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back
to school
Never too early
to start your job search
By Mei Yuen Chan
Special to the On-line Forty-Niner
Alex Lau, 24, a
recent Cal State San Bernardino graduate, has been looking
for a job since he was laid off from a trading company nine
months ago. Lau has sent out countless resumes, but none of
them have brought him good news.
"I don't know
what's wrong with me," Lau said. "I feel like I
will never get a job."
Lau is not the
only one who is frustrated. In fact, job cuts and layoffs
have been extensive across the country. Workers and job seekers
of all ages have been effected by the economic recession.
The unemployment
rate in the United States has climbed to 4.5 percent since
last April, said Hal Schaffer, coordinator for the Career
Development Center at Cal State Long Beach, citing a U.S.
Labor Department report.
He warned next
year's graduates to be well prepared for high competition
in the job market.
"Generally
speaking, students in Northern California who were in computer
science or computer engineering got hired before they graduated,
sometimes with bonuses as high as $25,000 to $50,000,"
Schaffer said. "That was when the market had a lot of
dot coms. Well, now, those dot coms have disappeared."
Schaffer said the
market is always in a cycle and there is always a down one,
but it will pick up. Schaffer predicted the fourth quarter
in December would be seeing some recovery.
When people buy
more for the Christmas and the New Year, inventories in the
market will decrease and companies might be thinking about
more production to refill the inventories.
Therefore, they
might hire people back, he said. Schaffer, however, emphasized
that was tough to say what may happen and nobody can guarantee
it.
Schaffer suggested
that an internship is crucial for graduating students. First,
it helps students acquire experience. Second, through an internship,
students get to know people in their field so they may establish
a network of contacts.
"If there
is a lot of people laid off, why would a company hire somebody
who has no experience?" Schaffer said. "Go beyond
just sitting in the classroom. Get experience. Don't just
let your degree be your only tool.
"If students
have only one more semester to go," Schaffer added, "I
would suggest they immediately begin to get involve with student
associations, meet people in their industry, talk to them
and ask for help. I know it is tough, but that is the real
world, you must have people know that you exist."
Lau, the recent
CSU San Bernardino graduate, wondered if he is doing something
wrong. The answer, according to Schaffer, is yes because Lau
has done nothing other than wait for a job.
Schaffer said students
who have graduated from school and cannot get a job within
three to six months should take some classes, just a few each
semester, to show their prospective employers that they are
doing something.
"Say if you
end up having one full year off without work, someone will
ask you what you did that year," Schaffer said. "If
you say you looked for work, that would be unacceptable.
"Your answer should
be that I was looking for work, and I was taking courses in
the evening with doctor so and so. He is the best professor
in the academic field. The importance of that is to show you
love the job, and you are continuing to learn and grow."
Graduating students
who wish to enter fields with meager job prospects should
began by looking at companies that provide entry-level positions
and the possibility of working up the ladder, Schaffer suggested.
If that company
cannot be found, Schaffer advised that students accept whatever
jobs the market has. He said although there is no future in
it, at least they can make enough money to support themselves
or their families.
Then, Schaffer
said, they should go to night school and "slowly"
pick up a higher degree. He suggested students not to go straight
back to school; otherwise they risk becoming too well educated
for the market.
However, Schaffer
urged people to always remain optimistic.
"In Chinese
symbol, crisis is defined by two words - one represents danger,
the other represents opportunity," Schaffer said.
"If you see
crisis as a danger, you think there is no job out there and
you just stay home, you will never get a job. If I see crisis
as an opportunity, the possibility is that I might get one
of those few jobs simply because I was out there all the time,"
he said.
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