In the current job market, times are tough, especially if you're a recent college graduate. As they navigate life outside the Brandeis bubble, some grads are following paths they'd always planned on pursuing, while others have found employment and hobbies they never expected. This is the first in a series of articles about recent Brandeis graduates and their adjustments to life after college.When the national economic crisis hit last year, Suahd Morris-Iddrissu '09 was in the middle of his senior year. "Hey," he figured, "things will get better by May [when I graduate]."

Unfortunately, the economy did not improve by the time he graduated and Morris-Iddrissu, a well dressed, clean-cut young man, was forced to think more creatively about his post-graduation plans. He had originally wanted to go to law school right away. But Morris-Iddrissu, a Politics major, stopped considering law school because high tuition costs made him reluctant to apply. Eventually, he hopes to work in university administration, as a dean of a university or a similar position. "[That'll be] the end of the rainbow," he says of the job.

Morris-Iddrissu, a New York native, began looking for a job while still at Brandeis. "Many positions were not [waiting] for anyone to graduate. [Employers] wanted people who could begin right away," he says. Once home after graduation, he began "seriously searching for a job." Morris-Iddrissu then got a job working for the Board of Elections in New York on June 30th and began working the next day.

"This was not even a job I [had applied] for. ... I am kind of a stubborn individual and wanted to apply to a job [on my own], but I never got one. It was [through] this favor that landed on me," says Morris-Iddrissu. "I applied for a lot of jobs before I got this one. I would wake up in the morning and apply to jobs, but nothing really came my way. Even after I got a job, I was still applying to other positions. [However], ... with the economy, I had no choice," added Morris-Iddrissu.

Morris-Iddrissu describes working for the Board of Elections as a "great starter job."

An average day for Morris-Iddrissu involves overseeing election activity in the Bronx, organizing voter registration and conducting voter training.

While election periods can be very exciting, Morris-Iddrissu finds the job relatively unstimulating.

"On a regular day it's not exciting but mundane. It's boring," he says.

He mentions that the work is only temporary because his contract ends in December, shortly after the election season ends. Morris-Iddrissu also works long hours: In a typical week, he'll work Monday through Saturday for a total of about 75 hours. Morris-Iddrissu says that working so often prevents him from looking for other jobs.

According to MonsterTRAK, an online job-hiring service through monster.com, since 2007 companies planning to hire college grads fell from 76 percent to 59 percent.

Yet those statistics don't scare Morris-Iddrissu. He is completely optimistic about his career prospects.

"I am confident that this [economic downturn] will not last forever. I still have faith in my degree," says Morris-Iddrissu.

For Morris-Iddrissu, this post-graduation limbo time is not just time to look for a future career. "In addition to working, this is my figure-it-out time. Sometimes we have completely different plans and we have to change them," he says.

While his current job isn't exactly satisfying, Morris-Iddrissu says he enjoys living on his own outside the Brandeis bubble. He currently shares a brownstone apartment in Brooklyn, New York with three roommates, one a Brandeis classmate, one a fraternity brother and another a cousin.

While he could have lived with his parents in their home in New York, Morris-Iddrissu came home with "the attitude of moving out ASAP."

"Living on my own is just what I wanted and needed. I have a very great and diverse group of friends in Brooklyn, and I'm enjoying that very much. Living on my own has been an adjustment, but not as big as people make it seem," Morris-Iddrissu.

Living independently, Morris-Iddrissu has a lot of freedom he didn't have at Brandeis. But Brandeis still has a soft place in his heart.

"The life I am living now is what I expect and what I wanted. The only surprise is how much I miss school. I miss Brandeis terribly. . [At Brandeis], you know that everyone around you has similar goals and aspirations," he says.

Morris-Iddrissu feels grateful for his liberal arts education at Brandeis because he says it prepared him to adapt to the outside world and to learn quickly. His only complaint with the liberal arts education, is that, "a lot of jobs require you to be job-ready. You don't get trained, but rather educated in a liberal arts education. In liberal arts you have to carve your own way. which is, in a sense, useful in these tough economic times." Morris-Iddrissu feels that the liberal arts education has benefited him in these tough times by giving him tools to think "outside the box."

Morris-Iddrissu recommends that current college students take time "to really evaluate what they want to do post-grad. Often we all have these career options that others plan for us [that] seem easy, but we walk those paths and find it's not our calling.