Leading Question

Sales positions are plentiful, as are some jobs in healthcare. Openings for new graduates in the region listed in online databases include outside sales representatives, physical therapists, registered nurses and account executives.

“A lot of sales jobs were hiring, which I didn’t want to do,” says Tiffany Esposito, a spring 2009 Florida Gulf Coast University graduate with a degree in communications.

Despite having contacts with local public relations and marketing companies and departments, Esposito sent out more than 40 résumés in Southwest Florida, landing only three interviews in a four-month period.

“I went into the interviews thinking it was a communications position, and it ended up being a sales position,” she says.

The overall lack of jobs for new graduates echoes national trends. The average unemployment rate in June for Charlotte, Collier and Lee counties was close to 12 percent. New diploma holders are vying for positions with experienced, older workers laid off from their jobs or seeking new career paths.

“Now, because so many well-qualified people are out of work with experience, with a good track record, it’s very difficult for college graduates to find employment in their field,” says Barbara Hartman, spokeswoman for the Career and Service Centers of Southwest Florida. “College graduates this year are at a disadvantage, compared to even a year and a half ago, when we had a much lower unemployment rate and employers had to go to great measures to recruit candidates for their companies.”

Discouragement was setting in for Esposito until she saw an ad for a communications manager with the Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce listed on the College Central Network, a national job-search board she accessed as an FGCU graduate.

“I was to the point where I was like, ‘If I don’t get this, I really don’t know what I am going to do,’” says Esposito, who was hired and started in July. “It’s exactly what I wanted.”

Many of Esposito’s fellow FGCU graduates are heading back to school for a master’s degree or a second bachelor’s degree, or sticking with restaurant jobs they worked as students until the economy improves. Other graduates are leaving Southwest Florida, a setback to boosting the region’s young professional population.

Employer participation is down by an estimated 50 percent at job fairs hosted by universities, says Reid Lennertz, director of career services at FGCU. He says those who have found it easier to get work in this challenging job market are graduating from specialized programs such as clinical laboratory sciences and nurse anesthesia, or with advanced degrees such as masters in nursing.

“It’s not like it was four years ago with nursing students, where local hospitals were aggressively recruiting nursing graduates, but they’re still getting jobs,” he says.

Southwest Florida’s seasonal economy also adds to the difficulty for spring graduates, Lennertz says. He expects that employers may gear up hiring this month in anticipation of increased business during season.

Lennertz also has noticed a surge in sales positions, some offering a base salary and others that are 100 percent commission based.

“It doesn’t cost the company anything to hire someone on commission,” Lennertz says. “During a tough time, you need to move your service, you need to move your product. The best way is by bolstering your sales force.”