CSUMB students optimistic about job market

Graduating students at Cal State University, Monterey Bay are entering a job market that’s a lot different than it was when they started college. By the look of a job fair on campus, businesses are hiring. 75 perspective employers were there, and that’s good news for students entering the workforce now or in a few years.

Freshmen students Cecilia and Virginia Camacho both want to pursue degrees in STEM-related fields. They said they aren’t worried about a lack of jobs when they enter the workforce after graduation.

“I feel like my branch area is growing so I don’t feel like I have big competition,” Virginia Camacho said.

But that didn’t stop her from speaking to representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency to get a feel for the industry.

“(I’m interested in) the ecosystem and protecting the planet because we are becoming unsustainable and we only have one earth so we have to protect it,” Camacho said.

When aspiring teacher Dori Powers started school, the outlook wasn’t so good.

“When I first applied for the teaching program,” Powers explained, “There was a while where they weren’t sure if there was going to be too many teachers and not enough jobs.”

How the times have changed – nearly a dozen school districts from around the state were pursuing new hires, including Anthony Miranda from the Soledad Unified School District.

“We are looking for math, English, elementary teachers, special education teachers, we are looking for a school psychologist,” Miranda said. “We pretty much run the gamut going into the fall.”

In fact, Miranda interviewed Powers on the spot! She has another round of interviews before she could be offered a job. But if things don’t work out with that school district, she knows there are opportunities elsewhere.

“The fact that they need teachers now is very comforting,” Powers said.

Aside from school districts, banks, law enforcement and even the Monterey Bay Aquarium all had representatives there, looking for good workers.