If you are graduating in May and have not found a job, do not feel bad. Instead, join the club.

After months and months of searching for a job, I am two weeks away from graduating unemployed.

Up until about mid-March the dozens of newspapers I called about jobs kept telling me the same thing: They could not wait until May to fill the position. Understandable. Frustrating, but understandable.

So now I am coming across more newspapers looking for reporters every day, and I have sent out upwards of 40 applications. I’ve had one interview, and one almost interview. The almost interview never happened because of conflicting salary requirements.

Of the positions I have applied for, there are about 25 or so that I am very interested in, whom I have called weekly to follow up with. Every week they have still not thoroughly reviewed all the resumes they have kept, and I should know something soon.

That is understandable too, at least in journalism. Most reporters are swamped every day with several stories and assignments. I think informing the public about things like the pope’s death is a little more important than reviewing an application from Nicole Delisio from Bowling Green State University. I guess I can breath one sigh of relief knowing that my application is not so bad editors are throwing it away after glancing through it.

The road ahead does not look much easier. Some of my professors have told me that every year most of their May graduates do not have a job by this time. Others have said they have had students send out upwards of 150-200 applications before finally landing a job.

So to you May graduates still looking for a job, do not get too upset. It is frustrating indeed, but as long as we make finding a job our full time jobs until graduation, we are on the right track. If you are like me, you knew going into your last year that finding a job would be extremely hard, especially with a wretched economy. I guess there is a difference though between thinking about finding a job and trying to find one.

Maybe I’m pessimistic, but I’ve already spent some nights dreaming about serving french fries instead of writing stories this time next year. That motivates me to get up the next morning and send out a slew of applications to newspapers. Now if something would only come out of one of those applications I could stop having bizarre dreams about unemployment.

Until then, however, reality continues. As I write this, I am planning out the next few newspapers to which I’m going to apply, and deciding which places to call within the next couple days to follow up.

I’ve almost grown to expect employers to tell I’ll probably hear something within a few days, after they have reviewed all the new resumes. I do not enjoy it, but I understand it and accept it as part of the game.

I also know that if I’m still unemployed by August and calling over 100 newspapers weekly to follow up, someone is bound to give a chance just so I’ll stop annoying them.

OK, that is just a lie my conscience tells me to make me feel better. Although persistence is a key for journalists, I am not so out of it to believe an employer would hire me just for that.

Along with everyone else graduating in May, I have to prove I am the most qualified candidate through every application and interview. To all you jobless-May graduates, only hard work and confidence in ourselves is going to land us the prize. I started several months ago, and I will not stop until I land a job. Heck, I’m even turning this column in late because I was spending time sending out applications instead of writing before my deadline.

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