As minority graduates hit the job market in the midst of an economic recession, many of the class of 2009 may find themselves at an even greater disadvantage if they have not developed the contacts needed to get them in the door for an interview.
The jobless rate among Blacks with a college degree is 7.2 percent — twice that of Whites and higher than Asians and Hispanics, the Economic Policy Institute reported last month using Department of Labor statistics. The nation’s employers expect to hire 22 percent fewer new graduates in 2009 than they hired from the 2008 graduating class, according to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
With unemployment hitting record levels — the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate reached 8.9 percent in April — ‘who you know’ takes on greater significance for students trying to contend in this competitive job market, experts say.
Vivian Wrenn David, the director of the Career Counseling and Planning Center at Hampton University in Hampton, Va., says the institution encourages students to start planning their careers as early as their freshman year. Still, she’s concerned that White students have more access to jobs than minority students.
