Since the pandemic, statistics show that the job market is tougher than ever. Students can expect to endure a six month job search after their initial application, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The job market is also more competitive today than ever, with applicant pools being larger than ever. In 2022, there was a job opening for every applicant. Today, there are at least two applicants per job opportunity, meaning students and post-graduates need to search harder than ever to secure both full-time employment and temporary summer positions.
As summer approaches, Solana Espino, a sophomore journalism major, is feeling the pressure to find a summer internship.
Solana Espino: I think just I wasn’t prepared and I didn’t know when things were opening or closing and I kind of missed deadlines for a lot of stuff this summer. So now I’m kind of just doing like a Hail Mary like to things that are still open.
Espino says of her experience that she would advise other students to begin their job search early.
Espino: If you have somewhere that you’re looking for a position like, make sure you get all the information for it ahead of time and you know, just put yourself in the best place for success.
Eric Yeh, a junior journalism student, agrees with Espino.
Eric Yeh: I would say like definitely my sophomore year when I was applying I feel like it was pretty late in the game. And then maybe like not casting a wide enough pool like apply to as many as you can, like, sophomore it was very little and I don’t know like below 10. And I will say this, I applied to like close like to 20. So like I doubled the number and a year but yeah, just keep applying and start early.
Yeh is spending his summer working for TEGNA at their Fox 43 station in Pennsylvania. He said that his biggest advice to other students would be to follow up with the companies they’ve applied to.
Yeh: Like, after I applied, I would find whoever the news director was, you can find the emails online. And then just like email them directly be like, Hey, I just applied to your thing. Something or just express your interest. And if they don’t get back to the week follow up, we can Hey, just let us know I’m still really interested in, in this position I applied to because that way, you build a connection, and then they can help bump you up.
Zach Rigney, the Career Advisor at Annenberg Career Development, says that the biggest mistake Annenberg students make is, quote “waiting on that one perfect opportunity.” Rigney says that this is what prevents students from applying to more jobs and broadening their job choices.
Zach Rigney: Different processes have different timelines as well as different needs, we wouldn’t want you to be so focused on one that it prevents you from still looking still applying to other things. And that usually really delays people in their process, especially if you’re like applying to a bunch of things and not hearing back. That’s usually what it is, is that you’re waiting too much for certain ones and not applying to others because you’re really hoping on one, just keep applying as soon as you see something.
Rigney emphasizes that students looking for jobs tend to get discouraged after seeing their peers get “lucky.”
Rigney: Sadly, as helpful as LinkedIn is seeing, hey, my 20 friends already have full time jobs. And I’m still looking or I’m still interviewing, am I behind and that’s not the case at all.
He says that everybody has their own timeline, and that students worried about not finding a job should remember that different opportunities hire at different times.
Rigney: Our colleagues at UCLA and other schools that have more a quarter system, they get out for the summer or graduate later. So there are going to be plenty of jobs still posted later.
That means there’s hope for any students that don’t have a position locked down yet. With the semester nearly over, many students are still in the process of applying and interviewing. For all students, congratulations on finishing their degree or the semester -- and good luck on the job hunt!