By Justin Miller
Michigan Daily Staff Reporter
July 06, 2004

LSA graduate Genevieve Marino certainly tried to find a job last spring when she told The Michigan Daily that she had posted 500 resumés in hopes of finding a job with her General Studies degree after graduation.

The fruit of her work?

“I’m (currently) working for the Bank of New York,” said Marino through e-mail correspondence.“I absolutely hate it because I am working with people who do not have college educations,” she said. “I wonder why I am working alongside of them.”

For this reason, Marino continues to send out resumés to potential employers. “I think it’s worth it because nothing comes without effort. If you want something to happen, you have to be active and not sit back, relax and think that the companies will come to you,” she said.

Since seniors graduated from the University in April, the U.S. economy has created over one million new jobs — halving the number of jobs lost since 2001.

Seniors who faced an uncertain future may be seeing a more optimistic job market that can pay off for them with persistence.

“I don’t think that’s a lot of new jobs,” said senior Karl Donner. “But it’s fairly easy to find a job if you try,” Donner said.

Although the 20 to 24-year-olds’ unemployment rate was 8.9 percent in March — the second highest in the last six years, according to Labor Department statistics — both the National Association of Colleges and Employers as well as a study by Michigan State University predict a rosy economy for 2004 grads.

But has this new growth helped University graduates obtain employment? It may have, but for graduates like Brian Msal, they have had a hard time landing a job they feel even fits their degree.

“I thought I’d have a permanent job, hopefully designing hardware or programming,” said Msal, who graduated with both computer science and electrical engineering degrees.

Msal is currently employed by Advanced Systems and Controls, Inc. for the summer. The Clinton Township company specializes in the design and build of custom test, measurement and assembly systems for industrial use

Like Marino, Msal continues to pursue a more ideal employment situation.

“I’ve been submitting my resume on the Internet, using Monster.com, and also doing it the old-fashioned way — reading the classified ads in the (Detroit) Free Press and asking all of my engineer friends if their company is hiring,” he said.

“I can’t even get a ‘thank you for submitting your resumé letter or e-mail, let alone an interview,” he said.

Msal is trying to stake a claim in the ailing sector of manufacturing that has lost thousands of jobs in the past few years.

The sector lost 11,000 jobs in June, the first downturn after four months of consecutive growth — the strongest since 1998.

Along with manufacturing, jobs in government and nonprofit sectors are expected to make large cuts in college graduate hiring.

Students looking for jobs in the service-sector, however, have the best chance of landing a job, according to NACE.

While outsourcing has been targeted as the reason for the tight job market, a June survey by the Labor Department states that only 9 percent of all lost jobs were a result of outsourcing.

But the report also stated that data may be skewed because the small businesses or layoffs that lasted under one month were not covered. Of those nine percent of outsourced jobs, only a third went overseas. The rest were moved around inside the U.S. and were not moved offshore.

Whether the lower June job gains are an anomaly or a harbinger of things to come is unknown. But the longer job growth continues, the better the chances graduates such as Marino and Msal have to find a job.

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