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At Pella Corporation, there are no ordinary careers, only windows of endless opportunity. Fulfill your career goals by joining a team of top-caliber individuals committed to making a difference. Enjoy the culture of a vibrant, integrity-based company, dedicated to developing, promoting and rewarding its employees.

Outstanding opportunities exist in Iowa and throughout the United States. Please apply online at www.pella.com/careers. Post-offer drug screen and background check required.

Pella Corporation • 102 Main Street • Pella, IA 50219www.pella.com/careers • EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Please visit Pella Corporation at the Iowa State Engineering Career Fair on Septmber 22 and the

Business Career Fair on September 23.

Current Opportunities • Full-time Department Managers

• Full-time Engineers• Summer Internships

Looking for a fast-paced and rewarding career?

You’ve come to the right place.

Cerner Corporation is the nation’s leading supplier of healthcare information technology. Join our team to help drive the creation and development of innovative solutions that make healthcare safer, smarter and more efficient.

Stop by our booth at the career fair to learn about opportunities in software and system engineering, consulting and internships. Visit us on the Web at www.cerner.com/campus.

Monday, September 21, 2009 | Iowa State Daily | CAREER GUIDE | 7Editor Sarah Bougie | sarah.bougie@iowastatedaily.com | 515.294.4120

By Stephanie SinkDaily Staff Writer

During an economic crisis, it can be rather difficult to find a job. Most col-lege graduates these days are finding out that entering the job market isn’t an easy task and can be quite competitive.

Peter Orazem, professor of econom-ics, said that if you enter the job market at the time of a recession, it’s going to take you longer to find a job, and you’re probably not going to get as good a job as you had hoped for.

“Employers aren’t going to pay you as well as they would if the economy was in a boom or an expansion, and they’re not going to give you the same level of training,” Orazem said. “They’re not hiring you to train you. They’re hir-ing you to do something.”

However, the search for a job is typi-

cally better for people who have a col-lege degree under their belt as opposed to those who don’t.

Steve Shuey, project manager for Friedrich Construction, said Friedrich’s would rather hire people right out of college because it makes it easier to train them on how the company works.

“It’s easier to teach someone new coming up, but you also don’t want to have to completely educate them,” Shuey said. “So if they have a little bit of background on [policies], it makes it a little bit easier than them not having it.”

An economic crisis can also affect unemployment rates. Whether you’re a college graduate or you just have a high school diploma, your education can in-fluence your ability to find a job.

“During a recession, it’s better for college graduates than people who didn’t go to college. The unemployment

rate for college graduates is 4.7 percent, and the unemployment rate for a high school dropout is over 16 percent,” Ora-zem said.

“But, on the other hand, for young college graduates, it’s a little bit worse, and if you’re an experienced college graduate it isn’t quite as bad. For new college graduates, it’s going to take a little bit longer to find a job.”

The economy is trying its hardest to come back from the recession, but even when it does, it could still take longer for the job market to come back to normal. It’s going to take a while for the effects of the crisis to completely disappear.

“People who graduate in bust econ-omies are paid less over a 10-year pe-riod relative to what would have been the case if they were hired in a boom economy,” Orazem said. “Even if it were to come out of the bust, we could come

back, but it comes back slowly. It takes a long time to get back to where you were because you’ve lost some of the really early train-ing that you would have gotten.”

Some of the industries that suf-fer the most through an economic crisis are manufacturing and con-struction jobs and any industry that deals with durable goods.

Shuey said his construction com-pany has had to make a few adjust-ments to survive the recession.

“We’ve had to simplify our process,” Shuey said. “Instead of hiring new peo-ple to do some of the tasks, our staff has had to become more diversified. The workers have had to take on more than before, even the receptionists.”

The economic crisis has definitely had an adverse effect on the job market. However, if you graduate with a degree,

start t h e process early and keep your determina-tion — the prospects won’t be quite so bleak.

Recession brings downjob opportunitiesRecent graduates left with difficult searches

Photo: Courtesy sxc.hu