This May, close to 5,000 new faces will join the already large number of unemployed, desperate to find work in the Fairfield area. They are the newest college graduates. This group comes armed with little hands-on experience, high energy and big dreams, and will make the race to find a job in this unstable economy a little bit harder.
In the town of Fairfield, the graduating class of Fairfield University consists of over 700 full-time undergraduate students, while at Sacred Heart University the graduating class is about one fourth of the over 4,000 undergraduate students. It is projected that mMost of these students will graduate this year looking for jobs, and a large percent will stay in the area for work. Many are already worried.
“I’ve started looking for jobs, but I haven’t really found anything yet,” said Fairfield senior Sarah Iannarone. “A lot of my friends already have jobs or grad school lined up, so I’m getting nervous about finding something before graduation.”
So what is the outlook for this year’s class of graduates? Although CNNMoney.com reports that most economists still expect a high unemployment rate of about 9 percent by the end of the year, they also predict that an average of 2.5 million jobs will be added to the U.S. economy.
Cathleen Borgman, Director of the Career Planning Center at Fairfield University, is staying positive. “We are optimistic that this year will in fact be better than last,” she said. “Although recruiting is nowhere near where it was before the financial meltdown, we do see an increase in offers being extended.”
In addition, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reports that for the Class of 2011, the job market is off to a positive start. Employers, responding to the NACE Job Outlook 2011 Fall Preview survey, reported they plan to hire 13.5 percent more new bachelor’s graduates from the Class of 2011 than they did from the Class of 2010.
When asked to describe the overall job market for the Class of 2011 bachelor’s degree graduates, the largest group—almost half of employers— characterized it as “good.” In comparison, last year the largest group saw the job market as just “fair.”
Borgman encourages her students to devote a good amount of time to finding a job, and to take advantage of connections and networking.
“Students need to understand that it is still extremely competitive in the job market, and they have got to make sure their resumes are strong and that they go into interviews with their A-game,” she said.
“They are not only competing with each other, they are competing against students from prior classes who haven’t secured a position and in some cases people with experience.”
Fairfield First Selectman Ken Flatto agrees. “Truthfully I believe the job market is still incredibly tough for recent grads,” he said. “It is true however that some jobs are opening back in Finance and Accounting and Engineering especially. I believe it is imperative college grads network more and frankly seek internships which often help lead to further job opportunities.”
When asked what the town of Fairfield is doing to prepare for both of its universities’ graduations, Flatto said, “Our library has created a superb job search info series for new job seekers and we try to offer summer internships.”
Fairfield University senior Kevin Benitez, a management and marketing major, said he’s not particularly worried about his prospects after graduating.
“I’m confident that I can find a job, it might just not be the job I want in the location that I want,” he said. He also added that he believes jobs do exist, but that some areas have more openings than others.
Says Borgman, “As the saying goes, looking for a job is a job.”
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