America's Job Market are looking for creativity and flexibility in the workforce in many ways similar to experiences in Australia. Hannah Hoffman explains...
The traditional five-year post-graduation plan may need a renovation. University career counselors agree the keys to starting a career in today's economy are flexibility and creativity, not rigid planning.
Counselors from the University Career Center, Lundquist College of Business, and School of Journalism and Communication said there are career possibilities for students who have a strategy. Students can use the poor economy as a chance to stand out, they said.
Bil Morrill, career services counselor for the journalism school, said students need to be more flexible and realistic in how they envision their first jobs. They will probably be in smaller markets, and may not be what the student necessarily had in mind, he said.
Deb Chereck, Career Center director, agreed that students need to rethink what a first job entails. She pointed out that the job market is changing. For example, this year nearly 20 percent of the employers that attended the center's career fair were government agencies. The public sector may not be where most students plan on starting, but Chereck said it is a good opportunity for training, benefits and competitive pay.
Government jobs are a good fit for a young generation that, overall, was caught up in the momentum of the recent election, she said.
Students should consider that health care, education and other service fields are growing, Chereck said. "We're going to have to start thinking like a community," she said, adding that choosing a career is becoming less of a decision about individual success.
Many liberal arts majors may be surprised where they end up, said James Chang, director of career services for the business school. Contrary to what they may envision, most liberal arts majors end up working in the business world, he said.
Chereck encouraged liberal arts majors to think outside the box when choosing a career. Unlike students in the professional school, liberal arts and science majors don't necessarily have careers attached to their majors, but that doesn't mean jobs won't present themselves. These students merely have to be more creative, she said.
Morrill and Chereck emphasized the importance of having a strategy for finding a job. Both said networking was very important. Chereck said career fairs and job shadowing are excellent ways to meet professionals in a student's chosen field.
Morrill said the most important advice he can give students is to get experience, "any way you can." Grades are important, Morrill said, but experience is more so. Job experience, whether on
campus, during the summer or in an internship, makes students competitive.
Despite existing career possibilities, students need to be realistic about the economy, counselors said. Oregon's 7.3 percent unemployment rate is nearly 1 percent higher than the national average of 6.5 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Oregon economy lost more than 14,000 jobs in October, according to the Oregon Employment Department.
Those statistics don't appear to bode well for University students who are looking for jobs. Morrill said he has seen more students worrying about finding careers than ever before, and this term he has seen more worried students in his office than any past fall term.
Chang, too, has seen a number of worried students. He urges them not to cave in under the stress of finding a job. "Don't let the tough environment give you an excuse to not do anything," he said.
Chang, Morrill and Chereck all emphasized that now is the time for graduating seniors to stand out from the crowd and make themselves known in the professional worlds they plan on entering. The stress and anxiety that many students are feeling can be positive for those students who stay calm.
Chereck added that the last year of college is an unusually good time to be job hunting, so students should capitalize on the opportunity. "This is the only time in your life employers come to you," she said. It will never happen again."
hhoffman@dailyemerald.com