Walter Stephens mailed out nearly two dozen resumes and had only one interview with Waste Management Inc. to show for his effort.
The interview wasn't even face to face. Stephens, a 23-year-old May graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, burned daytime cell-phone minutes pitching himself to a human resources representative.
"She said tell me about yourself, so I told her basically what she could have read off my resume, just with a little more detail," Stephens said. "It's hard to sit there and bore people to death."
Stephens' job-hunting woes are common for many college graduates -- perhaps even a rite of passage.
"It really is frustrating. I mean, you give them a resume, but it really is only the surface of who you are," Stephens said.
More frustrating is the fact that this is supposed to be the best college market in years. According to the National Association on Colleges and Employers, employers expect to hire 13.8 percent more college grads than they did last year.
Service-sector employers and manufacturers expect the highest increases, with government and nonprofits close behind. And that's where Stephens wants to be. He considered firefighting but also applied to jobs in manufacturing and human resources.
Sue Story, director of the VCU Career Center, said Stephens may have a harder time than some of his classmates. The jobs, she said, are in health care, education and certain engineering and business fields. "For people in humanities and sciences, there are jobs there. They're just going to have to look around."
Story also stresses the perseverance necessary to land that first job. "You can't just say, 'Oh, I give up. I'll go work at Blockbuster.' Yes, you can work at Blockbuster, but you can also be constantly looking for work at all times."
"Finding a job is a job in itself," Story said.
Sarah Sekhon worked overtime in her last semester at VCU to ensure she was punching a time card after graduation. She applied for 50 jobs starting in January and visited the college Career Center daily.
For her effort, Sekhon received three job offers and works as a recruiting coordinator for Northrop Grumman Corp., earning in the $35,000 to $40,000 range.
VCU business administration graduate Alonzo Brooks opted for a more targeted approach. "I applied for a position the first of the year, since I knew I was graduating in May, and I did a lot of follow-up."
Brooks, 20, only applied to three jobs but poured his energy into St. Paul Travelers' three-month application and interview process. He is a property claims adjuster for the company.
Students such as Brooks and Sekhon are the poster children at VCU.
"A lot of VCU students don't start looking for jobs until after they graduate," Story said. "That drives me crazy. It's a huge mistake. You can't in one day just write your resume. It's not something you can just sit at your computer and bang out."
Stephens has tried to play the game.
He crafted a resume and passed it out. He talked to a former internship coordinator at Philip Morris about the job hunt.
His mom keeps telling him to be patient.
His girlfriend says it will come in time.
It would be nice, he said, if employers could visit Fountain Baptist Church, where he directs music as a volunteer. Then they would see that Stephens is brighter than the 2.7 grade-point average he loathes. They would appreciate the work he put into combining three concentrations and earning his degree in interdisciplinary studies.
"I'm not giving up or anything," he said. "No question. But it's hard to get people to see my work ethic in a resume. Nobody can see that."
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