OHIO — Students graduating from college may have a better chance at landing a job this year than those who graduated last year during the pandemic.
As college students across the country begin their search for jobs, some admit the process during the pandemic has been nerve-wracking. But some are already seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Harold Walston, 22, studies Marketing at Otterbein University. He’s also an avid horse lover and is a part of the university’s Intercollegiate Horse Show Association Team.
Landing a job in the equine industry recently was a dream come true. He’d been searching for months and said it got to the point where he just stopped looking for jobs because it felt defeating. He wasn’t getting calls back. Then when he did, he’d often be told he didn’t have the experience an employer was looking for.
He wasn’t alone and many of his friends were experiencing the same thing.
But employers are projected to hire 7.2% more new college graduates from the class of 2021, according to a report from the National Associated of Colleges and Employers.
As he and his friends supported one another, it helped to get back into the search process.
“We start out as little freshman and then by senior year, you’re stressed trying to get a job. And then being blessed enough to land a job in my dream field, I think that provides closure for me that like the college experience really was worth it,” Walston said.
Walston will start work in communications at the World Equestrian Center after graduation.
“My overall hope for us as a class is to just get where we want to go,” Walston said.
For now, he’s just grateful and said he learned a lot in the process. Knowing that he has a job gives him something he can look forward to starting soon. Walston, along with others at Otterbein University, graduate the first weekend in May.
