Unemployment Is a ‘Full-Time Job’: Recent Grads Struggle to Navigate A Difficult Job Market

Each morning, Jake Fishman ’25 opens his laptop to repeat the same ritual. Scrolling through Handshake, LinkedIn and Indeed, he submits countless cover letters and resumes that, according to him, rarely get a response. 

Since graduating from Cornell’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration in May, Fishman estimates that he has applied to more than 300 jobs and has only heard back from five. 

“Despite being unemployed, I’m somehow busier than ever,” Fishman said. “Basically, applying for a job is a full-time job.”

While Fishman tells himself that he is bound to find a job as a Cornell graduate, months of unanswered applications made him question that assumption.  

“Cornell is such a great school that everyone gets hired eventually … at least that’s what I tell myself,” Fishman said. And yet, he finds himself wondering, “Was it really worth it?”

Rising Unemployment Rates

Fishman’s frustration echoes a growing national trend among college graduates. 

The U.S. unemployment rate for recent college graduates rose from 4.3 percent in June 2023 to 4.6 percent in June 2024 and to 4.8 percent in June 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additionally, unemployment rates for recent college graduates have been consistently higher than the average unemployment rate of all workers aged 16 to 65 since January 2021. 

The University’s data mirrors this national trend. According to the Cornell Student Outcomes website, 88 percent of the Class of 2024, for all degree levels, reported being employed or in graduate school within six months of graduation. This is a decrease of 5.5 percentage points from the reported 93 percent of the Class of 2023 who were employed or in graduate school within six months of graduation, according to the Career Services 2023-2024 Annual Report.

Prof. Evan Riehl, economics, said that national data reflect structural shifts in the labor market.

“The share of the long-term unemployed who are college graduates is … growing,” Riehl said. “So it seems like something is changing.”

One likely explanation is technological displacement, says Riehl. 

According to reporting by The New York Times, the rise of artificial intelligence has created a misalignment between the skills employers demand and the skills workers possess. This technological shift is now affecting white-collar workers, including college graduates, by automating tasks that previously required a college education, Riehl explained.

“For college graduates, traditionally, they have good employment prospects because they’re knowledge workers,” Riehl said. “But of course, with the recent advances in AI … a lot of those skills are now possible to do with technology.”

According to Riehl, the most dramatic recent change has been in computer science. 

“It’s kind of ironic, because what AI is particularly good at is coding,” Riehl said. “So you could potentially be replacing entry-level coders.”

‘Applying for jobs is a full-time job’

Fishman began applying for jobs in Fall 2024 as he started his senior year. Since then, he hasn’t stopped. Of the hundreds of applications Fishman sent out, he said he heard from less than 2 percent of them. 

“It was just very frustrating,” Fishman said. “Because I would meet with Cornell and their career center, and they told me, ‘Oh, your resume looks great. You have so much experience.’”

Fishman spent the summer working as a nightlife manager and host to help bolster his resume, describing it as a “great experience,” but said that “still nothing really is working.”

After unsuccessful online applications, Fishman decided to pitch himself in person. He described going to hotels around New York City to drop off physical copies of his resume to potential employers.

“I did a little elevator pitch,” Fishman said. “‘Hi, I’m Jake. I just graduated from Cornell’s Hotel School. I have several years of hospitality experience, and I’m really interested in working at your hotel.’”

Even this more personal approach yielded little improvement, with only one hotel responding.

Navigating the job market led Fishman to reconsider the real value of a prestigious degree. 

“Honestly, I feel like the Cornell name definitely is helpful, but I thought it would be stronger than the way it’s been,” Fishman said.

Riehl, however, emphasized that Cornell’s reputation will likely continue to hold weight. 

“Employers are often receiving hundreds of applications, so you need some way to get your resume pulled out of the stack, and a Cornell degree is one thing that can help with that,” Riehl said. “Cornell students will still do well, but the labor market they’re entering is fundamentally different than even five years ago.”

Despite nearly a year of job hunting, Fishman continued to apply for new positions. 

“Applying for a job is a full-time job,” Fishman said. “Every day [I] wake up and apply to jobs [and I hope] something new is posted.”

Fishman’s nearly year-long job search finally paid off — in an update shared after his interview with The Sun, Fishman says he has since accepted a job as a travel and lifestyle member services associate at Atlas. 

The role came through networking, a pathway Riehl said remains a key factor in today’s job market.

“There’s a lot of research in economics showing that a lot of hiring is done through referrals and networking,” Riehl said. “Part of the value that students get from going to places like Cornell is getting tapped into that alumni network, and that will continue to have value for many years to come.”

Fishman said that turned out to be true for him. 

“I feel like people always say to utilize your network but that was honestly the key,” he wrote in a text to the Sun. “If you want something, reach out to the people that can make it happen. It all works out.”

Federal Hiring Freeze Shakes Post-Grad Plans

For Ava LaGressa M.P.A. ’25, her attempts to find work were met with the effects of a federal hiring freeze.
LaGressa initially applied to five federal positions through USAJobs, including what she called her “dream job” as a program evaluator at the National Gallery of Art.

“I got a response back asking for an interview,” LaGressa said. “And then when Trump was inaugurated and announced the federal hiring freeze, they closed the job completely.”

After the federal hiring freeze, LaGressa pivoted and began applying to city government jobs, nonprofits and private organizations. As of this fall, LaGressa says she has applied to nearly 80 jobs spanning many sectors. 
Widespread government cuts have pitted entry-level applicants like her against long-serving government workers now seeking the same positions, according to LaGressa.

“Entry-level jobs are being taken by people who have years and years of experience, because they have that knowledge, they have that expertise and they’re willing to take the pay cut to be able to support themselves and their family,” LaGressa said. “I don’t really stand a chance next to someone who has 10 plus years of experience.”

