No One Wants To Hire Us
Our entire life’s journey seems designed towards securing employment. From 18 years of compulsory education to the possibility of four or more years spent in college, depending on our chosen field, every step we take is geared towards establishing a career for ourselves. So imagine my surprise when, after graduating from Syracuse University with my Bachelor’s degree in Magazine Journalism from one of the nation's leading schools of communication, I found myself laid off from my first post-grad job due to a “25% reduction in the workforce,” and I hadn’t even been there for six months. It’s been over a year now, and I’m still searching for a full-time job.
The reality is, I’m not alone in this. Recent college graduates aged 22 to 27 have a higher unemployment rate than the overall population, which was 4.7 percent as of March, according to an analysis by the New York Fed. Bryanna Hull, a Syracuse University graduate, holds a bachelor’s degree in illustration (U’22) and a master’s degree in graphic design, multimedia, and photography (G’23). Since graduating in May last year, she has actively been seeking employment. Despite starting her job search a few months before graduation, she has yet to secure a full-time job. Instead, Hull found herself working an internship for a couple of months towards the end of last year. Like most college graduates, you likely aim to work in a specific industry—whether it’s tech, finance, media & entertainment, or advertising. We all dream of landing a job in our chosen field. However, after more than a year of job searching, Hull has broadened her perspective. “Because it’s been over a year since graduating. [I’m] more open to just getting my foot in the door,” shares Hull.
Unemployment Rates for Recent College Graduates versus Other Groups
After being laid off from my first post-grad job, I honestly did not think finding another full-time position would be this challenging. It turns out I was quite mistaken. Entry-level positions seem to demand more than mere entry-level qualifications. These jobs demand a level of skill and experience that surpasses the traditional expectations of what ‘entry-level’ entails. Hull expresses, “Entry-level [jobs] aren’t entry-level anymore. It's [either] come in with [years of] experience, or you must know someone to even get an interview, and if not, you're just not going to get chosen.”
Go to college, earn your degree, pursue internships where possible, and if not, leverage opportunities on campus to enhance your skills. Ideally, your degree, obtained after years of effort, should pave the way for entry into the workforce to get an entry-level job. However, some companies don’t even want to hire recent college graduates. According to a December 2023 survey by Intelligent.com, 38% of employers avoid hiring recent college graduates in favor of older employees. These employers will implement different tactics to avoid working with Gen Z college graduates. The survey also brought to light that 58% of employers say recent college graduates are unprepared for the workforce.
Zipporah Pruitt, equipped with an associate’s degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies, and Humanities from Santa Monica College and a current senior journalism student at CSUN, found herself confused and discouraged when she realized finding a job would be more difficult than expected. “Internships and entry-level jobs are supposed to help people who want to get into their [desired] field, and a lot of the requirements they mention aren't geared to people who are trying to get into the field,” shares Pruitt.
The job search process involves many moving parts. Some people say that looking for a job in today’s market is a full-time job in itself. One of the most challenging aspects that all job seekers can relate to is the constant waiting—whether it’s waiting to hear back from places you applied to or receiving automated rejection emails. Sharonda Sheriff, who graduated from Johnson & Wales University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2021, has been actively looking for a job for two and a half years. She shares her struggles, saying, “No one [is] getting back to me to hire me or I keep getting the general response, ‘Thanks for applying but we have decided to go with a different candidate.’”
From submitting hundreds of job applications and enduring four to five rounds of interviews to ultimately hearing, “We decided to move forward with another candidate with more experience,” the job search and the reality of unemployment are both physically and mentally taxing. Reflecting on my journey, I realize how naive I was. I understood that layoffs were a possibility for anyone, but I never imagined that just five and a half months into my first corporate job at 22 years old, I would find myself without employment, a mere seven minutes into my workday. I reassured myself that everything would work out (and I still have faith that it will!), expecting to secure a new full-time job within six months, or even sooner. Yet here I am, over a year later, still searching.
Laid off seven minutes into my workday
Aizoe Okaisabor, a Clark University alumna with a Bachelor’s degree in Community, Youth & Education Studies, graduated in May of last year. She finds that her post-grad experience resonates with many of her peers and that she’s not alone in this. She’s been actively seeking a full-time job in the education non-profit sector since her graduation. Although it’s been an incredibly tough time for her, she remembers the advice that one of her professors shared: “You are employable. You’re not a useless human being,” shares Okaisabor. Continuing thoughtfully, she adds, “The job market can make you feel like you don’t have options because you’re not good at what you’re doing but [the fact is], you’re employable, educated, experienced, and skilled. You are everything that you believe you are. Rejection shouldn’t make you think otherwise.”
