By Haley Carter
SAN MARCOS–Despite Texas State University experiencing an increase in both enrollment and graduation rate, post-graduates are having a harder time than ever in the search for job prospects.
Breaking into the professional world has become increasingly hard for fresh alumni in search of jobs. A Texas State University survey done on students has shown a grim outcome for those looking. 32% of bachelor’s degree recipients reported that they are still looking for employment, while 19% are continuing their education in a master’s program.
“I’ve honestly applied to 300 jobs through sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, everything that I can possibly find. To be completely truthful I’ve only gotten two interviews out of every single job that I’ve applied to,” said Carly Earnest, who graduated Texas State University in Spring 2024 with a degree in public relations.
Young adults like Earnest who hold resumes full of professional experience are continuing to be let down from jobs they are qualified for. Earnest, who has had over three years of professional experience in her field including internships and running social media accounts has now been unemployed for six months. Job prospects that she felt were promising have either ghosted her post-interview, or have deemed her unqualified after up to eight rounds of interviews.
“That one low-key wrecked me and kind of made me feel like I was done applying for jobs,” Earnest said.
38% of employers avoid hiring new graduates, and graduates are suffering as they have become less desirable to the professional field. Career educator Adam Hernandez at Texas State University oversees both students and alumni seeking job prospects, and has seen faults on both the employer and applicant’s end.
“I think that the hiring process is broken,” Hernandez said. Companies will hold pools of resumes as collateral in case they lose employees, while other companies will put out fake job positions called “ghost jobs” to keep employees motivated and gauge talent.
The most prevalent issues with new applicants Hernandez notices is a lack of career readiness competencies. New-graduates are lacking direction in their aspired careers and having trouble navigating their strengths, weaknesses and networking.
The amount of recent graduates who are in positions below their skill set has increased up to 41%, as graduates are finding work outside of their degrees. Despite facing trouble entering the workforce Hernandez encourages clients to continue trying.
“I was talking about it this weekend how I came to the conclusion a long time ago I was not going to be getting a job in my degree field when I graduated. I’m not going to be a sport reporter with a newspaper,” said Candice Gilmore, Texas State University senior.
Gilmore has obtained internships by attending various career fairs held by Texas State University, and found herself agreeing to internships that aren’t specific to what she wants.
Gilmore works for the Hayes Caldwell County Women’s Center, as a public outreach intern. Gilmore writes press releases for the women’s center, and although it is not her desired path, she encourages students to settle for any opportunities presented.
“if it hasn’t been done before and if you have nothing to spring off of, kind of use that to your advantage of, well, you can’t be doing it wrong then … The fear of humility has also helped me as well. I don’t get embarrassed, I don’t get scared when people are wanting to talk to me. I’ve just kind of removed my personal self from it,” Gilmore said.
Texas State University does extend its career services to both newly admitted freshman, or alumni who graduated years ago, upholding the phrase “once a bobcat, always a bobcat.” The career services center offers free access to resume revising, practice interviews, career advising, and networking opportunities.
“They helped me with my resume, they basically edited it and everything that a prior company had taught me about making a resume they told me to throw out the window… it hasn’t helped like I haven’t gotten any interviews within this area for it,” Earnest said.
Applicants have continuously gone through rounds of interviews, feeling aimlessly strung along throughout the process. Konnor Widmann, who graduated Texas State University in 2020 with a degree in music, has found opportunities but they fail to follow through.
Widmann, who was laid off, made it to the final round of interviews among thousands of applicants to score music for a film. Despite being congratulated for making it to what felt like the end, Widmann never heard back from the makers of the film.
“They told me, ‘we really like your stuff,’ then they ghosted me and I never heard back after that interview,” Widmann said.
Even with a bachelor’s degree, graduates are being forced to find work outside of their career paths. After being laid off multiple times throughout the pandemic, Widmann turned to a job in sales and enrolled in flight school.
“Music teachers were some of the first people to be laid off. Becoming an artist or performer in general is just an extremely difficult thing. I was married at the time and kind of just sick of singing at the end of my degree because it was all online,” Windmann said.
Over-qualified individuals like Earnest have sought out last resorts in the service industry, going door-to-door at restaurants handing in applications.
“I went to like Chili’s and literally everything you could possibly think of and the only one that wanted me to come in for an interview was Twin Peaks which I was not about to do,” Earnest said.
“I think a lot of students think their resume is great and they know how to interview. And then they will go out and start submitting resumes, and then they’ll come back and show up to one of the career educators and say, ‘Okay, this is all awful. I applied to 50 jobs and no one called me back,” said Raymond Rogers, director of career services at Texas State University.
A survey identified that employers are looking for transferable skills when considering applications that have been listed into eight career competencies: critical thinking, oral and written communications, teamwork collaboration, digital technology, leadership, work ethic, career management and global intercultural fluency.
“So we’re going to go through and look at those different things. Make sure that you describe whatever experience it was in a way that demonstrates that whether that be a student org that you were part of, or whether it be a part time job, volunteer work that you’ve done before, or an internship,” said Rogers.
“You know, as a person who is applying, they can become, as you said, like, kind of they can become sad, depressed, even… One of the first things I usually tell them is, ‘you’re more than that.’ Don’t connect your personal values to the right direction.” said Hernandez.
