Graduating college may not guarantee a career as it once seemed to, but there are still things students can do to help their chances.

On Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reported college graduates are often-times not using their degrees, but are instead working in restaurants, bars or retail for a living.

“The main reason is a pretty simple one,” Richard Vedder, an economist at Ohio University told the Los Angeles Times. “The number of college graduates has grown vastly faster than the number of jobs that require high-level education skills.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, Vedder said the number of college graduates working in fields that do not require degrees has grown exponentially. He said 25 percent of retail sales clerks now have college degrees. Additionally, the percent of taxi drivers that have degrees has multiplied, from 1 percent in 1970 to 15 percent now.

Monique Alyshia graduated from N.C. State last year with a psychology degree. After graduation, she attended several job interviews but was unable to find a job that met her preferences that utilized her degree. 

She is now in graduate school and working in a restaurant. 

 “I decided to just quit applying and go back to school,” Alyshia said.

Woody Catoe, associate director for student career services at the Career Development Center, said that finding a job in recent years has become more difficult for students. He said the center works to try and help students obtain jobs.

“The best summary I can give you is we do everything and anything related to career and career development,” Catoe said.

Catoe said that there were several things that students could do to insure a better career path.

“Two things I would do, first is to start [preparing] early,” Catoe said. “The second thing, and this is huge, is the hands-on experience that help students begin to gain skills that are marketable.” 

Catoe said that the center is helpful for students in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, where careers are often less defined than other colleges on campus. Getting students into internships and co-ops can help students get a career goal set, as well as gain professional connections.

“You can almost think of internships as being an extended interview,” Catoe said.

Alyshia said the Career Development Center is a great resource for students. She used ePACK, a university-wide job and internship posting system, while at N.C. State and was able to get most of her interviews through the site.

“Start the process early, utilize the career center,” Alyshia said. “They have good resources—make sure your resume is good and that will help you a lot, and definitely use ePACK,” Alyshia said. 

Catoe said that one of the keys to helping students is talking and really listening to them. This way the counselors can better understand what the direction the students want to go—helping them choose things such as classes, minors and internship possibilities, among others.

“It’s really a place where they can come to discover more about what their interests are and we do a lot with students who are maybe struggling a little bit about career direction,” Catoe said.

Alyshia said she is now attending North Carolina Central University to obtain her master’s degree in the Counselor Education Program, with a concentration in clinical mental health counseling.