And Less Jobs for All

The job news continues to be distressing:

- Another 250,000 jobs lost in September

- A labor department report that there is a 6 to 1 ratio of job seekers to available jobs, 2,400,000 permanent full-time job openings for the 14,500,000 officially unemployed

- A new report by two Rutgers professors predicting that the job market will not truly recover for 7 years or until 2017

I have been pretty diligent with my job search and I am surrounded by many who are even more so. Unfortunately, the job listings are stagnant. Either employers are looking for a candidate so unique that he or she may simply not exist or the job boards are holding onto listings long past their expiration date. Certainly, many of the job postings that I saw at the beginning of the year when I started my search appear to re-cycle. It is virtually impossible to determine which listings are actually still 'live'. In any case, do I really have what it takes to be the lucky one of six that will score that job?

I have just graduated from a professional program that has matriculated nearly 300 well-heeled professionals thus far. My resume looks slim next to theirs since I just got back into the game. I have to overcome looking slim on paper and so far I have not been successful. Then again, only one person in my class of 13 has been hired since we started last June and that job offer did not come easy. Nevertheless, according to the statistics, there should be another hire. Right now it does not look like it will be me unless all of the miracles that have eluded me over the years suddenly decide to coalesce.