College Grads and Recession

S

Sugartown

25+ Posts
My daughter recently graduated from UT this Winter and she’s currently doing an unpaid internship at an advertising agency in Houston. She’s looking to do account services and has to stay in Houston. The problem is she is really struggling to find work right now since no one is hiring. The salary isn’t a huge issue right now but it’d be great to actually find paid work!

I’m an engineer so I can’t offer her the greatest advice on what other areas might be beneficial for her to look at. I do know this recession has a lot of recent grads and future grads in May in a bad position since job openings are so limited. Anyone have any advice I can pass on?
 
More School? Some sort of Masters? Law School?

Market's going t be tough on new grads for a while I think. it;s the old double edged sword that normally cuts the new grads way, they will work for less than an experienced worker. Well right now the experienced workers are willing to take lower salaries, and that squeezes new inexperienced workers.

Any chance of her getting an account executive job with her current intern employer? Hell go straight commission if she thinks she can sell. But have her negotiate a higher percentage rate if she goes without any salary. ;-)
 
As a MBA student who's about to graduate, I'd say she's doing exactly the right thing. Of course a paycheck would be nice, but the important thing is getting the right experience on the resume. If she can get by for a while she'll be glad she did. I graduated into the last recession and took a job I shouldn't have just because there was a paycheck. If I had held out six months I would have been way better off.
 
An "unpaid internship" looks much better on the resume than "NO unpaid internship".

When people first get to LA to work "in the business" they scratch & claw for unpaid work so they can have something on their resume and some experience. THEN, the eventually hope to get paid for working and THEN they hope to find a job they actually want.

As long as you can afford to cover her, she's doing the best possible thing she can be doing right now.

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reminds me of the spring of 1992, a terrible job market, and i graduated with 0 experience in the field i wanted to go into. Big mistake. I struggled for nearly 2 years before i actually was able to get paid (not well) in the job i got my degree for.

I agree with the other posts, build up the experience any way you can. that will distinguish here from the rest of 22 and 23 year olds out there, scrambling for jobs.

I don't envy the graduates this spring. It is going to be brutal out there.
 
I'm glad to hear that she seems to be doing the right thing. Her company is pretty small so they aren't expecting to be hiring for her position soon. The commission only path is worth considering.

We really haven't thought too much about grad school because it is likely to be extremely competitive right now with an applicant like her with minimal work experience.
 
It's pretty hard to describe just how bad of a position she and many of her fellow graduates are in right now.

I'd tell her:

1.) Keep doing something related to what you want to do. Paid or not.
2.) Be glad you aren't delivering pizzas.

I'm in the tech industry and I can tell you that there is some serious talent out there looking for jobs right now. And as soon as these talented people get jobs, they are replaced in the ranks by more experienced and talented people losing their jobs. Fresh grads have no chance.
 
I don't have any insight here, but I wanted to wish your daughter good luck. I'm graduating next month, and I know many winter grads aren't having any more luck than we May grads are. (One winter grad I know managed to find a job and then got laid off two months later.)
 
My daughter had a job lined up, but she's going to law school instead. I wanted her to put a couple of years in at the job, but it's her life.
 
Played tennis with a guy a couple weeks back. He recently received his MA in chemical engineering and can't even find an unpaid intership (although he's looking in Austin. I suspect Houston would be better for someone in his field).

He indicated that employers are telling him that they'd like to bring him in, but their staffs are so reduced that they can't spare anyone to do training and don't have resources to purchase hardware/software.

Really glad I'm not new on the market....though I certainly don't feel completely comfortable with this market.
 
As a graduate in 93, I can understand the problem grads are facing. I had one and only one company willing to interview me. When they offered me the job in Houston, I took it even though I didn't want to leave Austin. I could have made more money waiting on tables in Austin, but I think its more important to get out there and get a job in your career path.
 
I graduated in '74. The job prospects for college graduates, and everybody else, were comparable to now. Maybe worse. My first job as a newly minted grad was as a lifeguard at $2.25/hr. It was almost impossible to live in Houston on this, and lifeguard jobs run out when Summer ends. I finally found a job in sales.
 
If she's really serious about a career in Advertising then she does not possess the luxury of "having to stay in Houston."

If she wants a job with upward mobility and a chance to work for top-flight clients she's gonna have to expand her consideration set.

At a minimum, she needs to start exploring opportunities in Dallas but ideally make a move to New York or Chicago.

It's obviously not what she wants to hear, but it's the simple reality of the industry. Houston has never been a strong market for advertising and that's certainly not going to change during a severe and extended recessionary period.
 
Without going into the details of why she has to stay in Houston, she does know that relocating is likely if she wants to accomplish her goals.
 
As someone who works in the ad industry, I would suggest that she look at interactive advertising. It's where a lot of money is moving right now. She would have a better chance in that area because:
- She's just out of college and can use/understand the internet (you'd by surprised how many people can't)
- There isn't a ton of "experience" in this area thus less the playing field is a lot more even
- There is a lot of weight placed on people with a strong desire to learn

Also, if she doesn't want to leave Houston, she might want to look at Hispanic agencies there. I know there are a few agencies in Houston (Lopez Negrete for example). You don't necessarily have to speak Spanish or be Hispanic to work for those places.
 
She probably needs to leave Houston as there isn't much there. Lopez Negrete which someone mention already and JWT if they still have there small office. Dallas is a solid advertising market and checkout SF, Seattle, ATL, Chicago and of course LA and NY if relocation is a possibility.
 
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