YouTube Transcript:
Graduating college students spend months applying for jobs_ say it's a tough market to break into

Look at the employment picture in
Alabama tonight. According to the state
department of labor, 3.3% of Alamians
are unemployed as of March of this year.
Green County has the highest
unemployment rate at 7.7%. Shelby County
has the lowest at
2.7%. We wondered how the current job
market is looking for graduating college
seniors. CBS 42's Mattie McQueen went to
find out.
College graduation is usually a very
happy time. Celebrating a great
milestone and accomplishment, but as
many students told me today, the job
market is tough right now, bringing with
it some stress about what happens after
they turn the tassel. It gets annoying,
but I I need to make money. I need a
job. Jameson Marshall began applying to
jobs in the fall. He sent out at least
60 applications to only hear back from a
handful. He started a new tactic on his
job hunt. They're not going to see just
a resume online. Call them. Like, let
them remember some sort of something.
Once you like start doing it, like you
call call somewhere, they're not going
to be like mean to you. And the job hunt
is still on for Janna Ronaldo, too.
She's only heard back from three jobs
out of the more than 70 applications she
sent in. I took some steps and uh I paid
someone to go over my resume and redo
it. I'm hoping that helped. It's
definitely just I don't have the
experience needed even with all the
internships. Some graduating University
of Alabama students say the lack of
experience is a problem for many trying
to enter the workforce. I think a lot of
companies also like are going through
things like hiring freezes. So, it's
just hard to even like find a job to
apply for and then if you're competing
with people within the company. Both
Haley Killian and Khloe Rickley get to
skip the job hunt this year as they head
into grad school. The second everyone
was applying for jobs, I literally said,
"I'm so relieved that I'm going back to
school and I don't have to be doing this
right now." Some graduating students
like Travonda Ward believe it now takes
more and more schooling to land a job.
And this is actually my second master's
degree. So, I'm just trying to get as
much as I can to make myself more
marketable to employers. Given the
current job market, students like Ross
Boseman feel grateful to have a job
lined up after graduation. I was one of
the lucky ones. So, I I feel for them a
lot. I I know one of my friends is
moving to Nashville and she's moving
without a job, without a paycheck, and I
feel I just feel for her. According to
the National Association of Colleges and
Employers, employers are planning to
hire less than 1% of new college
graduates from the class of 2025.
Reporting in Tuscaloosa, Mattie McQueen,
CBS42 News.