LaGressa began applying to jobs in January 2025 as she approached graduation. She recalled her first semester at Cornell and said that the highlight of the M.P.A. program at the time was that 90 percent of M.P.A. graduates graduate with a job. 

“So I [thought], ‘I’m going to graduate [from] this program with a job.’” LaGressa said. “I thought that the effort [I’ve been] putting in … would be enough for me to have a job.”

The federal hiring freeze and cascading layoffs changed that reality for graduates like LaGressa, who hoped to enter the government and policy field.

LaGressa said she has repeatedly reset her job-search strategy — from mass applying to jobs, to networking, meeting alumni, building a website and publishing LinkedIn articles — but has heard back from only about a fourth of the positions she applied to.  

“You feel like you’re living [in] Groundhog Day,” LaGressa said. “[Every day] I’m getting up … and I’m just searching for jobs for five hours. Or I’m writing another cover letter … you have to keep going and switching it up so you don’t fall into a depression of not having a job.”
A move home helped ease some of the financial pressure, LaGressa said, but she still has bills to cover while balancing two part-time jobs with her concurrent job search. 

“Working these jobs at the same time as I’m trying to apply to jobs and trying to network is proving difficult,” LaGressa said. “I put in so much work to get to where I am today, and I feel like I want my salary, my benefits to show for that, and I also want to work in an organization that I actually care about.”

LaGressa seeks a role that matches the effort she has invested in her education. However, the constant pressure to find a job has taken an emotional toll.
“It took a lot for me to get here to Cornell,” LaGressa said. “It took a lot of money to pay for this degree, and I feel like I’m almost letting my family down by not … having a job and showing that my education was worth it.”

A Different Path: Balancing Two Jobs After Graduation 

Miguel Barrera ’24 has taken a different path to employment, one that he did not anticipate. Barrera studied plant science and worked as an undergraduate research assistant during all four years of college. He imagined he would pursue a Ph.D. after graduating. 

Ultimately, when the plant science programs he had been accepted into weren’t his first choice, Barrera decided that he wanted to try again the following year.

He then found temporary lab work, then full-time employment in Ithaca, where he has remained since graduation.

“Since graduating, I’ve been working here in Ithaca. My plans changed, I realized that I didn’t want to go to grad school for plant science,” Barrera said. “I actually want to go to law school, so that’s kind of my trajectory right now.”

Barrera currently works in Prof. Greg Vogel’s, plant breeding and genetics, lab while also serving two consecutive resident advisor roles in the Sigma Pi fraternity and Phi Tau fraternity houses. He now juggles the responsibilities of two jobs. 

“I work a nine-to-five, and so that’s Monday through Friday,” Barrera said. “And then I have the miscellaneous responsibilities of being an RA.”

Barrera’s current working situation looks different than he had expected.

“Graduating college, I did expect to just find a traditional full-time nine-to-five job,” Barrera said. 

Although Barrera’s post-graduation path looks different, he feels grateful to have a job that draws directly on his degree. His RA positions have been a financial lifeline during an uncertain job market, covering his housing, meals and offering a small stipend.

“Still being involved in campus, it made a lot of sense financially for me to take advantage of the opportunity and give back to the community,” Barrera said.

As a first-generation low-income student, Barrera says living independently and being financially independent are priorities. 

“All the jobs I’ve taken on have been to support myself. I know that if I were to move back home, I would also have to help out with my family’s financial situation,” Barrera said. “That’s why I felt very grateful to have the opportunities to be able to work in a lab with the major that I studied.”

Rise of Technology 

Artificial intelligence represents an unusual technological shift that is replacing not only lower-skilled work, but also roles traditionally protected by higher education, Riehl explained. As a result, he said that institutions like Cornell are feeling the effects.
According to Riehl, one field is undergoing especially rapid change: computer science. 

“AI could potentially be replacing entry-level coders,” Riehl said. “It means you don’t necessarily need to have a college degree to be able to code, because you can work with ChatGPT or something like that.”

For Cornell — whose undergraduate computer science program was ranked No. 7 nationally by U.S. News & World Report this year — the potential of AI replacing computer science workers would be a “big concern,” Riehl noted. The shift, he added, challenges the long-held belief that a computer science degree is “the golden ticket” to a high-paying job.

Riehl also noted that the rise in unemployment among Cornell graduates may not only be the result of a weaker economy but also reflects shifting worker preferences following the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the post-pandemic “Great Resignation,” many workers voluntarily left the labor force, a shift that Riehl said reflected a growing preference for remote work, flexible hours and better work-life balance. He noted that college graduates may now be turning down available jobs because the roles do not offer the flexibility or conditions they want.

“College graduates are a bit more picky about these kinds of characteristics now,” Riehl said. “Even if there are jobs available … they might keep looking for a job and therefore show up in the unemployment rate.”

Looking ahead, Riehl said students will need to adapt to a labor market reshaped by rapid technological change. Many professors have begun integrating AI into their coursework, but he believes students should also prioritize classes that build critical thinking and intellectual flexibility — skills he says will remain valuable even as technology automates more routine tasks.

“AI is very good at some things, but it doesn’t understand anything,” Riehl said. “There’s always going to be a role for people who have a comprehensive understanding of what’s going on.”

Riehl urged students to stay open-minded about their first job after graduation. Entry-level roles that are not a “dream job,” he said, can still provide useful experience, professional networks and a path toward more fulfilling opportunities later on.

“Your first job isn’t your only job,” Riehl said. “Be flexible about the types of jobs you’re willing to accept … you’ll gain skills, make connections and can always change jobs later.”

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