As the academic school year progresses, many SMU seniors begin to express anxiety over approaching deadlines and ongoing job searches. (Spencer J Eggers/The Daily Campus)

As SMU seniors approach graduation, many are concerned about the high unemployment rates in the United States.

“It’s scary seeing older adults lose their jobs often after long careers with the same company,” senior Emily Bates, who is anxiously searching for a job after graduation, said. “And now we have to compete with them in the job market along with [our] peers.”

At the beginning of September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its report on unemployment for August 2011.

It reported that the unemployment rate held at 9.1 percent, 14 million persons, with little change since April.

The overall rate of unemployment for men and women 20 years of age and over is 8.0 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively.

According to The New York Times last May, employment rates for new college graduates have fallen sharply in the past two years.

The BLS stated that the overall unemployment rate is 14.8 percent for men and women over the age of 25.

“The job market is not very large at this time, making options more difficult,” Paige Phillips, a recent SMU graduate, said.

However, the head of career services for SMU’s undergraduate business students said there is hope for SMU students.

“Too many students only listen to the horror stories and believe what the media has to say,” Kim Austin, director of BBA Career Services, said. “Almost all of the statistics we are hearing about refer to the poorly educated and low to middle income people.”

The BLS stated that the unemployment rate is 5.3 percent for college graduates over the age of 25.

Austin does her best to reassure students that SMU is well above the national average for having students employed upon graduation.

Out of the students who graduated last May who were seeking employment, 70 percent were employed by May.

“While it may be more competitive, they are still hiring college students,” Austin said. “Corporations know that new talent is their future.”

The National Association of Colleges and Employers’ 2011 Job Outlook showed a planned increase in hiring of 13.5 percent for new graduates.

In addition, the latest update states that employers intend to hire 19.3 percent more graduates in 2010 to 2011 than they did in 2009 to 2010.

Between 2010 and 2011, the number of SMU students who attend further schooling for various professions increased a significant amount compared to previous years.

Meredith Lee graduated from SMU last spring and is currently pursuing her master’s degree at Washington University.

Lee said the job searching process left her feeling exhausted, and she feels the rate of unemployment in our country has increased pressure on college graduates to find a job just to have a job.

“If I had taken a job offer last year, I would not be doing something I am interested in,” she said. “I would have done it because it’s the only offer I got.”

According to SMU statistics, the number of students seeking a job who were employed combined with the students who attended graduate school, left nearly 90 percent of graduating students off the job market.

“This is well above the national average,” Austin said. “Most schools only have about 52 percent.”

Phillips and Lee agree that most companies are looking for employees with previous experience.

According to SMU statistics, 79.3 percent of the students who were seeking jobs and were hired had completed an internship, and 46.1 percent of them received a job from the employer they interned for.

In general, Austin said it takes nine to 12 months to get a job, so students need to be proactive at the beginning of their junior year to get internships that will lead them in the direction of finding a job.

“The problem happens when a student fails to utilize and take advantage of the career services that we have to offer,” Austin said.

“When they do this they are placed in the whole pool of unemployed Americans and have to slug it out with everyone else.”

Senior Elisabeth Archer supports Austin’s argument that SMU is doing better than the average and is not as concerned with unemployment rates as other students.

“Although it is a current issue, it is my belief that coming from SMU gives us a leg up on finding jobs,” Archer said. “In this economic climate, I have learned we just have to accept the opportunities we are given.”