Rumors of Wall Street collapsing, financial institutions filing for bankruptcy, oil prices skyrocketing, inflation and interest rates taking five steps forward, the housing market taking 10 steps back and historically high levels of unemployment ”” sound eerily familiar?

Well, it should. Or so said Jim Richardson, as he depicted the United States recession of 1982, “It was the second worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.”

He is not a macroeconomist by any means. However, in 1982, Richardson was a fearful Fresno State student nearing graduation in the peak of a nasty job market. The economy made it difficult to find work, and Richardson felt intimidated.

Twenty-eight years later, Richardson revisited the campus, however, this time he headlined an event on how to go big and live your passion at work.

“I tend to be a pretty fearful person,” Richardson said. “I tend to look for security first and fulfillment second.” In 1983, one year after graduation, Richardson got licensed to push the one thing that he believed he lacked: Security.

Richardson worked strictly for commission for more than 20 years as a life insurance salesman until he realized his definition of success”—living the life you were meant to live.”

After grasping his own theory of success, and coming across a New York Magazine article titled “Bored? It Could Kill You,” he quit.

“I didn’t need to be in the insurance business anymore,” Richardson said. “We are most secure when we are living our dreams and passions and not when we are working on demand.”

Rita Bocchinfuso-Cohen, director of Career Services said students are fearful when it comes to making life decisions.

“Their afraid of other peoples’ judgments, afraid of not living up to their potential, afraid of the responsibility and they’re afraid of news about the job market delay and [so they] pursue advanced studies,” Bocchinfuso-Cohen said. “There are more applications to graduate programs than ever, it’s becoming a trend.”

According to a study conducted by the National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE) titled “Moving On: Student Approaches and Attitudes Toward the Job Market for the College Class of 2009,” 26 percent of graduating seniors are intent on going to graduate school compared to the 24 percent from 2008.

Richardson explains that the solution lies in the four spheres of influence: incompetence, competence, excellence and genius.

“People don’t see how their passion can provide a living,” Richardson said. “Therefore, they give it up in cater of a J-O-B.”

“For example, my son loves music,” Richardson said. “He’s a very accomplished guitarist, but he can’t see a way to make money playing the guitar and that’s because he hasn’t really looked for its use. He is so worried about making money that his passion is taking a back seat.”

Art major Rudy Castillo’s passions are riding shotgun despite the “ridiculous job market.” Castillo made the decision to move back to Woodlake, Calif. with his parents until graduation.

“The past couple of years have been tough,” Castillo said. “I’ve applied to Target, Best Buy, Horn Photo and Game Stop. I’ve tried freelance photography for newspapers and magazines and so far everything has fallen through.”

According to NACE, 64 percent of seniors expressed worry about getting a job after graduation and 41 percent expected to rely on parents’ financial assistance after graduating from college.

Mass communication and journalism major Markus Cano, 22, said he defines success as setting and accomplishing goals.

“Right now I am a successful student, and I lack professional success,” Cano said, about his chronic poor luck in the job market.

Cano said he has held internship positions that did not transform into jobs.

The unknown, Cano said, is what scares him the most.

“We keep hearing that the job market is so bad, ‘It’s better to stay in school, go for your masters, don’t try to work,’ but it’s unrealistic for students to just go get their masters while flipping burgers or working at make-up counters in the mall,” Cano said.

And although career search engines brought a whole lot of nothing to Cano’s table, it has yet to deter him from pursuing a position at a public relations firm, despite current unemployment numbers.

“My parents are supporting me through school but following graduation I will be completely cut off,” Cano said.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that educational and health services were the only departments in 2009 to gain 700 jobs.

“Our education system does not create self-actualized people, our education system produces workers. In the industrial age, there was a need for assembly line workers. Now, in the information age, there is a need for journalism, communications and business people and that’s what our education system is producing,” says Richardson. “When in reality, where America shines is the entrepreneur system. It fosters creativity and inspires people to pursue their dreams.”

Business administration major Ashik Ahmed, 24, traveled from Bangladesh to New York to Fresno to pursue his dreams. However, after getting laid off from his internship at Brown Armstrong Accountancy Corporation in Bakersfield, the only thing keeping Ahmed afloat is his savings account.

However, his savings isn’t the only thing that is rapidly depleting. According to NACE, corporations expected to hire nearly 22 percent fewer graduates than in the previous year, the first decline in five years.

A year ago, Ahmed was doing quite well, but his life has since turned upside down.

“I thought a year-long internship would turn out as a job, but it didn’t. I thought I had my career and everything set,” Ahmed said. “It’s been seven months and I haven’t found anything since then.”

However, the opposite is true for graduates in the engineering program. According to NACE, engineering majors dominated the list of top-paid majors for 2009-2010, filling eight of the top 10 slots.

Mechanical engineering major Kiran Kaur, 22, an international student from New Delhi, India landed a paid internship with Pittsburgh Plate Glass Industries (PPG).

PPG was the first internship Kaur applied for through Fresno State’s Valley Internship Program in January of 2008. After one year, PPG offered Kaur a full-time position waiting for her upon graduation, which she estimated offered a $65,000-a-year salary.

“What every company really needs in this economy is to save money and that’s what engineers do: save money,” Kaur said. “That’s why we are getting a special edge over other majors.”

However, Fresno State wasn’t the first school Kaur applied to, it was the cheapest.

The price of college tuition has increased by 30 percent since May to nearly $5,000 for full-time undergraduate students.

However, Fresno state remains one of the most affordable public universities in the nation.