Students facing the economic recession and a grim job outlook are often searching for jobs that don’t exist.
Dave Warner, a senior in Spanish, is among a range of students who can’t find jobs in their field of study and have decided to stay in school until the job market straightens out.
“Grad school seems like a good option,” Warner said. “Hopefully by the time I graduate, it will have turned around and it will be easier to find a job.”
The number of job postings on the Career Services Web site has dropped from between 400 and 500 postings to 271 in the past year, said Jim White, assistant director of career services.
On the Utah Department of Workforce Services Web site there are 9,370 job postings, which is down to about 25 percent from normal, he said.
Students who have graduated aren’t the only ones feeling the sting.
“The average number of new jobs posted each week in the same time period has dropped 36 percent, from 41 to 30,” said Greg Hughes, recruitment coordinator for U Human Resources.
More students are applying for non-existent jobs. In December 2008, the number of applications jumped from an average of 1,568 a week to 2,296, he said.
Emily Haws, a freshmen in art history, works at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts organizing events as a part-time job amid school responsibilities.
However, when the Utah Legislature budget cuts were announced, most departments across campus were told they needed to cut back on spending.
“They’ve encouraged me to limit my hours,” Haws said. “Less hours means less money.”
Instead of working 30 hours a week, she is down to 20.
“No one is happy about it,” Haws said. “No one wants to do it. It is just necessary. We had to let people go.”
Morgan Brewer, a senior in elementary education, said that budget cutting is worrisome, especially since she planned to go into the education field. Funding cuts will likely result in bigger classes and fewer teachers.
Some students have considered graduate school as one alternative, but others are looking into alternative routes.
“An alternative is an internship, which I hope will turn into a job,” said Ingrid Price, a senior in political science.
Although the Utah job market seems grim, there are some bright spots on the horizon with Ebay and other businesses offering more jobs, and the establishment of a new business in Box Elder County, Proctor & Gamble, said Stan Inman, director of Career Services.
“Although the number of jobs has diminished, the quality of jobs is still out there,” he said.
As a result of the recent patterns in job postings and applicants, new companies opening in Utah have large quantities of highly qualified applicants to choose from, Hughes said.
“It is essential that job applicants follow best practices in developing an effective résumé,” Hughes said.
U Career Services is also helping students improve their chances in the job market by creating workshops.
The problem graduating students are facing is a more competitive job market, White, said.
“The (students) going out to find jobs are going to have (to) be more organized,” he said.
Career Services offers one-on-one advising where students can come and polish up their résumé and cover letters and even have practice interviews, Inman said.
“We offer a lot of preparatory work,” he said. “The suggestion (for students) is to start early.”