During four years of service in the United States Marine Corps and fighting in Iraq, 27-year-old Keith Haynes says he learned dedication and persistence. Sitting outside of his Euclid apartment building, he says those values come in handy these days as he looks for a job.
Keith Haynes: Initially I did my resume, I went to the career center, posted my resume there. I posted my resume at Ohio Means Jobs, a couple of other places: Monster, Career Builder, USA Jobs... pretty much anywhere that I could think of.
Haynes just graduated from Cleveland State University in May with a degree in finance and entered into what he knew was a tough job market. The national unemployment rate has edged down to just under ten percent, but for the 16- to 24-year-old demographic most students and recent graduates fall into, unemployment rates are the highest on record. In April, nearly one in five young workers was jobless.
Keith Haynes: It's been a little brutal. It's been hard to find a job.
Haynes started looking for a job months before graduation. And that's important says Paul Klein who heads the Career Services Center at Cleveland State University. He says his office saw a 20 percent drop in the number of jobs offered by employers this year after graduation compared to the same time last year. Klein thinks employers have been inundated with resumes from students actively seeking work.
Paul Klein: They had last year and a little bit of the year before to watch their friends graduate and take six months to find employment. So they are coming out of the gate running.
A growing number of students are also looking at the tough economy and deciding to delay their job search. Kim Paik compiles survey data from graduates of Case Western Reserve University. She says there was a jump in the number of students heading straight to graduate school in 2009 and a drop in the number reporting full time employment. That's a trend, Paik says, she expects to continue this year.
Kim Paik: We've seen more students make more values based decisions like going on to Teach for America or the Peace Corps and that is something else in the past two years that we've seen.
Job counselors say in this tough job market it's vital to start looking early and internships can make the difference. Liz Smith did two internships while a student at Case Western Reserve University with the goal of getting a job.
Liz Smith: Definitely last summer, which was the summer after my junior year, I was already thinking about where I wanted to work full time. And it was during that summer and in the first semester that I became really serious about the actual search and applying.
Smith landed a job at Rosetta, an interactive marketing firm, starting as an intern five months before graduation. CSU student Eddie Barrett says advice from the career center to get more experience on his resume sent him to an informational session about an internship as a mentor for teens and young adults. Barrett worked full time in the food services industry while studying for his undergraduate degree, but he wants more experience on his resume in fields he hopes to pursue after graduation this fall.
Eddie Barrett: I'm hoping that some nonprofit organization will look and say, 'OK, this person's had some experience with youth development' and I'm hoping particularly to get some grant writing skills under my belt.
As for job seeking graduate and Marine veteran Kevin Haynes, he says he works hard to stay positive and keep his sense of humor. For instance, ask him how many resumes he's sent out and he just laughs.
Kevin Haynes: Oh I lost count a long time ago! But it only takes one person that's what I keep telling myself, it only takes one person to see your resume like it and call you back.
There are some good signs for Kevin. After speaking with me earlier this week, he was heading off to get a haircut and prepare for a job interview.