Shannon KeoughJust this past May, Cabrini College graduated approximately 1,000 students with bachelors and masters degrees, its largest graduating class ever. The class of 2009 was finally sent out into the real world, taking everything that they have learned here at Cabrini to their future job that they might have.
In the middle of the 2008-2009 academic year, the class of 2009 saw with jobs dwindling away when the economy and the job market turned for the worse. In June 2009, the unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent, being the highest it has been in 26 years ago.
Some graduates were lucky enough to find good jobs in their field while others, took jobs that don’t require a college degree or continued their part-time work.
Matthew Connelly, liberal arts major, wants to find a career in customer service in hotels. Connelly heard back from the 10 to 15 jobs he has applied to online in the Philadelphia area, but none of those employers offered him a career or even an interview.
“There are so many people desperate for a job so no one is leaving their jobs because they know how hard it is to get a new job,” Connelly said.
Connelly, who currently works at a coffee shop, seems to be happy, but hopes to find his dream job soon.
There are also many alumni who had been sending job applications out for months before graduating, hoping to find their job that they have been longing for. Nicole Hearn, a biological science major, had been sending out resumes for months before graduating and is still doing so.
“I must have applied to at least 50 jobs. I’ve heard back from about five, but nothing has come through,” Hearn said.
Now after graduating, and with the low the job opportunities, Hearn is currently working as a waitress at the Cracker Barrel in Downingtown, Pa.
“Simply because they were literally the only ones hiring,” Hearn said. “I’ve been mainly looking for research jobs within the field of science, but I’ve also been looking for receptionist jobs and for a while I was looking for little jobs to keep the bills paid.”
Since graduating, Hearn has had two phone interviews, but none of those prospects have come through for her since the summer has started.
Hotels and research jobs are not the only ones who aren’t hiring, but even the education field is troubled with providing jobs for recent graduates. Education is one of the biggest majors at Cabrini, and Ashley Rivera, an elementary and special education major and history major, still does not have a permanent teaching job.
Rivera, who worked at Cabrini’s summer school program, is still unsure of where she is going to be when the school year starts. She has posted information on a Web site called PAReap.com
“On the site, school districts post the jobs they are looking for and can go through your information to see if you fit,” Rivera said.
Finding ten jobs that Rivera was interested in, she sent out her information that her possible future employers needed, but she still has not heard anything back.
“I think it is hard now for teachers to get jobs because of the area that I live in,” Rivera said. “A lot of people want to be in the districts that are near me so there is a lot of competition.”
Rivera really wants to pursue a career in teaching and is hoping to have a teaching job soon.
Don’t start thinking that all of the recent graduates have not found a job yet. Marc Zubricky, an information systems major, who graduated last year, has found a job as a web developer. He travels about an hour and a half to Red Bank, N.J. to work as a designer and programmer on different parts of a Web site with a start up company.
“I heard about the job by looking online through sites such as monster.com and careerbuilder.com,” Zubricky said. “While this job is something I really enjoy doing, I am sure that I will not be here forever.”
Zubricky is still hoping to find his dream job in either New York or in Philadelphia. He even has high hopes in one day getting his master’s degree. Many believe Zubricky is lucky to have found a job connected to his major.
There are students from all different majors struggling in the job market still. When graduating in May, undergraduates hope to find a decent job, but for the class of 2009, the job market has not been in their favor.
“I think it’s so hard because the job market has about ten jobs for every 1,000 unemployed people,” Hearn said, ” Hiring freezes, a million graduates in the same predicament and a horrible economy are all working against us. It’s terrible.”
