Weak Job Market, Big Opportunities
Weak Job Growth Present Major Opportunities
By Teresa Marie Estrada
A quarterly survey conducted by Manpower Inc. concluded that U.S. employment expectations has fallen to its lowest level since 2003. Countries with strong ties to the U.S. economy are also seeing an effect on their national job market. The UK employment outlook is at its lowest since 1994, all in an environment of rising oil prices and inflation.
One of the hardest hit group of this job environment, as seen in many recessions, are new college graduates. The U.S. Labor Department reported that in the second quarter of this year, unemployment among 20- to 24-year-olds, the typical post-graduate age group, was 9.8 percent. This is 1.7 percent higher than in the second quarter of 2001, which was around the same time as the last U.S. recession. Meanwhile, the U.S. Labor Department reported last July that the overall unemployment reached 5.7 percent.
The most affected by this job market are those looking to work in the financial-services industry due to the subprime-mortgage crisis. As most people would say, these recent graduates are all victims of bad timing.
Yet, there is a small segment of recent graduates that has been particularly hit hard by the recent recession. Those who also graduated during the past recession.
Daniel Hsu recently graduated from the London Business School with a Masters in Finance. Unfortunately for him, he also graduated in 2002 from the Walter A. Haas School of Business with a Bachelors in Science Degree in Business Administration. “I really never thought this could happen twice in one decade,” Hsu said. “Before I entered both universities, I would look at the salary report of the previous graduates and think to myself ‘Wow, I can’t believe I’m going to make that much money after graduating,’ but in the end it’s almost impossible to get an interview.”
Nonetheless, many recent graduates are taking the opportunity to pursue “dream” careers that are outside of their expected or traditional career path. Hsu has actually done it twice. Six months after graduating with his B.S. degree in 2002 and after a small stint as a janitor, Hsu became a resident DJ at 1015 Folsom Nightclub in San Francisco, CA. “I have loved music my entire life. I got my first guitar when I was in the sixth grade and started DJing in 1998, but I never thought I would ever do it for a living.”
After two years of DJing and studying music production, Hsu decided to return to his business background and began a career as an Independent Financial Adviser. “I really had a great time with my music career, but I needed something more stable and at a slower pace,” Hsu said. Two years later, Hsu would decide to return to business school at London Business School, but he had no idea that lightning would strike twice.
“Having lived in the [San Francisco] Bay Area, you could see all the houses popping up for sale and you knew something bad was going to happen,” said Hsu. Something bad did happen, in June 2007 two Bear Sterns hedge funds collapsed, which was just the start of the current economic turmoil.
With a specialized degree in Finance, Hsu’s career prospects were few. “When compared to MBA students, most companies aren’t going to hire a Masters in Finance student for consulting or marketing,” said Hsu. Once again, Hsu would take things into his own hands and do something that he had always dreamed of.
Hsu and a fellow classmate, who preferred to remain anonymous for future job prospects, formed “T.I.L. Darling - The Online Clothing Boutique” (www.theonlineclothingboutique.com) as part of their required final student project. “Before coming to London, I actually wanted to study fashion, but my parents did not think it was practical enough. Oddly enough, one of our classmates said that our project was probably the most practical out everybody else’s,” said Hsu’s partner.
It is still too early to tell the success of tildarling.com, but after breaking even only three months of operation and achieving top 20 rankings for many of their keywords, Hsu is optimistic, “Hey, we got an ‘A’ on our final project and it only cost us £6,000.”
tildarling.com moves to the U.S. where Hsu permanently lives and will test the success of it in a larger market, but he is just one case out of many new graduates who are creating a major opportunity in a struggling economy.
By Teresa Marie Estrada
A quarterly survey conducted by Manpower Inc. concluded that U.S. employment expectations has fallen to its lowest level since 2003. Countries with strong ties to the U.S. economy are also seeing an effect on their national job market. The UK employment outlook is at its lowest since 1994, all in an environment of rising oil prices and inflation.
One of the hardest hit group of this job environment, as seen in many recessions, are new college graduates. The U.S. Labor Department reported that in the second quarter of this year, unemployment among 20- to 24-year-olds, the typical post-graduate age group, was 9.8 percent. This is 1.7 percent higher than in the second quarter of 2001, which was around the same time as the last U.S. recession. Meanwhile, the U.S. Labor Department reported last July that the overall unemployment reached 5.7 percent.
The most affected by this job market are those looking to work in the financial-services industry due to the subprime-mortgage crisis. As most people would say, these recent graduates are all victims of bad timing.
Yet, there is a small segment of recent graduates that has been particularly hit hard by the recent recession. Those who also graduated during the past recession.
Daniel Hsu recently graduated from the London Business School with a Masters in Finance. Unfortunately for him, he also graduated in 2002 from the Walter A. Haas School of Business with a Bachelors in Science Degree in Business Administration. “I really never thought this could happen twice in one decade,” Hsu said. “Before I entered both universities, I would look at the salary report of the previous graduates and think to myself ‘Wow, I can’t believe I’m going to make that much money after graduating,’ but in the end it’s almost impossible to get an interview.”
Nonetheless, many recent graduates are taking the opportunity to pursue “dream” careers that are outside of their expected or traditional career path. Hsu has actually done it twice. Six months after graduating with his B.S. degree in 2002 and after a small stint as a janitor, Hsu became a resident DJ at 1015 Folsom Nightclub in San Francisco, CA. “I have loved music my entire life. I got my first guitar when I was in the sixth grade and started DJing in 1998, but I never thought I would ever do it for a living.”
After two years of DJing and studying music production, Hsu decided to return to his business background and began a career as an Independent Financial Adviser. “I really had a great time with my music career, but I needed something more stable and at a slower pace,” Hsu said. Two years later, Hsu would decide to return to business school at London Business School, but he had no idea that lightning would strike twice.
“Having lived in the [San Francisco] Bay Area, you could see all the houses popping up for sale and you knew something bad was going to happen,” said Hsu. Something bad did happen, in June 2007 two Bear Sterns hedge funds collapsed, which was just the start of the current economic turmoil.
With a specialized degree in Finance, Hsu’s career prospects were few. “When compared to MBA students, most companies aren’t going to hire a Masters in Finance student for consulting or marketing,” said Hsu. Once again, Hsu would take things into his own hands and do something that he had always dreamed of.
Hsu and a fellow classmate, who preferred to remain anonymous for future job prospects, formed “T.I.L. Darling - The Online Clothing Boutique” (www.theonlineclothingboutique.com) as part of their required final student project. “Before coming to London, I actually wanted to study fashion, but my parents did not think it was practical enough. Oddly enough, one of our classmates said that our project was probably the most practical out everybody else’s,” said Hsu’s partner.
It is still too early to tell the success of tildarling.com, but after breaking even only three months of operation and achieving top 20 rankings for many of their keywords, Hsu is optimistic, “Hey, we got an ‘A’ on our final project and it only cost us £6,000.”
tildarling.com moves to the U.S. where Hsu permanently lives and will test the success of it in a larger market, but he is just one case out of many new graduates who are creating a major opportunity in a struggling economy.
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