Recent college grads putting dreams on hold

Take 10 random people from North Carolina and put them in a line and, odds are, at least one will be out of work.

The North Carolina unemployment rate for May was 11.1 percent, which is an all-time high for the state and almost double last May’s rate of 5.9 percent.

And the forecast doesn’t look good, either.

Michael Walden, a professor and economist at N.C. State University, predicted North Carolina‘s unemployment rate would peak at 13 percent by the first quarter of 2010 before recovering.

The rule of thumb used to be that earning a college degree would result in a job, but now college graduates are struggling as well. Less than half of college graduates age 25 and under are working at jobs that require a college degree, according to a study from Northeastern University in Boston.

Some college graduates from this area are feeling the hit of the recession as well.

Ryan Boyle, a spring 2009 graduate of N.C. State with a bachelor’s degree in textile engineering, is still looking for a full-time job as he works as a technician at the textile company where he had his college internship.

Boyle, who grew up in New Bern, had prepared for the job market while in college by attending career fairs at the university as well as textiles conferences across the country. He also “worked with the career center at State to develop my resume and cover letters and get different contacts in textiles. … I've created profiles at monster.com, usa.gov, LinkedIn, and some professional networking sites.”

James Campbell, who graduated with an undergraduate degree in biology from Campbell University this spring, said he intends to attend medical school in a year but will work as a nursing assistant at CarolinaEast Medical Center, which is where he worked during college.

“I’m also taking EMT classes at Lenior Community College, then when I’m certified, I can work in late September with an ambulance company,” Campbell said. “I’ll  probably just take classes at Lenior and do EMT stuff when I’m waiting to hear back from medical school.”

Both Boyle and Campbell said the news about the job market has been dismal from their friends and former classmates.

“It's not great. Normally 90 percent of textiles engineers have a job by the time they graduate. That was not even close to the case this year. There were a bunch of people who did not have jobs,” Boyle said.

Campbell, a native of Havelock, said biology majors are having an especially hard time because there are only a few jobs available that are related to their major.

“I’ve actually heard quite a few things, on the bad side, mostly. A couple of people I know that graduated in December, biology majors, worked at Olive Garden for four months before finding a job,” Campbell said.

Katie Bender, a spring 2009 graduate of UNC Wilmington with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, said her classmates have not had good luck in the job market, but the ones who prepared earlier had an easier time finding jobs.

“A lot of people, and my friends, are struggling. … I think the ones who have ‘8-to-5’ jobs are ones who started looking last semester college. Those of us who waited are having a harder time trying to find something,” said Bender, a New Bern native.

Bender said she wanted to advise people going into the job market to prepare for what’s ahead.

“If  you don’t want to be stressed, start networking. Find out what you want to do at least last semester and year in college — just to have something lined up,” Bender said.

Boyle suggested students should use the services colleges provide and network Web sites to prepare.

“If you’ve never worked with someone to develop your resume, then do that. It’s not just something to go at on your own,” Boyle said. “There are lots of different sites and job postings on the Internet, so just in your time, make as many contacts as you can; practice social networking.”