21-year-old new grad has applied to ‘200 to 300 jobs’ since fall: ‘I probably get, like, one rejection each day’

It’s a tough year for young graduates looking for work.

Hiring is at one of its slowest rates in the last decade, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and job cuts are up 47% year over year, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Entry-level worker confidence is also at an all-time low, according to Glassdoor.

Katherine Diep, 21, is not letting that get her down, even as she’s spent nearly a year on her own job search. Diep graduated from the University of California, Irvine, in June with a degree in business economics and has “applied to over 200 to 300 jobs” since fall, she says.

Despite getting interviewed for five jobs in that time, she says, she has yet to be hired. Here’s what her job-seeking journey has been like, and how she’s been able to keep her head up even through those disappointments.

Diep is currently seeking events marketing jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area. She’s also been looking for remote events marketing jobs for companies based in the Midwest.