The last four years have been dismal ones for new college graduates on job-hunting quests. As the father of two grads of that era, I should know.

But some hope may be starting to spread over the new grad jobs market, according to an article in the University of Portland newspaper.

You be the job hunter, don’t rely on anyone else to hand you a job.

“According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) data collected over the summer shows that employers ‘plan to hire 13 percent more new college graduates in 2012-13 than they did in 2011-12,'” the student paper reports.

The importance of having a search plan and utilizing whatever search resources your college offers also is discussed. I sincerely hope college job placement efforts are better these days than they were when I, or more recently my children, graduated college. Don’t rely just on those or you’ll likely be waiting tables or making coffee rather than finding the job you want. Always Be Job Hunting, yourself, don’t rely on someone else to hand you a job, it’s not going to happen.
John N. Frank