Students look at graduate school as a way to get a full-time job. (Erika Lopez/Borderzine.com)

It seems harder today to make a college degree pay off

EL PASO – Josie Jimarez Howard imagined herself surrounded by artifacts from fascinating distant epochs as she pursued her passion for history tending to treasures in a museum after earning a degree in history from Reed College. But instead, she found herself selling modern cosmetics at Macy’s. She soon realized that the only way to get the job she wanted related to her studies was to go back to school for a graduate degree. “I think a lot of jobs teaching in the museum require a higher degree than a B.A. I looked for jobs at museums but during the Bush administration there weren’t as many.”

Howard, who had graduated in 2007, enrolled in graduate school at the University of Texas at El Paso in 2011 and is currently a teaching assistant for a freshman history class. “Honestly, it’s been hard.

The Texas Veteran Commision offices in El Paso where veterans can look for jobs and education. (William Blackburn/Borderzine.com)

Local organizations help military veterans find work

EL PASO – Veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq come home to face physical and emotional problems, but their biggest challenge may be the transition from military service to a job in civilian life. Along with the trauma of war, they left behind the security of a monthly paycheck to face the new uncertainty of a stagnant economy with little job growth. Navy veteran Danny Macias who left the military in 1994 has been working in construction but was laid off from a job in June and hasn’t found new work.  “Finding a job is hard” he said. The Army Career and Alumni Program (ACAP) at Fort Bliss was set up to help veterans transition to civilian life. Randy Stovall, Transition Services Manager, said the program’s main goal is to prepare soldiers to market themselves for employment.

New graduates face the tough reality of today’s job market

EL PASO — Crystal Ortiz walked tall into a new life after she was handed a bachelor’s diploma in education at The University of Texas at El Paso last December, but frustration set in when she began to search for a job. “Finding a job in the field of education is a challenging task,” says Ortiz. “I am planning on going to graduate school this coming fall semester in order to increase my chances of being hired.”

For the past few years, she studied in classrooms, sitting among other students at aged desks, tapping at laptop keys as professors delivered lectures. But now, that chapter of her life has closed as she begins a new more difficult journey. Right now she hunts for a job that can provide a stable income while she waits to begin the career to which she devoted four and a half years of preparation.