Some seniors see job market as problem, others already have offers

The U.S. economy is slowly beginning to recover from the downturn in 2008, but seniors looking to break into the job market are still facing some difficulties.

Augustana boasts a 93 percent job placement rate for its 2009 graduates, but some begin to wonder if that statistic will hold up for 2010.

''It's scary,'' senior English and secondary education major Melissa Austad said. ''Not knowing if I'll have a job come next fall with a school isn't fun to think about.''

Austad came to Augustana in 2007 and hoped to become a high school teacher in four years. She is a less than a month away from earning her degree but has yet to find an occupation.

''I know the Sioux Falls School District doesn't have many openings,'' Austad said. ''I think they had four last I saw, and I applied but haven't heard anything.''

Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls, where Austad student-taught, has three English teachers retiring but is only looking to hire one new employee.

Austad is realistic that the job market may not yield a career immediately, and she will settle for short-term if necessary.   

''If I have to, I'll substitute teach and work part-time somewhere,'' Austad said. ''You have to make ends meet, and with little experience, it's sometimes hard to get the dream job.'' The education field isn't the only tough one to break.

Senior business major Blake Thompson has applied for an internship at a marketing firm in Sioux Falls, although no details have emerged from that.

''If that doesn't work out, I'll probably just have to find some part-time job that will allow me to eat,'' Thompson said. ''I know I'll continue my Moose shirt company, but I'll need to have something on the side.''

Thompson started his own business, Moose Friendly Incorporated, as a sophomore.

''That business is really starting to pick up,'' Thompson said. ''I'm working on my Web site right now and designing and planning new ideas. I'd like to keep that growing into a profitable business venture.''

With a degree in business, Thompson is hoping to find a part-time office job that will allow him the freedom of creativity, a characteristic he has watched blossom while at Augustana.

''I think my classes and professors have taught me to think more than anything,'' Thompson said. ''You want to be original, and to do that you need to have a creative side. That is why I love the T-shirt business so much, because you can do stuff that other people don't necessarily think of.''

One senior who has found a job is communication studies and theater major Will Dietzler.

''I was hired by Lutherans Outdoors to be the new program director at NeSoDak Bible Camp,'' Dietzler said. ''After working at camp for two years, I know that NeSoDak is a place where I can be creative and have an effect on people's lives. When I got offered the job, it wasn't even that I wanted it, it's that I knew I had to take it.''

The job as program director isn't a permanent career for Dietzler, however.

''This will be a great chance to prepare for what happens in my future, and to figure out what I want to do with my life,'' he said. ''I hope to have a couple years at camp where I can work with kids and be outside, but I know that at some point I'll be looking to re-evaluate and decide where I want to go. The feeling of having a job straight out of college, though, is a huge weight lifted off your shoulders.''

Melissa Ulbricht, a senior nursing major, has also secured a job. She'll be working at Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls.

Ulbricht acquired a job through a partnership between Augustana and Sanford, where she and other students gained experience at the hospital and will have jobs available to them when they graduate. Position placements will come next fall, after the students pass the medical board exams and attend orientation at the hospital.

''I really enjoyed working in the emergency medicine field, as well as pediatrics,'' Ulbricht said. ''I would love to work in either of those two. I won't be picky, though, because right now, I'm just happy to have a job.''