In the midst of the government shutdown, some D.C. college students are rethinking their career plans.
Amid mass layoffs and spending cuts at the federal government, Clayton Detant, an international affairs major at Howard University, and other D.C. students are trying to decide what’s next after graduation.
“I always perceived myself to get that Ph.D., become a researcher and go directly into the State Department, utilize my research to benefit the government, but that landscape has changed a lot over time,” Detant said.
According to Howard University, the number of federal recruiters is decreasing this year. They would typically have about a dozen recruiters at career fairs, but this year they had only three.
The Howard University career center staff guides students in expanding their career options.
“We help students look at other sectors where they can transfer their skills. We always want our students to think about an A, B, C plan,” said Tina Vance Knight, career center director at Howard.
The decrease in funding for graduate school has also affected the career plans of many graduate students.
“Now that Ph.D. funding has decreased and higher academia funding for graduate school has decreased, those opportunities where the standard is that you get higher degrees to work in the government in that field specifically has made me extremely worrisome and careful about where I view my career in the future,” said Payton Garcia, who studies economics at Howard.
At the American University, this year’s job fair also reported fewer federal recruiters.
“We’re seeing students become aware of alternatives to their original plans,” said Liz Romig, interim assistant vice provost at the American University Career Center.
“They never just want jobs; they really want to make a difference,” she said.
American and Howard say they also point students to opportunities in nonprofits and state and local government as students around the DMV area adapt to a changing job landscape.