In a difficult economy graduates seek jobs in alternative areas

By SLOANE WIMBERLY

Faced with the economic downturn, recent graduates of the University of Georgia are having trouble finding jobs in their original field of study -- but they aren’t giving up hope. Instead of moving home, some are seeking alternative prospects for their post-graduate time.

Five 2009 graduates have reconsidered their degrees, and a few have found work in unconventional areas. Three are scattered across the United States, and two are working abroad.

Meredith Kaltz, originally from Destin, Fla., graduated with a degree in furnishing and interior design. Last summer Kaltz obtained an internship in Charleston, S.C. with interior design firm, Kathleen Rivers, but was not offered a job after graduation.

“After she told me she couldn't hire me, I knew for sure I should just go to Italy and wait out the recession,” Kaltz said in an e-mail interview.

Kaltz would have liked to move back to Charleston and work for Rivers, but business slowed for the firm this year and she was not hiring.

“The most influential part of my decision making was my determination to get back to Italy, but of course the economy played a huge role too,” Kaltz said.

Kaltz’s parents supported her decision to return to Florence, Italy -- but only if she had a job. A friend of Kaltz’s mother prepared to be an au pair in France for the year, and the idea resonated with Kaltz. She began looking into the possibility.

Kaltz has been in Florence for two weeks, where she lives with a family of four and helps out with their 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. Kaltz also helps out around the house. She said her schedule has been irregular, because the kids’ school has not yet begun and the family has been traveling.

“I'm still interested in interior design or something in that field, so hopefully I can find a job doing that when I get home,” Kaltz said.

She will be in Italy for a year, and while she’s there, she said she would like to meet new people and learn Italian. Kaltz said she hopes the combination may lead her to a job or bring her closer in her search.

Katy Bowers, a recent graduate from Nashville, Tenn., who studied history and political science, always envisioned herself continuing on to law school.

Halfway through her junior year, she found herself focusing more on education. She decided to pursue education law, and began her masters in education policy after graduating.

Bowers then decided to scrap the law degree and try to start teaching. However, she was unable to find any openings for a high school history teacher in Georgia -- she had no experience, no teaching certificate or education degree.

“I have landed at a school in New York by pure chance,” Bowers said.

After unsuccessful searches in Georgia, Bowers decided to go to Terrytown, N.Y. There she did her masters practicum at the Hackley School -- the high school her boyfriend attended. She also took online classes.

New York began as an excuse to visit her boyfriend, but it developed into a job when a teacher resigned last minute, and the school needed a teacher.

“After two days on the job I could not be more excited about where I have landed,” Bowers said. “I absolutely love it!”

Bowers is currently teaching 11th graders at Hackley while she continues her masters studies online. She plans to stay as long as they will have her.

Kate Kotsko, a graduate with a degree in social work, from Michigan, moved to Charlotte, N.C. for a job offer.

“In the back of my head it made a lot of sense to do this- even if wanted to go [in] to social work, it’s very similar,” Kotsko said.

Kotsko got a job with Teach for America. She teaches English as a second language to fourth graders at Albemarle Road Elementary School.

More than 500 children are enrolled in this program. One other Teach for America teacher and four traditional teachers help teach these elementary school kids how to speak English.

Brad Hill, an Atlanta native and social studies education major has been living in Buenos Aires, Argentina for two months teaching English. Hill said the U.S. economy definitely played a roll in his choice to move south, however, he has not escaped economic issues.
“The money situation is kind of problematic,” Hill said. “It’s a nice job, [you] can’t make enough to make money off of it, you can’t sustain a living off of it.”

He primarily teaches English to small groups of adults from specific companies-- he is currently working with someone from Exxon Mobile. Hill’s teaching regime includes audio work, language exercises and conversational work. He said he plans his own lessons.

This was not Hill’s original post college plan.

“I really had no idea, I wanted to take a year off and travel,” Hill said. “I wanted to come down here to absorb another culture and another world.” He said he is not sure how long he will stay in Buenos Aires, but graduate school is next on the list.

Hill said Buenos Aires is very fun, but overwhelming at times. In the future he would like to find a job in human rights and social justice issues.

Claire Rabun, a public relations major and English minor from Macon Ga., is using her University of Georgia degree to paddle the Snake River in Jackson Hole, Wyo. She is learning to become a white water rafting guide for Jackson Hole White Water. However, she will not be able to lead any trips by the end of the season, so she is working in their office.

“I looked long and hard for a job” Rabun said. “Nothing worked out.” Rabun said she got a few job offers, but not the ones she had envisioned. The firms she would have liked to work for were on a hiring freeze, so she shifted gears and moved to Wyoming.

“I planned on going directly into the workforce, this worked out for the best, it gave me a chance to figure out where I wanted to go from here, [ and to] get myself together after college” Rabun said.

Rabun may have hit a rapid in the job search, but she has a job interview this week in Nashville, Tenn., with a public relations firm, McNeely Pigott & Fox, who was previously on a hiring freeze. She interned for the firm last summer and said she really enjoyed the work she did with them. Rabun said she is not sure if they will offer her a job, but if they do she will have to decide what is right for her career path, and if there is a way she can make public relations work in Jackson Hole.

Rabun said she has fallen in love with Jackson Hole and ideally she said she would like to find an opportunity within the public relations field there.

Rabun said the economy definitely played a roll in her decision to move to Wyoming. “Only two or three of my friends actually got jobs,” Rabun said. “The economy has been so bad, even out here, the tourism has dropped, [but] it’s starting to turn around.”

Edited by Chelsea Cook