Optimism stays despite recession

By Olivia Obineme

Published: Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The New York Times Talk lunch ended the semester with a more harmonious yet still concerning discussion looking at the nation’s job market in its current economic situation.

“Job searching in a recession – it’s not so bad” was the topic for Monday’s discussion, which was led by the Career Center’s job developer and event coordinator Anna Berglowe-Lynch. As guest speaker of the final lunch of the school year, Berglowe-Lynch expressed excitement to have been asked to participate.

“[The discussions] are so much fun and so interesting, one of those things that you only get to do on a college campus,” she said.

The chosen NYT articles for Monday’s talk included “All is not lost for the class of 2009,” “Psst, new grad. put the career off,” “Young and old are facing off for jobs” and “Ten tips to finding a job in the recession” from BNET.com. According to Berglowe-Lynch, the articles were chosen because of the optimism they show for the job market, which she believes is not as bad as people make it to be.

“My husband and I always joke, ‘Oh, there’s a recession going on?’ because as far as both of us being employed, our lives haven’t changed much, even though there is a recession going on,” Berglowe-Lynch said. “I still see new grads that already have their jobs for the summer and as soon as they graduate, they are working the next week. So there are people getting hired.”

Of the 30 people who attended the talk, more were students, but there were no seniors participating. Mostly juniors and several faculty members attended. Nevertheless, many of the juniors there had many concerns about their future in the job market, while the faculty members had many experiences and a lot of advice to share.

“The economy is instable. You can’t really judge if it’s going up or down,” junior mass communication major Rozalyn Reed said. During the talk, Reed shared how overwhelming it was to be uncertain if she would have a job in the future or not.

“It’s a little scary, especially knowing that I will be graduating next year,” she said.

All of the faculty members agreed that there are ways to get ahead of the competition and increase your chance to be the one employers hire. One of the professors’ suggestions was that everyone should be creative and never feel comfortable with just one certain type of job. Other professors suggested that students need to present themselves well when going for an interview.

“You really have to know the company you are going to be interviewed for,” a Cook Library representative said. “I cannot tell you how many search committees I have been on where people come in and we ask them a simple question about what they know about Towson and they know nothing. First impressions are really important.” Organizer Darcy Accardi, special assistant to the vice president for student affairs for civic engagement, said that she was overall happy with how all the lunches have gone this semester.

“All the talks were good. This one was a very relevant and timely topic, not as controversial as the last one,” she said. “And even though we didn’t have any seniors, it seems that juniors are thinking about their future, which is great.”

Those who attended said they felt they had many of their questions answered during the talk and learned a lot about the help the Career Center can offer them. Reed said she knew very little about the resources on campus since she’s a transfer student, but now she will use all the help the Career Center can give her.

“I will look to them to help me especially with my resume or just giving me ideas or internship places where I can get started,” Reed said.

Courtesy of The Towerlight