Economy reality kicks in for new graduates

Graduate Catherine Meintjes went on the dole after being unable to find a job. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Her friends called her a bludger but recent university graduate Catherine Meintjes felt she had run out of options.

She was too inexperienced for the jobs trickling out of the recovering economy but too qualified for retail, and had to take the dole.

The University of Auckland accounting graduate is one of many bright young people struggling to find a job this year.

Ms Meintjes said she had been looking for entry-level accounting jobs online for weeks and had found six positions for the whole country.

"It's looking bleak. Everyone's saying the recession is over but it's going to take a while."

She had a double major including a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting, normally a highly marketable degree. But graduate-level positions were nowhere to be found, she said.

She also applied for retail work, but employers turned her down for being overqualified, knowing she would not stay for long.

"They said, 'You're not going to stay here'. They're not stupid."

She was either overqualified or underexperienced and stranded without work.

"I'm stuck in a little limbo."

Ms Meintjes finished her courses this time last year and found the job market hard going. Eventually she decided to go overseas for 10 months, visiting family in South Africa and travelling through Europe, to wait out the recession.

She returned this month optimistic, not expecting it to still be so hard.

"I thought there would be more jobs since it's the end of the year and, supposedly, the recession."

But after her applications to all advertised positions had been unsuccessful, she realised she would have to go on the dole.

She reluctantly decided to take an unemployment benefit despite mixed reactions from her friends, she said.

Some had told her she was a bludger, while others supported her knowing it was only temporary.

Work and Income, meanwhile, had been very understanding, she said.

"They were very accommodating, not forcing me to take a job beneath my qualifications. I thought they would offer me the first minimum wage thing that came up."

With about 35,000 university students graduating every year, Ms Meintjes is far from alone. She will be joined by many more graduates scrambling for work and forced to take a hard look at going on the dole.

Massey University resource and environmental planning honours student Wendy Robinson has just two exams to go before her four years of study is done.

She was hit by the reality of the job market last month when a job that had been guaranteed for two years fell apart.

She was on a scholarship tied to fulltime work at the Hamilton City Council, but this year the council did not have an opening.

It was a shock that would soon face every graduating student, she said.

"I think at the moment a lot of people are just so busy with finishing uni that they haven't really thought about it. But suddenly, after that, they'll sit down and realise they don't know what they'll be doing: there's no work around.

"In our class of 21 there's one with a job. That's it. Normally every other year everyone has a job by this point. Times have changed."

But she refused to take an unemployment benefit, she said.

"I don't think I could bludge off society like that.

"I've just been applying to every single job possible and using all my contacts to try and find something. I've got one interview so far but I haven't heard back from anything else."

University of Auckland fourth-year civil engineering student Daniel Bang said he had applied for almost 30 engineering jobs since May with no success.

"I've been applying for heaps. All I'm thinking about is getting a job."

He had finished his last week of classes, and even though he had exams coming up, his focus was on finding work.

He said he would be justified in receiving a benefit if he was still unemployed after close to 30 applications.

"I need to survive somehow."

Classmate Michael Davies is also without a job after applying to about 10 firms. He said many companies had advertised positions but replied saying they were not actually taking anyone this year.

He would rather go on to post-graduate study than get an unemployment benefit. "I don't believe in it. It's a crap way to live."

Kinetic Recruitment director Kate Ross said her company looked out for new job openings every day and found businesses were not creating entry-level positions at all.

"I'm afraid it's still a scary time for people in positions of finding their first real job. The job market is getting better for people with jobs already ... but openings for new recruits are not there right now. It's going to be tough."

ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said he expected growth in jobs to be weak for a year or more.

"There's still going to be a fair amount of caution ... It's a challenging environment to get work.

"Competition for jobs remains fairly high. [Graduates need to] really work hard at selling themselves."