College Grads Flounder in Tough Job Market

Ask local recent college graduates about , and they’ll say it’s tough, if not impossible, to find a position in their chosen field.

Take Erica Wells of Mattituck, who graduated from Stony Brook University in December 2009 with a degree in women’s studies.

“Originally I was going to work in a not-for-profit organization,” Wells said. “That was my ultimate plan.”

Wells, who formerly lived in Bridgehampton and worked in Southampton, found that job opportunities at not-for-profits — many of which have struggled in the post-recession economy with sagging donations and slashed government budgets — are few and far between.

But, two weeks ago, after submitting 500 job applications and more than her fair share of odd jobs across the East End, Wells found a full-time gig at a call center in Riverhead. Rather than her liberal arts degree, Wells thinks a computer certificate she received from Eastern Suffolk BOCES after high school helped her land the job.

Wells blames her employment troubles on the highly skilled workers who were laid off during the recession and flooded the entry-level job market.

To pay the bills while she hunted for a job, Wells held down a position as a nanny and as a taxi driver, especially lucrative in Southampton in the summer, but not a good one for women, she said. Wells said she felt uncomfortable dealing with men too intoxicated to drive home.

A Riverhead temp agency, AMPM Temps, was also able to find Wells clerical work, she said.

In the 18-month gap between graduation and full-time employment, Wells said she grew depressed.

“To come out of college, and, at a last resort, apply to Starbucks, or a restaurant, and work next to people with no college, even not having graduated high school, is very discouraging,” Wells said. “A lot of other people are experiencing it.”

Halley Aycock-Rizzo of Sag Harbor is in a situation similar to Wells’. Aycock-Rizzo, who is originally from Manhattan and about a year away from finishing college, worked for nearly a year at a biophysics laboratory at the City College of New York in Manhattan. The work, which involved making computer models of small molecules, paid only about $1,000 per month but was his chosen field and may have led to similar positions in the future.  

Aycock-Rizzo, however, lost his living situation in Manhattan, and fled to the Hamptons, where he has spent summers since childhood. There are no jobs in his field on the East End, so he’s alternately working as a carpenter and web designer. He also waits tables at Agave Bar & Mexican Grille in Bridgehampton.

PurplePlacement.com, a job board for veterans is another of Aycock-Rizzo’s side projects.

“I’m not happier,” Aycock-Rizzo said of the life change.

He is considering returning to college in January.

Like Aycock-Rizzo, Brooke Barber of Brooklyn, who works part time at Mixology in Southampton Village, had a job in her chosen field, law. Since graduating in the spring of 2010, Barber had an internship at a district attorney’s office and had applied to five law schools.

But, her co-workers advised her against pursuing a law career. Sky-high student loans combined with a highly competitive job market deterred Barber. Her new plan is social work, a field she said also requires an advanced degree, a Master of Social Work.

Barber plans on applying to New York University, Columbia University and Hunter College by November 1, so that she can enroll by January.

From what she has heard so far, the employment outlook is better for social workers than attorneys.