Jobs: How will you find one?

Within the first hour of her morning, Megan Cummings said the thought of finding a job crosses her mind at least five times.

Cummings, a senior communication studies major, said she is burdened by the reality that it is time to secure employment for post-grad life. For her and other seniors, time as a student is running out as graduation approaches.

Graphic by Amanda Norris.

A May 2013 study by Georgetown University reported that during the nation’s recovery from the recession in 2010 and 2011, the unemployment rate for college graduates was 4.6 percent to 4.7 percent. However, recent college graduates, those with a bachelor’s degree between the ages of 22 and 27 years-old, have the greatest risk of unemployment, depending on their major.

The job market is more challenging to enter now than it was before the recession of 2001 because of the fragility of the economy. This is causing many recent college graduates to either take low-paying jobs for which they are overqualified or to be unemployed completely, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Although the unemployment rate for recent college graduates is relatively high, a college degree is still valuable to those who are pursuing a career, as reported by the bank, which is the largest and most active of the U.S.’s central banking system.

Cummings said she is fairly certain that she will be returning to her hometown of Thousand Oaks, Calif. after graduation to work for Sage Publications, an independent publishing company, where she has interned the past three summers. Yet she said she is still worried about the uncertainty of the future.

“It is a constant stress because, even though I do have something lined up, you never know what could happen,” Cummings said. “I really don’t want to be jobless.”

Aaron Perez, career relations specialist for recruitment at the Career Development Center (CDC), works to help students network with potential employers. Perez said it’s never too early to start looking for jobs.

“As a freshman, I know that four years seems like a long time away to be considering what your career is going to be,” Perez said. “But I think you should always be networking, always be looking for different opportunities and try out a lot of different things.”

Perez said there is no exact date for students to start applying for jobs.

“(Students) obviously should not wait until graduation date to start looking,” Perez said. “So the sooner they start looking, the better.”

The CDC, located in Argyros Forum 303, offers many different services to students such as Panther Connect (Chapman’s online job portal, which lists thousands of employment opportunities), short walk-in meetings for quick questions about resumes or interviews, scheduled appointments for mock interviews and other events on campus for students to network with potential employers.

| Jobs through connections

Michelle Lanthier graduated with a degree in television and broadcast journalism in January and plans to walk in the commencement ceremony May 24.

Lanthier began working in Los Angeles as a studio page for Paramount Pictures in February, where she gives tours to the general public, works special events and screenings and assists with audience coordination for TV shows that film on the lot.

Shortly after starting the process of applying for jobs at the beginning of January, Lanthier said she was introduced to the open position at Paramount Pictures after reaching out to a friend who also graduated from Chapman.

“She was also in the program (at Paramount Pictures) and after submitting my resume to her boss, I was scheduled for an interview less than a day later, and was offered the job within a week,” Lanthier said.

Before being offered her current position, Lanthier said she contacted every person she had crossed paths with within the industry and her previous three internships.

“Whether it was an intern coordinator, another intern I worked with, or even an assistant I met in passing, I sent out at least 100 emails,” Lanthier said. “I wanted to get the word out there that I was searching for a job.”

| Jobs with no experience

Students benefit from having previous experience in their desired field through the connections they make with other people in the industry, but experience isn’t always necessary, Perez said.

“Everybody has to start somewhere, whether that job be as a hostess or a server,” he said. “All those skills that you develop while doing that job are important and can be transferred over to another job.”

It is important to have characteristics such as showing up to work every day, being responsible, multitasking and working well in a team, Perez said. He said students can gain these traits anywhere, from working at an internship to being in a club on campus.

Brandon Potter, a ’13 graduate in accounting and business, said he had no internship experience before being hired as a staff accountant for a certified public accountant (CPA) firm called Lance, Soll, & Lunghard CPA in July.

“I had no accounting-based internships to open up a pathway to a full-time job, therefore I did as many recruiting events the Accounting Society (on campus) had to offer as I could,” Potter said. “I went to all the speaker engagement events held in Beckman, I went to individual office tours and charity events for different companies, I did mock interviews and resume workshops and, most importantly, I went to the annual meet-the-firms event.”

Potter said he attended a speaker engagement event in Beckman that had minimal attendance because the CPA firm was not well-known. The event turned out to be for the firm where Potter said he is now beginning his career.

“No matter how small the firm is or unknown a firm is, go to their event,” Potter said.

Potter also said when interviewing for potential jobs, it’s not always about the grades, but about how interviewees present themselves and interact with interviewers.

“I was very personable and genuine with my interviewers. I didn’t BS them nor fluff my interview with accounting experiences I had none of,” Potter said. “I just told them who I was, what I’ve done and how my non-accounting experiences best suited me for the job.”

Perez said students seeking employment have to try and stay positive, focused and determined.

“I know that sometimes it can be depressing if you get a rejection letter or you don’t have a good interview, but a positive attitude goes a long way,” Perez said.

In the midst of job applications, Lanthier said students should still take the time to enjoy their senior year.

“We all get stressed about securing jobs, but with that fancy college degree, a job will come,” Lanthier said. “College only happens once, and you can worry about finding a job after Chapman is all said and done.”

Meanwhile, Lanthier said that students can still be open to making business connections wherever they go.

“Keep meeting as many people as you can, at Chapman and otherwise,” Lanthier said. “You have no idea who will help you when you least expect it.”

Photo courtesy Perzon Seo.