After four years of hard work and determination, walking across the stage to receive your college diploma is usually one of the happiest days in a young adult’s life. However, with graduation just around the corner, many students are beginning to worry about graduating in a time of an economical recession. It has put a dark cloud over job searching, especially for jobs in their field of study. With the unemployment rate hovering near nine percent in Illinois and nationally, the job market is not looking too promising for soon to be graduates, and, as for many students these days, a four-year degree just isn’t enough. There is even a name for college graduates who cannot find jobs that require degrees: mal-employed.

A term coined in the ‘70s, mal-employed college graduates are beginning to settle for low-skilled jobs with even lower pay. According to data compiled by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, nationwide, about 1.94 million graduates under the age of 30 were mal-employed between September and January of 2010. The data also stated that mal-employment has significantly increased in the past decade, making it the biggest challenge facing college graduates today. Even though the economy is slowly starting to look up, people with college degrees sometimes cannot find jobs in their fields. Statistics like these are beginning to prove themselves true to DePaul senior Katie Barron, who is graduating this June with a degree in political science and has no job yet.

“I have been applying for internships for the summer and fall for the past six months,” said Barron. “I have gotten no response from anyone and it’s been scaring me. I have to find some waitress or retail job for the summer, I guess.”

There is more evidence, though, of a slowly recovering job market. Employers nationally have said that they plan to boost hiring, which shows that the job market is displaying selective improvement. According to a survey released by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, employers will hire 19 percent more college graduates this year. Job postings and recruitment activity are also up at Chicago-area college campuses this year, which is giving student’s hope that things are moving in the right direction.

DePaul senior Leah Janette is graduating this year with a degree in English and says that her advisor and DePaul’s Career Center have helped her a lot in her job and internship search.

“My advisor always stressed the importance of working on building my network,” said Janette. “I constantly was in contact with the Career Center and applied to numerous internships. It wasn’t looking promising at first, but I finally got an internship for this summer teaching English as a Second Language to grade school students.”

Katherine Walsh is an academic advisor for The College of Communications and says that the competitive economy the past three to four years contributes to why seniors are so nervous about finding jobs, but there are still opportunities out there.

“It’s all about finding [those opportunities] and being the best person for that job,” said Walsh. “I have had students come to me feeling overwhelmed and I always guide them to the Career Center. They’ll sit with students an hour at a time and help them with their resumes and finding jobs.”

Walsh also goes on to say that internships are key in networking yourself. Not only will an internship help you gain real-world experience, it is also a common approach to get a foot in the door of a company. For many students this means posting resumes and portfolios on popular sites such as Careerbuilder.com or Monster.com. Even with the glimpse of hope the increase in job opportunity brings, students still need to prepare themselves to land a job successfully out of college.

Luckily, DePaul students have even more options in the form of the DePaul Experience Network. DePaul Experience allows students to search for jobs and internships through the postings on the site. The website is unique in that students are able to search for jobs from employers that are looking for specifically DePaul students. DePaul University Career Specialist Michael Elias explains how useful the Experience Network is for DePaul students searching for jobs or internships.

“DePaul Experience has postings with employers who have chosen to share their opportunities with DePaul students,” said Elias. “[It’s] an excellent way to begin the job or internship search process, as many of these employers are interested in working specifically with DePaul’s student population.”

Elias not only has knowledge of the Experience Network, but also gives advice to students embarking on the search for jobs or internships outside of DePaul. Elias explains that when searching for jobs or internships, there any many other things students can do besides posting their resume to a website.

“It is always helpful to target the employer website if there is a specific company or organization that you are interested in applying for,” said Elias.

Elias suggests searching for multiple internships or jobs, but not to have a search that is too broad or too narrow. Along with searching for multiple positions through multiple outlets, Elias suggests creating a “personal brand.”

“Identify what strengths and skill sets set you apart from other candidates, and then develop your own ‘personal brand’,” said Elias. “Employers need to know what you can bring to a position that another candidate couldn’t do just as well – establishing your brand can help you to network more effectively.”

DePaul senior Kristen Fornes agrees that networking is crucial when searching for jobs. The finance major landed four job offers for after college through networking with her professors.

“I think networking is the only way to find a job in a competitive economy,” said Fornes. “My advice is to sit down with people you know and who respect you and tell them exactly what you are looking for in an opportunity and ask them for introductions to their connections.”

It is difficult for graduates this year to know where they stand as entry-level job seekers in this tight job market. However, there are positive shifts in the job outlook for this year’s college graduates. It all just comes down to how hard you are willing to work on making yourself stand out from the crowd. Walsh continues to stress the importance of utilizing network connections because that is the best thing a student can do right now.

“You have to sell yourself,” said Walsh. “You have to sell yourself because you’re competing against a lot of people.”