{"id":3684,"date":"2021-04-18T19:50:59","date_gmt":"2021-04-18T23:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=3684"},"modified":"2021-04-19T21:07:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T01:07:00","slug":"graduates-navigate-economy-impacted-by-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2021\/04\/graduates-navigate-economy-impacted-by-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduates Navigate Economy Impacted by COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

When Maria Varela mapped out her career after graduating, she didn\u2019t foresee a global pandemic interfering. She planned on making the leap from her suburb in Long Island to an apartment in the city, hoping to land a job in the film industry with the degree she worked towards for four years..
\nThen COVID happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter graduating, like anyone, I was hoping to find a job in film or at least something similar to that, but of course none of that actually happened,\u201d said Varela, a 23-year-old graduate from Hunter College.<\/p>\n

It is a sentiment echoed by many college students<\/a> who are graduating into an economy still reeling from the pandemic; and who are learning how to navigate the job market during a recession<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was furloughed from my waitressing job,\u201d said Varela. She lost her second job at a local ice-cream store after Christmas.\u201dCurrently, I am collecting unemployment and it\u2019s the most money I have ever made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the start of the pandemic, hiring for entry-level jobs for graduates has fallen by 45%<\/a>. This is taking a toll on young people who are already disproportionately impacted by the virus due to their prevalence in the service industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI constantly have to take breaks from looking for jobs. I would force myself to take a break because the constant search gives me anxiety as if I was never going to find a real job,\u201d said Varela, who feels like Hunter could have prepared her more for her search. \u201cDue to CUNY\u2019s cut of advisors, my last semester would have helped but since she was seeing 200 plus students, meetings were limited. No one tells you what to do after graduation.\u201d In 2020, CUNY cut nearly 3,000 faculty members<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hunter’s advising department did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

After closing the tab on his virtual graduation, Peter Barretta, a 23-year-old graduate from Hunter, watched his plans come to a halt. \u201cI planned on travelling to Italy to finish and acquire my citizenship with the intention of possibly moving to Europe. The pandemic has left those plans at a complete standstill,\u201d said Barretta.<\/p>\n

The Italian Consulate has put a temporary hold on new appointments, and restrictions banning travel from the U.S. are still in place in Italy.<\/p>\n

Beretta, who worked as a Broadway ticket deliverer before the pandemic, applied to multiple gigs and freelance opportunities, but has had little luck. The connections that he formed before the pandemic didn\u2019t help him land a job either.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who had assured me of job positions or job assistance were all giving me the same response, \u2018Things are messed up at the moment.\u2019 The moment has been almost a year and a half at this point,\u201d said Barretta.
\nFor Hunter graduate Emily Hernandez, the pandemic messed up her own chance at a paid internship. \u201cBefore the pandemic, I searched for internships in New York. I have not been applying to find a job in my degree field since graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to COVID, Hernandez worked as both a babysitter and at a frozen yogurt shop. When the virus hit last spring, she lost both of her jobs and moved back to her family home in Maryland to finish her virtual semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy plans after graduation changed, but it also came with a bit of relief. I felt less pressured to find a job in my field right away,\u201d said Hernandez. \u201cI think time stresses me out more than the navigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Hernandez is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. \u201cI feel like now, people are finally understanding what works and doesn\u2019t work when it comes to working in the film\/entertainment industry,\u201d said Hernandez.<\/p>\n

What started as a time year for new beginnings has turned into a year of uncertainty and doubt for many graduates. \u201cI think I share the opinion of many recent graduates when I say it\u2019s disheartening to see our job searching efforts bear no fruit,\u201d said Barretta.<\/p>\n

But with vaccination roll-outs, some are starting to have hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pandemic has invigorated me in terms of working on my own and independent projects with fellow graduates. Hopefully we\u2019ll strike it on our own,\u201d said Barretta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students graduating into an economy reeling from the pandemic are coping with anxiety from unemployment and rethinking their plans. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":3685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[324],"tags":[303,279,280,15,407,284,40,406],"class_list":["post-3684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-life","tag-covid19","tag-huntercollege-hunterstudents","tag-anxiety","tag-cuny","tag-graduates","tag-pandemic","tag-students","tag-unemployment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3684"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3719,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3684\/revisions\/3719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}