Do you like the subtlety of the post title? Like a nunchuck to the groin. Just as painful may be today's report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which says that only 19% of 2009 graduates who have applied for a job have secured one. This marks a disturbing trend as the number of students with jobs at graduation has declined from 51% in 2007, to 26% in 2008 and now just 19%.  The NACE survey found some other interesting info:

Interestingly, fewer 2009 graduates sought out jobs than their predecessors. Approximately 64 percent of the Class of 2007 and two-thirds of the Class of 2008 had started looking for a job by this time.

In comparison, “just 59 percent of this year’s class has started the job search,” says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director.

This may be due, in part, to considerable attention to the increase in nationwide unemployment, the global financial crisis of recent months, and the impact of these developments on the recruitment and hiring of new graduates by specific industries.

So what is it '09ers? Have you been dismayed by the unemployment news and numbers - like that above? Or is it simply apathy and laziness (no way)? Is it something entirely different? I would feel comfortable siding with NACE on this one ... the media has been overtly negative on the job market and I can certainly see how that would affect graduates' motivation. At ThinkTalk we have generally tried to stay positive, but it does get difficult when faced with overwhelmingly negative news (like today's title for example). I think it is important to keep a positive attitude, work your butt off and hope for the market to right itself. Good Luck!

We always try to stay positive with The Links ...

Cheezhead Digs Up: The top cities for new grads to find a job. See, this is the type of positivity I'm talking about. Indy, Philly and Baltimore (oh, that's got to be a typo) make up the top 3. Check out the list for more ... and the average rent for an apartment in that city.

The Wall Street Journal Tackles: Negotiating pay for freelance jobs. I've talked about the benefits of a freelance job in this market as companies may be more open to hiring short term freelancers than adding full-time staff. This article will teach you how to get a price that you can live off of.

Personal branding Blog Thinks: Sometimes losing out on a job application isn't so bad. Jon Loayza thinks it might even be a good things sometime. The lesson he learned from losing out on a competitive job was that feeling sorry for yourself won't help. Also, sometimes failure is a part of success. I think that's some good advice.

The Wall Street Journal Elaborates: On dealing with rejection. Hey, you are not always going to get the job you want, get into the grad school you want or get everything you want. You have to be prepared to be rejected. The important take away is that this is a part of life and does not devalue you or the work that you have done. Deal with it and move on to Plan B.

"Pumpkin with a Positive Attitude" courtesy of Keven Krejci via Flickr Creative Commons