Using Skills: Graduates find that practical abilities help more than a degree in getting job

Michael Jugenheimer considers himself lucky. He has a job.

Jugenheimer, a 22-year-old from Danielson, Conn., received an offer on his graduation day from Grinnell College last month. It was payoff for a search that began in October.

Jugenheimer won't be using his studies exactly as he envisioned, but he's thrilled. In his new position, he will help raise money for Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. As of June 22, he'll be employed, and that is a victory in this economy, where 6.8 million people are looking for a job, the highest on record dating to 1967.

At the outset, Jugenheimer interviewed with consulting firms specializing in community-development projects. In school he had focused on global-development studies -- the impact of economic, political, and social change on the environment -- as he pursued his economics degree. Some of the companies had projects in developing countries, and others worked on low-income housing in the United States. However, he found the competition fierce.

"I would go on interviews and I'd be competing with people who had a master's degree or people who had experience," he said. "I realized I need to be looking at jobs that I have tangible direct experience in."

About January, after a few months of interviewing, Jugenheimer changed course.

After assessing his skills, he recognized that he had accumulated significant experience in fundraising at Grinnell, a 1,600-student liberal-arts college in central Iowa. He helped bring in money working with Grinnell's alumni-relations staff, assisted with phone-a-thons and joined a program that encouraged graduating seniors to donate before leaving college.

With that experience, he began sending resumes to nonprofit groups, colleges and universities. The strategy worked. He had several interviews, some callbacks and the job offer on graduation day.

Jugenheimer did just the right thing by focusing on his skills and identifying employers that were looking for what he had to offer, said Catherine Byers Breet, a Minneapolis area job recruiter for companies, who also offers job-coaching services to unemployed workers.

He was successful in finding a job because he realized he wasn't qualified yet for a job in the area of his studies, but he did have skills that are suitable for something else, at least for now, Byers Breet said.

"(Recent graduates) need to be realistic about what they're qualified to do," she said. That sometimes means taking a longer view of their career by accepting an entry-level job first, with the thought that it will help them get to their perfect job later.

Simply put, job coaches and college career advisers say that it means that the unemployed must think more creatively and broadly about how their particular set of skills can be used.

Three things that Byers Breet said will help a job search, whether or not you're a recent graduate:

1. Define your skills and identify the type of job that you want. Write it all down and then research the jobs that fit your skill set. Several Web sites allow you to plug in skills, to produce a list of appropriate jobs, among them: http://online.onetcenter.org.

2. Identify the gaps between your skills and your ideal job. This may force you to realize you're not ready to step into the dream job right now. You may need to enter something more suitable to your skills that could be a steppingstone to where you want to be.

3. Once you figure out what's realistic, focus your resume and cover letter appropriately. Get help if you need it. At some point, you'll need to get off the Internet and start networking with people. The Web can be a very good resource for many aspects of a job search, but nothing replaces meeting people who know people.

Networking is imperative in a competitive market, said Christian Garcia, the director of the University of Miami's Toppel Career Center.

"Our message has been to prepare as early as possible, open your mind and keep all your options open," he said. Students are reminded to look at their career more broadly, understanding that the first job may not end up being the ideal, but it's still experience for a year or two and it will always look good on the resume.

A recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that just one in five of this year's college graduates who had applied for a job was hired. The survey of more than 16,500 graduating seniors at 840 colleges and universities also found that 40 percent of responding seniors know that their first job out of school may not be as lucrative as they had hoped.

Jugenheimer said that expectations vary depending on the career and cost of living in the city where a job is located, but many of his classmates would likely accept a $30,000 to $35,000 salary to start. That's near the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics estimate of the average privately employed U.S. worker salary.

Getting a paycheck for now and worrying about larger career aspirations later is how many recent graduates are approaching the job search, said Josh Burdick, 22, of Winchester, Mass., another Grinnell graduate.

"You get out there and find some way to pay the bills," he said. "Once you get started, it's much easier to keep your ear to the ground and learn about more opportunities."

Burdick was offered a job during finals week by the Urban Land Conservancy in Denver. The offer came only after multiple in-person and telephone interviews.

The conservancy is a nonprofit organization that buys real estate and buildings in urban areas and redevelops them. Its work includes establishing affordable housing and revitalizing neglected areas and neighborhoods.

Burdick is thankful for the experience it will offer and sees it as a steppingstone.