Official works to help seniors land jobs as unemployment rises

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    Omaha, NE (WOWT) — More than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

For those now trying to enter the workforce things are getting increasingly more difficult. One local college official is now working to help college grads land a job.

College seniors now have their diplomas in hand, but they’re walking into a depleted workforce.

Jeremy Fisher, the Director of the Career Center at Creighton University says many grads have still managed to get job offers in recent weeks. But—there’s a catch to that.

“The biggest impact for them was their job offers or start dates were delayed until later. So, instead of starting a full-time position in June, with a lot of companies going to remote work or virtual work, a lot of our seniors might not be starting their full-time positions until August or until groups convene,” said Fisher.

Fisher says in a typical year roughly 70% of students have confirmed plans lined up after graduation. This year that number was down to 66%.

Fisher says the best thing college grads can do is to continue working on new skills.

“You know, maybe that’s learning web design or doing some basic coding training or getting certified in project management or google analytics. Something like that can continue to make our students marketable in a tight job market,” said Fisher.

Another change grads can expect to see? How job recruiting is handled in the coming months.

“We and other institutions are fully moving forward with moving a lot of our recruiting events like large career fairs to a virtual career field so an online experience to connect and engage students with employers,” said Fisher.

Fisher says while the world around us is changing the way we land a new job is also changing.

Officials also say summer internships are being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. They say they have noticed a stark decline in companies offering internships.

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