James Tarbox, SDSU’s career services director, has heard colloquially that graduating students are delaying the job search process. | Stephen Whalen

According to a recent report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, only 19.7 percent of the nation’s 2009 graduates who applied for jobs had them as of May.

On the home front, San Diego State University, the county’s largest institution of higher learning, conducted its own survey to find out what recent graduates were doing. The response rate alone told the story — not much.

Of the 6,200 who received questionnaires, a mere 18 percent responded, down from 54 percent among 2,300 who graduated in December.

The reason for the lackluster response rate for the most recent survey was readily apparent to at least one academic official.

Dwindling employment opportunities were discouraging job seekers, said James Tarbox, San Diego State’s career services director.

But he didn’t need the numbers to know how bad it is.

“When you talked to staff and students, especially the ones graduating, you’d hear that they weren’t starting the job search process,” he said.

SDSU’s spring career fair also took a hit.

“We usually have about 1,400 employers, and this time there were about 25 percent less,” he said.

Motivating Sessions

To help graduates find renewed energy, a series of workshops throughout June bore such catchy titles as: “Move On! Job Search Beyond San Diego.” While most Southern California college graduates are reluctant to move out of the area, the message there was: The road that takes you away can also bring you back, and with some employment experience under your belt.

Down economy aside, two factors stood out among the groups attending the workshops. Nearly half were the first members of their families to graduate from college and they didn’t know how to conduct a job search. The rest had gotten a late start.