between, if offered at all. Generous vacations and attractive employer-paid health and savings plans are a thing of the past.
Indeed, the new world of work in America – which is expected to sustain a national unemployment rate of roughly 10 percent most of this year – is characterized by fewer recruiters and smaller recruitment events for colleges, fewer offers of full-time jobs, and more modest pay than before the nation’s economic slump began two years ago, career counselors say.
In fact, with one job opening for every 5.4 job seekers, colleges are having a hard time even getting employers to show up for recruiting events.
Meanwhile, Justin Lahart at the Wall Street Journal writes that even people who achieved new skills after being laid off last year are having trouble finding jobs.
The hiring, if one can call it that, that does happen appears to be mostly in internships.
