William Phillips graduated from Southwest Tennessee Community
College in May with a dream of working at a graphic design firm.
“My classmates and I had high hopes that we were going to conquer
the world,” Phillips said. “But now we’re just doing what we can. I’ve
talked to a few classmates since then, and it’s a tough job market.
Some of us have had prospects and leads, but it’s hard to get
[employers] to follow through.”
Phillips and his classmates face a grim statistic from the National
Association of College and Employers’ 2009 Student Survey: Just under
20 percent of 2009 college grads who applied for a job actually have
one.
Compare that to 51 percent of those who graduated in 2007 and 26
percent of 2008 graduates.
Rather than settle for a fast-food job in the meantime, Phillips is
putting his degree in multimedia graphic design to work by taking
freelancing jobs every chance he gets.
“I’ve teamed up with local filmmaker [Matteo Servente], and we’re
working on a low-budget film,” Phillips said. “I have friends who own
businesses ,and I’m trying to help them out with designing
websites.”
Besides taking on freelancing work in these tough economic times,
many without jobs are opting to pursue their master’s degree or another
bachelor’s degree in a new field.
Southwest Tennessee Community College and the University of Memphis
have both experienced growth since the economic downturn.
“It’s been a traditional trend that when the economy has a downturn
and unemployment goes up, enrollment at universities also goes up,”
said Ralph Faudree, U of M provost.
Statistics on job placement for recent U of M and Southwest
Tennessee grads aren’t available.
“We have some professional schools, like the U of M Law School, that
measure the percentage of our students who get jobs, and there doesn’t
seem to be any problems with students getting jobs in that field,”
Faudree said.
Brenda Williams, the career services director at Southwest,
encourages graduates not to give up on finding jobs in their chosen
fields.
“Good positions are out there. Graduates just have to be more
proactive in order to find them,” Williams said. “Those students who
have prepared themselves by maintaining a good GPA and getting some
job-related experience along the way will have a real advantage in this
extremely competitive market.”
Faudree says the U of M encourages students to take on internships
while they’re enrolled in school to gain experience in their
prospective fields. Internships also may help with job placement after
graduation.
“Employers look at internships as one of the top things they
consider when they’re deciding who to employ,” Faudree said. “Right
now, about 40 percent of our students have internship experience before
they graduate.”
Freelancing, as Phillips is doing, is another way to gain useful
experience and learn new skills that may help with future job
placement.
“You’ve got to be versatile. Things are so competitive these days,”
Phillips said. “I’m trying to take advantage of opportunities when they
come.
