[Black_Shark]

I would say that your son is the exception to the rule.

I am graduating in May 2012 with a Bachelors of Science in Economics from NC State Univeristy cum laude. A BS in Econ from this school is essentially applied mathematics with a major concetration in econometrics. I have experience with time series forecasting, multiple regression (all forms, cochrane-orcutt, IV, Logit, etc.), Box-Jenkins, among others. I can also do advanced mathematics such as Differential Equations, calculus, etc.

On top of that, I have about 2 years worth of programming experience with SAS (it was started at NCSU so they drill it into us), ForecastX, and Gretl. Hasn’t helped me do squat.

Finally, my job search has basically equated to nada. Why? Employers may be looking for people with experience in data analysis however there are many candidates with 2-3 years of actual on the job experience who are taking the entry-level jobs. This pushes me to crappy jobs such as Northwestern sales, etc. which are worthless for my chosen field of banking and data analysis.

Further, everyone I know who is graduating has absolutely NO job offers that are worth a darn. We’re talking 20+ people in majors such as engineering, stats, math, econ etc.

Your son is the exception not the rule.

At this point, I am considering going to Grad school for a Masters in Applied Economics and a Masters Minor in Statistics. The job market just plain sucks.

[Black_Shark]

I forgot to add that I am interested in ALL Data Analysis, not just investment/banking analysis. I love stats.

However, all of these jobs are being taken by people who are qualified for the higher-level jobs but cannot get them due to even more higher-qualified individuals taking THEIR jobs. It’s a vicious cycle.

[miss marmelstein]

Why don’t you just get a job as a bartender? Or a waiter?

[grey_whiskers]

I hope you don't take this wrong, but have you looked for jobs out-of-state? Have you considered selling yourself as a SAS programmer, say, to an insurance company?

Cheers!

[rbg81]

I don’t think he’s the exception. Computer science grads have very little problem finding jobs. Period. We get dozens of calls every month from employers looking for kids to hire. Especially if you have .Net, web programming, or mobile application skills. If you have two years programming experience you need to play that up.

Its also possible that your resume is getting filtered out because you don’t have that BS in CS degree.

[yldstrk]

Get a degree in finance. That will help

[muawiyah]

Times change ~ I started as a math major but when I graduated I had well over 280 different job offers.

You probably won't see anything like that for the rest of history.

Saved all the firm job offers just to prove to the kids I was a contender some day.