Being without a job – a reality for many new college grads.

Choose an in demand major – check.  Go to a good University – check.  Get a graduate degree in an in demand major – check.  Earn a high GPA for both degrees – check.  Volunteer and make contacts – double check.  Land a high paying job – no.  So if you have everything in place, how could a highly educated person with a science/math degree end up jobless? 

Life in high school is easy.  You study and work to get into a good university.  Decide on a path of study and are let out into the world to make a name.  What happens after school – that’s the part no-one covers.  Through the math, science, history and dreaded economic classes that you sit through – not one will cover the very real aspect of getting a college education, joblessness.  The chance that you will find yourself highly educated, grossly in dept, and jobless is a very real possibility.  Even if you aren’t picky about your first job, you may find that you are too educated to be hired.  That’s a crazy thing – too educated.  Being too educated is a tough reality in a market place that is facing tough times.  With the inflation of prices throughout the market and unstable economy and uncertainty about the future – many employers are simply tightening their belt as far as hiring goes.

This is putting more recent college graduates in tighter positions.  Student loans have to be paid back, and despite what common press tells us, not that many 20-30 year olds want to move back in with mom and dad.  There is a lost of independence at this age when you are faced with the tough reality of having an education and not having a job.