Recent Grads Struggle to Find Jobs

The latest jobs report just confirms what job seekers already know: There are few jobs out there and a ton of competition for them.

Jessica Doran, 25, got her bachelor's degree in elementary education in 2008 and has been substitute teaching and tutoring to make ends meet since she got out of school. She recently had an interview for a full-time position but said she is competing against hundreds of others who also have degrees.

It certainly wasn't anything Doran imagined when she went to Florida Gulf Coast University. Her best friend graduated in 2007 and got a teaching job right away. That just confirmed for Doran that she had made the right decision to go to college and to get a teaching degree, she said.

But by the time she graduated people were leaving Florida, where the bottom had dropped out of the housing market, and the Manatee County School District, where she wanted to work, wasn't posting any jobs.

She got a roommate and started substitute teaching during the school year and advertising for students to tutor during the summers. She got a partial deferment for her student loan, which allowed her to pay $30 a month based on her income, rather than the $200 a month she owed.

"I have been working as a substitute teacher since I graduated," she said. That has meant low pay, no benefits and financial stress."

She is not alone. The latest jobs report, released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows that the underemployment rate, which includes people who want to work full-time but are forced to work part-time, rose to 16.2 percent, its highest rate since December.

Meanwhile, the total number of unemployed people rose to 14.1 million. The unemployment rate also rose to 9.2 percent from 9.1 percent in May, and 44 percent of those people have been unemployed six months or more. The average length of unemployment is 39.9 weeks — an all-time high.

Doran depends on her parents, who have her on their health insurance, and on her sister, who is her roommate. But when she turns 26 she can no longer rely on her parents for medical insurance.

She is counting on getting a job in the fall, but she knows that the competition is stiff. She is hoping the connections she made and the reputation she built as a substitute will give her an advantage after state cutbacks in education, prompted some Manatee County teachers to retire, opening up jobs for the first time in three years.

"There were a ton of job postings this year, but because there haven't been any in the last couple of years, hundreds of applicants have been applying," Doran said. "I got an interview with because I knew the principal. Before that I never had a random call to go in for an interview."

If she doesn't get a full time job this year, she said, she will have to go somewhere else and find something else to do. And with her student loans looming, she is both stressed and frustrated about her options.

"I feel like saying 'Here, have your degree back, it does me no good' " she said.

From PhD to pole dancing instructor

Like Doran, Yvonne Kline, 30, believed she had a bright future when she started college at the Pennsylvania State University. Her college professors encouraged her to go to graduate school and become a professor herself.

Kline, who lives in Bradenton, completed her coursework for her doctorate degree at the University of South Florida but has nearly given up on the idea of becoming a professor.

"Part of the reason I decided against a faculty position is that it has taken students two years or more to find a tenure track job," she said. "They end up in retail or something else. One of my friends is working at Starbucks trying to make ends meet."

Kline, who has degrees in communications, is looking for work in human resources, marketing or advertising. In the meantime, she is picking up work teaching community college classes at schools from Plant City to Pinellas County. She also teaches contortion classes for pole dancers at Rock'N Body Pole in Tampa.

"I have had a couple of interviews, but I get the same thing over and over," she said. "Because I was on the track for a PhD I didn't take any internships. People want that real world experience. I've been trying to get an entry level position, and it's hard."

Because she was on track to become a professor, "I was not taught anything about how to get my foot in the door and search for a job" outside of the university system.

While she has been able to cobble together a living so far by teaching classes here and there, she is facing $138,000 in student loan repayments for her three degrees and living with a lot of stress.

"My loans are coming due this month, and I am going to call them and hopefully get it deferred," she said. "I am going to be paying that debt off for a very long time."

She said she began worrying about the debt as soon as she completed her master's degree at Edinboro Universty of Pennsylvania. Now she regrets pursuing her doctorate degree.

"I was looking for a full-time job, then to try not to get into any more debt," she said. "I am not sure why I kept going."