Most USC students are not looking for non-profit jobs
Despite the national trends of young college graduates taking more federal government and non-profit jobs, not much change has been seen at USC, according to Angie Wood, director of Employer Relations and Research at the Career Planning and Placement Center.
“We haven’t seen that trend in terms of companies that are requesting to participate in our [programs],” Wood said.
According to an analysis by The New York Times of data from the American Community Survey of the United States Census Bureau from 2009, 16 percent more young college graduates worked for the federal government than in the previous year and 11 percent more worked for non-profit groups. A smaller survey by the Labor Department showed the share of educated young people in these jobs continued to rise last year.
Applications for AmeriCorps, a federally funded organization for the advancement of communities across the country, positions have nearly tripled to 258,829 in 2010 from 91,399 in 2008, while the number of Teach for America applications climbed 32 percent last year to 46,359.
Although the majority of recruiters who visit USC are from Fortune 500 companies, USC does host a large number of non-profit recruiters.
TFA is one of the largest non-profit recruiters on campus, according to Wood.
“It’s interesting that although we have so many for-profits, we still have someone like TFA recruit heavily here on campus,” Wood said. “I think students are consciously making that choice to give back and work for service type or non-profit jobs.”
Becca Ryan, a senior majoring in neuroscience, was selected to work with TFA in New Orleans. Ryan always knew she would like to work for a nonprofit.
“I think with a decrease in jobs, more people are looking toward TFA or graduate programs,” Ryan said. “It’s a good opportunity to take two years in the real world working and have leniency to figure out what to do.”
Branche Foston, a senior majoring in communication, is looking to work for a nonprofit after graduation as well, before pursuing a PhD.
“I want to take some time off from school to work with nonprofits because that is what brings me the most joy,” Foston said.
Foston said he doesn’t believe working in the non-profit sector is or should be the easy and secure alternative to getting a for-profit job, as they are struggling in this economy as well.
“Most nonprofits run off of many donations,” Foston said. “If they’re struggling because people are donating less due to the recession, then there’s no guaranteed way for you to have a job, let alone be paid.”
CPPC and the USC Alumni Association, in partnership with MyWorkster, held a USC Alumni career fair last week.
The fair featured nearly 50 employers, but only a handful were in the non-profit or public sector.
You know, USC is getting so weak. Deleting my comments because these spineless editors at DT don’t want the ugly truth to be told. Why is that? Afraid that less students will apply to USC if they see that SC isn’t impervious to the bad economy. Is the “SC connection” the silver bullet in this uphill economy? It only works for a select few, but not for most Trojans. People from more prestigious schools don’t have it much better; I know, because I personally know people from schools like Yale and UPenn who can’t land a job these days. Or do you think that only alumni from public universities suffer?..You’re not fooling anyone.
Listen listen listen listen…I graduated last May. I still keep in touch with a few individuals whom I graduated with, and we got the same major under our belts. Some of my friends got higher GPAs than me, did more interviews, interns, etc. and none of these people I keep in touch with have careers related to their majors nor are they making money according to their “worth.”
The job market is not pretty even now as we speak; don’t buy into what the WSJ or newspapers say. Take all that with a grain of salt.
If a non-profit opportunity comes your way, you better not balk and think “I’m too good for this” or “I deserve more money” blah blah blah.
You better suck it up, be humble, take that “crappy” job and make the most out it..or suck it up until a better opportunity comes by.
When the economy recovers, the game is going to be a lot different than it was “pre-2007.” You better have an open mind and be prepared for what’s new.
I find it hard to buy the claim that fewer USC students are interested in the non-profit sector just because only a few out of 50 employers at the job fair were non-profits. The comparison between the New York Times’ analysis, which shows which jobs students take, and yours, which shows which employers visit USC, is weak.
In fact, you could make the argument that for-profits coming to campus in greater numbers is an indication that they are in LESS demand among students. Why should they have to come to campus if students are seeking those jobs anyway?
It might actually be true that USC students are more interested in for-profits than the national average, but I don’t think the analysis provided in this article proves it.
Good point. This analysis sucked.
Still, USC students are smart enough not to waste their time at non-profits.