Angi Burns is getting out.
The 1999 graduate plans to leave her entry-level Houston consulting job in May.
She is happy to go.
“Things can’t get any worse than here,” she said. “I’m not doing what I want, and there is no opportunity for advancement.”
Burns’ company has placed hundreds of employees on leave, allowing them to earn only 20 percent of their salaries. Remaining employees pay travel expenses
out-of-pocket, and no new hires or promotions will occur until at least August.
She is also working out of her field and runs the risk of being put on leave each day the economy continues to slump.
“I ended up taking what I could get after graduation,” said the 1999 public relations graduate. “To do what I’m trained to do and want to do [public relations], I will have to relocate. I may have to take a lower salary and work a second job, but it’s better than staying here in a job I am unsuited for and may lose.”
Burns’ situation is more common than most young adults would care to know.
A recent Northeastern University study states 18- to 24-year-old adults may be shouldering the weight of the recession.
The study from Northeastern’s Center for Labor Market Studies found 75 percent of last year’s layoffs were among young adults just beginning their professional careers.
“Of the people my company has put on leave, most of them are new graduates,” Burns said. “Lots of people in my shoes are looking around right now saying
to themselves, ‘This isn’t what I signed up for.’”
Economist Dek Terrell said new entrants into the job market usually share Burns’ problem in a recession.
“If I own a business and I have to choose between someone who has worked for me for 20 years and a new college graduate, I’d be hesitant to choose the graduate,” he said. “I just know what the 20-year employee can produce.”
A recent Career Services survey shows employment among University graduates is down 10 percent from last year.
“Nationally, employers decreased their new hires by 20 percent,” said Mary Feduccia, director of Career Services. “So, our students really have fared pretty well.”
ISDS majors and students interested in consulting and communications have been the hardest hit, she said.
“Communications people are always the first thing to go,” Burns said. “I guess I’ve been lucky so far [to keep my job], but I doubt it will last.”
Feduccia said because employers are less interested in new hires, experience and connections are key to landing a job after graduation.
“Usually, entry-level hires are desirable for companies,” she said. “But now some businesses are looking for people with three to five years experience just to start.”
Feduccia recommends starting job searches earlier and honing skills outside of class.
“It’s more important than ever for students to have internships,” she said. “Those with experience simply stand head and shoulders above the rest.”
Unfortunately, internships — at least paid ones — also seem hard to find these days.
Kristina Petro, an advertising senior, knows this firsthand.
“I tried to find a paid internship last semester,” she said. “But, there was literally nothing here.”
Petro delivered resumes to many companies that offered paid internships, but received only silence or bad news.
“The people who did contact me told me that this semester they weren’t taking interns or only offered unpaid internships — even though the same jobs were paid last year,” she said.
Another obstacle she encountered was the lack of advertising opportunities in the area.
“Almost everybody wanted PR,” she said. “I considered taking a job in that unpaid. But, it wasn’t even in my major.”
Petro currently is seeking a part-time job that may apply to her field.
“I graduate in four months, and I’m getting out of here,” she said. “If I can’t find an advertising job in New York, then my dad … made calls to make sure I can at least get a job as a clerk. It’s better than nothing.”
No major companies’ internship recruiters would comment, but a partner at Ernst and Young, a New Orleans-based accounting firm that often recruits from the University, did explain some businesses’ lagging need for interns.
“In the past, large public accounting firms have fairly high turnover nationally,” said Phil Gunn, Ernst and Young partner and president of the Louisiana Society of CPAs. “But with the slowdown, people are more interested in retaining their jobs than finding new ones.”
Gunn said because entry-level employees are staying in businesses, there is simply less money and room for temporary help in the form of internships.
“But, in Louisiana, we are certainly less impacted than say Austin or Dallas or places in California, simply because we don’t rely on technology,” he said.
Gunn also said he has noticed more students returning to the “stable” field of accounting.
“The past few years, we have noticed more students opting for more exciting tech fields,” he said.
But, entering the job market even with an internship is tough.
After a year-long public relations internship at Women’s Hospital under her belt, Angi Burns could not find a position in her field.
“I cocktailed weekends so I could intern during the week without pay,” Burns said. “I thought it was a great experience. I just wished it would have helped me get a job in PR.”
Burns’ friend Katie Marx also is working outside her field.
“I left Baton Rouge after graduation because I wanted to validate my degree,” said Marx, a December 2000 economics graduate. “I couldn’t do that in Louisiana, so I came to [Washington] D.C.”
But, Marx couldn’t use her degree there either.
“Nobody wants to hire you for a career,” she said. “Like right now, I’m working in [Human Resources] in a law firm. It’s a job, but I don’t want to be in HR for the rest of my life.”
Marx said she is interested in law and recruiting, so she hopes the job could help her make connections to begin her career.
“Competition is fierce,” she said. “You have to have it all — connections, experience — things LSU doesn’t give you.”
Many students, if they lack those essentials, could consider graduate school, said economist Loren Scott.
Marx considered attending law school after graduation, but decided she would rather work her way up.
“I thought of law school as my concession prize,” she said. “I love to work.”
Burns agreed.
“A graduate degree wouldn’t really help me in my profession, and I couldn’t afford to go back to school,” she said.
Regardless of whether graduates choose to attend graduate or law school, Scott said the job market of June 2003 should be better than the June 2002 market.
“The good thing about this recession is that hard times make you leave your comfort zone,” Burns said. “It may be tough, but you have to go for what you want.”