Young alumni search for work

While not the type of employment he was looking for originally, Molosso called the job “an unusual but welcome opportunity” that, alongside work as a private tutor, allows him “to support himself.”

Molosso explained that he still hopes to find work in business or apply to business school, but has decided to take a hiatus from his rigorous schedule of interviews.

“I’ve been on the job hunt for so long that I’m kind of looking forward to taking it slow,” he said, explaining that the recruiting process had left him “exhausted.”

Molosso’s story is typical of many members of the Class of 2009, which graduated into a shrinking job market. According to a National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) survey of students graduating from college in the United States, only 19.7 percent of those who applied for jobs had been offered one as of last May. In 2008, 26 percent of applicants had been offered jobs by May, while 51 percent were offered jobs in 2007.

Statistics released by the Office of Career Services paint a similar picture. While 35.7 percent of the Class of 2008 had secured jobs before graduating, only 29.6 percent of the Class of 2009 was able to do the same. The proportion of students actively seeking employment increased from 19.9 percent to 22.9 percent.

Molosso emphasized that he enjoys tutoring and is looking forward to beginning the retail job, but also expressed frustration at the futility of applying to large firms in the current economy.

Many companies are only “hiring from within,” Molosso explained, adding that they are shifting or promoting employees from one department to another.

“I think it is a requirement that they post job listings for open positions, but I don’t think they are paying attention to them,” he said. “There are so many people looking for jobs that hiring from the outside becomes unreliable.”

Laura Valle ’09, who was thrust into the job market this spring after a medical condition caused her to lose 30 percent of the vision in her left eye and postpone plans for law school, also said she found applying to large firms to be fruitless.

“Larger firms are more likely to step over you,” said Valle, who added that she would like to find work as a paralegal. “Even if you graduated from Princeton, you really need more experience to get a well-paying job at a big firm.”

Many larger firms are not hiring at all, Valle said. “Especially at big firms, you’ll send your application out, and they’ll say, ‘Our hiring process is currently on hold’ or ‘We have a hiring freeze,’ ” she explained.

Valle is applying primarily to small firms, which “are more likely to get back to you,” and trying to network through family and contacts. Valle gets about one interview for every 30 applications she submits, she said.

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While some members of the Class of 2009, like Molosso, are settling for jobs outside their preferred area of employment, others, like Jennie Scholick ’09, decided to forgo larger paychecks for experiences that may help them later on.

Scholick said she earns $75 per week plus housing through an internship program at McCarter Theatre.

While she is not making as much money as she had hoped, Scholick said that she thinks the program, for those interested in a career in arts administration, may prepare her for a higher-paying job or for graduate school.

“It is a tough economy this year, and although I was getting interviewed for higher-paying, long-term positions, those were going to people who had real experience — full-time, real-world experience,” Scholick added.

The economic downturn allowed her to think harder about what kind of career she wanted and to pursue it in an innovative way.

“People are beginning to find ways to pursue things they were passionate about, even if it means taking an internship,” she said, adding that in the past, the promise of high-paying jobs had lured graduates into careers they were not really interested in.

The slower job market “has forced a lot of people, in a good way, to re-evaluate what they want to be doing.”

Unlike Scholick, Jane Albertson ’09 is sticking with the job search, at least for now. Since moving to New York over the summer, Albertson has been looking for a job editing print publications or working at an art gallery. Her “ultimate aspiration,” she said, is to become a painter.

An online editing job provides Albertson with three to four hours of work per day, enough money to scrape by, and plenty of time for networking.

Albertson said she hopes that friends, acquaintances or the alumni network will land her a job, but noted that she “does not have a whole bunch of experience networking.”

Career Services has helped her reach out to many alumni, and Albertson has been in touch with a professor from the University who provides her with contacts.

When talking to contacts, Albertson said, she “tries to avoid explicitly asking for jobs,” hoping instead that “something will come up over the course of conversation.”

Though some members of the Class of 2009 may be frustrated by the prospect of heading into October unemployed, the experiences of Daria Hrabrov ’09 may provide inspiration to those who are persistent.

After sweating out a summer without any job prospects and networking through friends and contacts, Hrabrov recently secured a job at a software company in New Jersey. Hrabrov’s work paid off: So far, she said, the job “feels like a good fit.”