Six words every senior dreads: What are your plans after college?

As students tally up hours to graduate, pack up cluttered apartments and spend their last respectable minutes on Facebook, the answer to this question is a little scarier than it used to be.

The word “recession” keeps ringing in their ears – especially those with majors that don’t guarantee job security anymore.

High school graduates of 2005 who were told that the bull market would not hit its apogee by now are sadly deceived.

“I didn’t expect to be at a job loss when I chose my major because I felt like I had a lot of options in mass communications,” said Stacey Friedman, a senior from Sandy Springs.

According to The New York Times, this past November alone incurred 533,000 job losses that propelled the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent. This was the most significant job loss in a single month since 1974.

“Original projections made in August 2008 for the Class of 2009 showed promise. Employers were predicting an overall increase in hiring of 6.1 percent, said Scott Williams, executive director at the University Career Center.

“However, in light of the economy, [the National Association of Colleges and Employers] polled respondents to the survey again in October, resulting in a projected hiring increase of just 1.3 percent.”

Friedman, an advertising major, has felt the strain of these numbers while job hunting because she said several companies have been cutting back their advertising budgets.

Though students like Friedman should take advantage of vast resources at the Career Center, Williams suggested students also “compliment that effort with a self-directed job search.”

Originally planning to stay in Atlanta post-graduation, Friedman has changed gears, taking the initiative into her own hands.

“Now I’m hoping to move to New York for a few years, where I think I’ll find more opportunities.”

For those in the same boat, a popular alternative is to teach English abroad.

“I applied to a really competitive program where you teach English in Japan, but I won’t know until April if I’m in or not,” said Cory Takeuchi, a senior philosophy major from Sandy Springs.

The program Takeuchi is pursuing is called the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme, an organization that offers the chance to be a sports exchange adviser or a coordinator for international relations in addition to the language teaching position.

“I’ve got all my eggs in one basket. So without that, I don’t have any job lined up,” Takeuchi said.

Recent college graduates can also take the TEFL course, a general certificate to teach English as a foreign language worldwide. The trend is growing not only because of the bleak economy but also because it gives cushion time for students to overcome a typical quarter-life identity crisis.

Many students who are unsuccessful entering the job market also find themselves right back in the classroom.

“Even though it wasn’t always the plan to jump straight into graduate school after college, that’s what I’m focusing on right now,” said Shayda Frost, a senior advertising and drama major from Alpharetta.

“That’s the advice I’ve consistently gotten from family and even some professors: to stay in school.”

But more time in school means one of two things financially – dishing out more money or building more debt from student loans.

Nevertheless, some students are still struggling to find the perfect start up job coupled with 40-hour work weeks.

But going grassroots and securing an internship can prove to be just as valuable if graduates are patient.

“I think that in these challenging times, students need to explore all avenues that may lead to that first entry-level professional position,” Williams said. “Sometimes, that involves leveraging internships into permanent roles or taking on temporary work that may lead to permanent positions.”