It’s no secret that the job market is not at its best right now, and Whitworth seniors are feeling the difficulties of finding a job post-graduation.  

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the current average unemployment rate for April is 4.2%. A recent Economic News Release from the BLS says that this rate has stayed between 4.0 and 4.2 since May of 2024. The “total number of unemployed people” they report is 7.2 million.  

The report also says that this past month saw a 179,000-person increase in people who are long-term unemployed. There are 5.7 million people who are currently jobless but are job searching.  

Luke Cox, a senior communications major, is among those 5.7 million as he searches for an opportunity in the marketing field. While he’s excited to graduate, it’s hard not to be frustrated by not finding a job after 30 to 40 applications and the pressure he feels to find something soon.      

Kat Wilkins-Luton, a theology major, also feels that struggle. She mentioned an added struggle of finding a job in Seattle while she’s still in Spokane, finishing school. She’s secured housing through a local church but has yet to find employment there. 

“It’s hard. It’s really hard. It feels like the expectations can be really high, and I have noticed that it’s in particular hard because a lot of jobs won’t even message you back to let you know you’ve been denied. You just have to assume that they’ve already found someone.” Wilkins-Luton said, and she added to this by speaking to a generational misconception of the current graduates. “I’m noticing this gap in understanding why people are having a hard time finding jobs. And a lot of people in older generations thinking that we’re just lazy, when actually we’re applying for jobs constantly. We’re constantly trying to make interviews happen,” she said.

Wilson Fisher, a senior psychology and theology major, has decided to go straight into graduate school in Seattle rather than take a gap year and get a job.  

Fisher says that when he was job searching for something in the social services field, it was ‘not great.’ “Let’s just say that psychology and theology don’t necessarily transfer well, as far as what employers are looking for skills-wise.” Much like Wilkins-Luton, he also struggled to network for a job from across the state of Washington.  

For international students, like economics and political science major Vincent Inayat, these post-graduation decisions are even harder. International students have the option to apply for a post-completion Optional Practical Training (OPT) visa which can give graduating students the opportunity to work professionally in their education field. The visa lasts different amounts of time based on the field they go into, and if they’ve received pre-completion OPT for employment during their studies.  

Inayat is currently looking for a job and will use an OPT visa to gain more experience before returning to his home country. But he’s also looking into graduate schools. He says that an American education is one that is recognized everywhere in the world.  

“Any international student from around the world would say that the US is known for its work ethic… an experience with a US corporation makes you stand out as an individual,” Inayat says. This is because a US education is more widely recognized than some other countries’ might be. 

However, Inayat is still trying to find a job and says it’s possible that uncertainty surrounding immigration rules may factor into employers’ hesitancy to hire international students. But he is looking forward to finding the right opportunity through an OPT visa regardless of those concerns. 

Wilkins-Luton also added that things are especially hard right now because of the cost of living, and she speculates that this is contributing to the difficulties she and her peers are experiencing. “People can’t afford groceries, or in general, the cost of living. That is 1) causing higher demand in the job market, but 2) it’s making it so that other people have to be getting more than one job to be able to survive, which then adds complications to the job market, because if you’re looking for a job and everybody else is needing two or three, then it’s a constant cycle.” 

The cost of living issue is especially difficult in the ministry field, where Wilkins-Luton is looking for a job, because she said most of those jobs are advertised as part-time but still require a lot of outside time and effort, which leads to increases in burnout and an inability to have time for a second job.  

An article by The Atlantic states that the response to the cost of living issues graduates are now facing is one they’ve seen before. “Even newly minted M.B.A.s from elite programs are struggling to find work. Meanwhile, law-school applications are surging—an ominous echo of when young people used graduate school to bunker down during the great financial crisis,” the article states. 

The article also speculates on possible reasons for this issue. Their first idea is that we are still seeing issues in the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic or the Great Recession of 2008. The second possibility is that a college degree may not lead to the same advantages in the job market or job earnings as it has in the past, and fewer job openings require a college degree nowadays.  They also posit that difficulties finding a job may stem from companies using more AI, thus requiring fewer workers to fulfill certain tasks or roles. 

Tracy Mouser, the director of the Center for Career and Professional Development, simply describes the current job market as ‘complicated’ and says that with so much governmental change happening, people are being ‘cautious’ as they fill positions in their organizations. She encourages students to look outside the box when seeking jobs and to use resources like Handshake on their page for students.  

She also suggests sending a personal email and cover letter to companies that students wish to work with to make a more personal connection than a general application through Indeed or LinkedIn may foster. 

Most of all, she simply wants to encourage students that they can find a job if they continue looking, know how to talk about themselves and make good connections as they go through the job searching and application process, even if it may not be in their dream job. 

Mouser says, “You’ve had a transformational experience while here. Employers want people like you. But, you have to know how to communicate this transformation and show up ready for work just like you did for your classes.”