Into The Unknown: College Seniors Talk About Graduating Into Record Unemployment
Julie Pumarejo, a senior business analytics major at SUNY New Paltz, was ecstatic when she learned that she had gotten the management trainee position that she applied for at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, only a few months before she was due to graduate. The job came with a comfortable salary, benefits, paid time off, plenty of opportunities for advancement, but most importantly to Pumarejo, the job came with a sense of security.
The regional manager had called her specifically to tell her about how she had impressed him during the interview process, and that he would be sending her a contract via email that coming Friday. “I felt like everything was starting to fall into place, Pumarejo says.
Pumarejo outside of her college apartment in New Paltz. Photo by Abigail Foster
That Friday, COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the WHO, and Pumarejo’s contract was never sent.
The number of unemployed Americans has risen to 33 million since mid March, and that number stands to grow larger as millions of college seniors prepare to graduate into an impending recession. During the 2008 financial crisis, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates was 10.8%. Currently, that figure stands at 17.2%, and the future for recent graduates doesn’t look too bright. According to a report by The Atlantic, millenials that came of age during the 2008 recession were underpaid and are still struggling to pay off their student loans.
Pumarejo says that her sister, who is a millennial, was unemployed for six months after her graduation. Bouncing around from job to job, she received meager salaries and poor benefits before deciding to go back to school years later. “I saw a lot of tears and a lot of misery,” Pumarejo says. “So that’s definitely making me a little fearful.”
Pumarejo’s parents work for New York State, and have never experienced unemployment. “They’ve always pressured me to get a government job because of the security,” says Pumarejo, whose dream is to be a business administrator. She expects them to apply even more pressure now that she is due to be an unemployed graduate. “They are always sending me postings for MTA jobs in Long Island, but that’s not what I want to do,” she says.
“I saw a lot of tears and a lot of misery,”
LinkedIn, the popular professional networking platform, lists several essential industries that are still hiring during the pandemic. Walmart is looking to hire 50,000 workers for their distribution and fulfillment centers, Amazon needs 175,000 people for their fulfillment centers and delivery services, and Instacart is looking for 300,000 contract workers for the next three months. Other employers on the list include CVS, Pizza Hut, FedEx, Lowe’s and Dollar General.
But those jobs aren’t what most college grads are dreaming of. For instance, in early March, Paola Ortiz, a senior business major, had an offer of an internship with Atlantic Tomorrow’s office in Newburgh. That job with the IT firm was set to turn into full-time employment in May, when Ortiz will graduate. Looking forward to the work, Ortiz started shopping for her very first car, something she didn’t need in Queens where she is originally from, and an apartment around Newburgh to share with her best friend.
But Atlantic Tomorrow’s had to pull the job from Ortiz, along with 100 other employees. She reacted by quickly applying to 20 different essential businesses in the Hudson Valley before finally hearing back from a warehouse in Newburgh. For the next year, as per the contract she was required to sign, Ortiz will be loading supplies into trucks bound for grocery stores from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m.. A bachelor’s degree was not one of the requirements needed to get the job. “I feel like all of the hard work I put into my four years at college was for nothing,” she says.
Ortiz and her two year old cat Milo. Ortiz and Milo are currently looking for an apartment near the warehouse where Ortiz will be working for the next year. Photo by Abigail Foster
Ortiz’s goal was to work for an environmental company that cleans waste out of the ocean. “I found a company down in Florida that does that, but I can’t pack up all of my stuff and move there right now,” she says. Until she could afford the move and apply for that job, a full-time position at Atlantic Tomorrow’s would’ve been a good place holder.
“I was told by my boss that they don’t think they will be hiring anyone for a long time,” says Ortiz. “I felt so hopeless.”
Ortiz, who has recently started training for her job at the Newburgh warehouse, says the work is physically demanding and that she is one of only a few women working on her crew.
Mark McFadden, the director of SUNY New Paltz’s Career Resource Center, says that there are still opportunities available to seniors despite the state of the economy. He urges students to regularly check the school’s job posting board, HawkWire, which has averaged 100 new job postings a week since the pandemic started.
““I was told by my boss that they don’t think they will be hiring anyone for a long time,” says Ortiz. “I felt so hopeless.””
McFadden also recommends using sites like Candor and The Muse to stay up to date on which companies are still hiring. He notes that New York State is looking to hire 17,000 people to help trace and support those who have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
McFadden says that, while seniors are searching for employment they can still gain new skills through micro internships or volunteer work. “We know this isn’t what most seniors are looking for, but such an experience will not only allow you to make a significant difference in your community, but also develop those professional skills that employers look for,” he says.
It is unclear when the number of Coronavirus cases in the United States will recede, or when businesses will be financially stable enough to start hiring again, but Pumarejo remains hopeful.
“I’m not too worried about it. The economy has to bounce back at some point, and even before that happens, I’m going to keep applying for jobs until I find one,” she says.
Ortiz on the other hand, feels that her dream job is farther away than it was before the pandemic. “I was only planning to work at Atlantic Tomorrow’s for a year or two to save up money, and then I was going to move to Florida and apply to that environmental company,” she says. “Now, I feel like my life has been put on pause and I don’t know when it will start up again.”