video transcript
The job market stumbles in April, as college campuses send new graduates into the labor market.
Companies added 115,000 non-farm jobs, far below estimates, while the unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent in March as job hunters dropped out.
Offering a greater challenge for the newest job hunters.
Alan Blinder, Economics Professor at Princeton University:
SOUNDBITE: ALAN BLINDER, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY (ENGLISH) SAYING:
"High school graduates or college graduates that graduated to very weak job markets where's it's not so easy to get work and therefore become unemployed early on suffer, I don't want to say permanent, but extremely long lasting damage to their income profiles. So you look at them 5, years, 10 years, 15 years later and they are still behind the eight ball."
There is a glimmer of hope for camera-ready graduates. A two-year old company, called Readyforce, has created more than 3,000 video interviews of college students looking for work - and is matching them with its 330 client companies. More than 300 people have landed positions through Readyforce.
CEO and Founder Alex Mooradian:
SOUNDBITE: ALEX MOORADIAN, CEO & FOUNDER, READYFORCE (ENGLISH) SAYING:
"We think of students as having two fundamental problems today, the first is they are geographically disadvantaged, they are going to schools in cities where the jobs just aren't there so there is some sort of travel that is required to find the companies. The second is that they are using traditional means like traditional cover letter and resumes which really aren't great marketing tools for college students."
That's exactly why SinglePlatform,a startup in New York City, signed on to Readyforce. VP of Sales, Adam Liebman:
SOUNDBITE: ADAM LIEBMAN, VP, SALES, SINGLEPLATFORM (ENGLISH) SAYING:
"Seeing someone on camera answering questions gives you such a better idea of who they are as a person than just looking at their two dimensional paper resume so it was a no brainer for us to say yes let's do this."
SinglePlatform, which helps local businesses get discovered by publishing their products and services on the web, expects to add up to 40 new sales jobs this year - and says it's focused on hiring new college grads for those positions.
Jill Bennett, Reuters
May 4 - The U.S. job market is not getting better, as indicated by weak payroll gains in April, not a good sign for the thousands of graduating college students looking for their first jobs. One company, Readyforce, helps college students get a leg up in the job search with video interviews...and it's had some success. Jill Bennett reports. ( Transcript )
