california New grads facing struggle

January 1, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

They have become the underemployed generation.

Since the start of the recession, the number of new college graduates in California working as cashiers, office clerks, retail salespersons, bartenders, secretaries, child-care workers, tellers and customer-service representatives has jumped by 40 percent, or 12,000, according to a McClatchy Newspapers review of census data.

Meanwhile, the number of new grads employed in their chosen professions as schoolteachers, architects, accountants and myriad other careers has fallen.

“I’m frustrated,” said Sergey Savrasov, 21. Savrasov recently graduated from the University of California-Santa Cruz with degrees in computational mathematics and business management economics. He now works for a Davis, Calif., moving company.

“The response rate to applications is pretty slow,” he said, “even though I’m a very qualified job candidate with two degrees.”

While new college graduates still typically earn more and get hired faster than those with only a high school diploma, they’re repeatedly finding that today is one of the bleakest times in generations to finish school.

Job openings are scarce in multiple fields, hiring freezes abound, and employers often hold out for experienced workers. At the same time, new graduates are increasingly saddled with debt due to rising student fees and tuition.

Adding to the frustration, the bleak job market has left 126,000 of the state’s young college graduates living with their parents, up sharply from 2007, census figures show.

To move out of their parents’ house or to get out of debt, many grads are taking jobs that don’t require a college education.

Abby Camacho, 26, of Fairfield, Calif., graduated cum laude from San Francisco State University this year with a degree in international relations. Her 3.6 grade-point average often landed her on the dean’s honor list.

After six fruitless months searching for a job, she’s posting r sum s online, seeking work as an office administrator.

“After you graduate, family, friends and society have such expectations for your success,” she said in an email. “They all think that now you have it made, that you will stand out from the crowd and find a wonderful job with ease.

“While this may have been true a decade ago, before the economic downfall, it is definitely not the case now.”

Camacho has applied for jobs in several cities, she said, but hiring managers seem more interested in her previous stints as an office administrator at a plumbing business and an embroidery shop than in her degree.

“Employers don’t pay attention to you without any prior experience,” she said.

Camacho can take cold comfort that her career path is, by now, well-trodden.

Roughly 20,000 new college graduates in California worked last year as office administrators, tellers, receptionists or secretaries, up significantly from 2007, according to the McClatchy Newspapers review of census data, examining all Californians 26 or younger with at least a bachelor’s degree who were no longer in college.

At the same time, the ranks of new graduates working as primary or secondary schoolteachers has plummeted 20 percent since 2007, to about 16,000.

The number of new grads working as electrical engineers fell 30 percent. The number of new grads working as accountants dropped 15 percent.

Savrasov, who wants a job in accounting or finance, keenly feels that last statistic.

Savrasov speaks three languages and twice made the dean’s honor list. But he’s still hauling furniture out of recently sold homes.

Savrasov managed to complete his education without racking up huge debts — his parents picked up most of the costs. And he’s still working.

Eduardo Salinas, 31, of Sacramento is not so fortunate.

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Salinas worked the past several years as a CAD drafter — he used computer software to create blueprints for construction projects.

Salinas believed that he could do more, though, and enrolled in the construction management program at ITT Technical Institute in Rancho Cordova, Calif.

He went to school full time while working full time. In June, his employer laid him off.

Salinas graduated from ITT in September.

Now he’s struggling to find a job in the anemic construction industry.

He owes $60,000 in student loans.

He still wants something more prestigious than his old job, which does not require a four-year degree, but he’s worried that he may not find it.

His backup plan is to start his own business.

“I just want to get my foot in the door,” he said. “But that’s impossible.”