college.jpgMy intern will wake up this morning and at some point check the national news and see that the jobless rate in the United States jumped to 8.1 percent in February.

This will not make her happy. Why? Katherine Guiney is a senior in college and she’s worried about her job prospects after academia.

Lately she’s been acting a bit like a prisoner waiting for her number to be called on death row.

She, like many college students, is at a major life/career crossroads and she’s not sure which freakin path to take.

Why? Just thank all of us who screwed up the economy just as she was about to jump into it.

Feeling guilty, I decided to contact one of my favorite career gurus and have her talk some sense into Katherine. Here’s what happened, in my intern’s words:

By Katherine Guiney

With the unemployment rate higher than crap and with the National Association of Colleges and Employers saying hiring among college graduates will be down 22 percent this year, what is a college senior and graduate-to-be to do?

Do you go out into the barren wasteland that is the job market or do you continue stay in the pretend-world that is college?

As I prepare to graduate in May, these annoying questions just won’t leave my head. Don’t think I’m just sitting on my butt waiting for these questions to answer themselves, because I’m not. I’m filling out both job and graduate school applications with the rapid precision of someone who does nothing else, and yet, I have no idea what I should do come graduation.

So, to help me out, Eve had me to talk to Roberta Chinsky Matuson, a career expert and president of Human Resource Solution. She gave me the low-down on what college graduates are in for and what they should be doing.

“Here’s what I think you should do,” she says. ” First of all, I think you should leave every option open.”

In other words, although I haven’t received so much as a reply from any job I’ve applied to, I shouldn’t think that I’m stuck going to graduate school.

Graduate school is a great option, Matuson says, but don’t go if you’re not in a position to do so. What does that mean? Basically, if you don’t have the financial ability or you don’t know what kind of career you’re headed for, don’t go. You’re going to accumulate huge amounts of debt and it’s just not responsible to take that on for no reason.

That being said, she notes, graduate school is a great way to continue your education and you should not count it out.

You should also not count out the job market just because it’s down.

“Just because it’s down, doesn’t mean it’s not there,” Matuson says.

For those of us looking to get a job, she says we must utilize any resources within our grasp. Use parents’ and employers’ social networks, in addition to your own.

“One thing I would ask,” she says. “Have you visited the career placement office yet? If the students are waiting until maybe April or May to show their face, at that point the game is done.”

If you don’t have job come graduation there are still options.

“You could approach employers to do an internship,” Matuson says. “You have to go to them, you have propose it, and it has to be beneficial for them.”

If this is where you end up, make sure to outline your role, she says. Don’t be that person getting coffee for everyone and making copies. You are there to learn and then move on.

One of the most important things is to just stay positive. Matuson says she graduated during a recession and people told her she would not get a job. But she did.

So there is hope after all.

Ah hope. Do you have any? I do. I admit it. Don’t hate me because I’m hopeful.

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