In his search for a job, North Jersey resident and recent college graduate Colin Logsdon sometimes sends out up to 100 applications a week.
Logsdon, from Chatham, had done everything right up to this point. He went to Iona College and studied finance. He was a D1 athlete. And he went to New York University to further his education, this time on a fellowship.
“I would get really disappointed, I would hardly hear back from anyone — even if you got a rejection letter, it would be like weeks after,” he said in a recent interview.
For now, he plans to continue his search for research assistant positions, particularly in health care, attend job search training and continue volunteer clinical trial research.
Logsdon isn’t alone.
With over 3 million New Jerseyans holding college degrees — according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics — the prospect of new graduates finding work has become increasingly difficult.
After an explosion of job growth in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic — remember the Great Resignation? — hiring has slowed, especially in white-collar jobs, said James Hughes, an economist and professor of urban planning at Rutgers University.
After COVID-19, “it was a really great time to be a college graduate, because firms were trying to build up staff,” Hughes said. “But now they’re filled up.”