I feel sad for those students graduating this month and next from the thousands of colleges and universities around the country. This is a hard time to enter the work force — people are not only not hiring, but laying off the people that they do have. In fact, CBS News reported a month ago that graduates are entering the “toughest job market in decades.”

In an economic climate where the recently laid off are contemplating returning to school if not to ride out the recession but to take advantage of any college grants, scholarships and loans to make ends meet, this is not a friendly place for the recent graduate. There’s also a catch-22 for undergraduates who might also be thinking of mimicing their older counterparts – most MBA programs require a few years of real-world experience.

All this would make any recent grad despair about their potentiality to afford a lifestyle of any sort post-college.

The interesting thing, though, is that a lot of employers are not interested in hiring a “career student” either. This may actually be a great time for recent grads to show not only their entrepreneurial spirit, but their willingness to work at jobs that may, on the surface, appear to be “beneath” them. Companies are less interested these days in hiring someone with years and years of education, but more someone with real-world experience as well as the attitude of someone willing to be creative in tough times. So that job at a supermarket or food service establishment, or the lowest position on the totem pole, may not be the worst thing that could happen — NOT taking that job might be.

Think about it – companies have to be more frugal than ever when it comes to hiring these days. They’re laying off people in droves. A friend of mine recently told me that the company where she works has 100 employees last November. This week, they have 6. And she herself is leaving next month for maternity leave. That leaves the company with 5 employees. FIVE. In a hiring climate like that, it’s an employer’s market. They’re less likely to hire a Harvard grad with no real-world experience than someone who might have a community college degree but has amazing ideas on how to make the company they’re applying for a success.

Much like the application process for those that went to college, applying for work positions are becoming less about where you got your degree, but more about extracurricular activites, internships, networking connections, and creativity.

So, dream smaller. And dream often. Dream as frequently as you can. This may be the best time to hone your skills as an employee work hiring. Don’t regurgitate your education. Don’t pigeon-hole yourself. Try something. Try everything. And then, remember not only what your degree and/or what your past jobs may say you’re good at — show employers what you’re GREAT at.

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