When Kristina Leo, Gettysburg College Class of 2010 envisioned her future, she definitely planned on a career in the financial world. 

What this 2006 graduate of New Canaan High School did not imagine, was that despite her academic qualifications, and several internships with financial firms,  it would be her after-school job behind the counter at Joe's Pizzeria on Locust Avenue in New Canaan that would get her there.

As Leo explains, working at Joe's throughout her high school years, and when she was home from college, she had shared her future plans, and the ups and downs of her job search, with her employer. When his sister heard about her interest in banking, she put her in touch with someone she knew at UBS. 

Says Leo, "five rounds of interviews later," she was offered a position as the Recruitment Coordinator for the UBS Investment Bank. "I feel really lucky," she said.

An editorial in "The New York Times" on Dec. 13 cited some of the all-too-familiar and troubling statistics on the nation's unemployment picture. It repeated what is often pointed to as a silver lining for those with advanced education. That while the overall picture is bleak, unemployment statistics for college graduates are much better, currently 5.1 percent as compared with an overall rate of 9.8 percent.  But, as the "Times" went on to say, "the rate for college grads under age 25 has averaged 9.2 percent, up from 8.8 percent a year earlier..."  Like recent college graduates everywhere, for New Canaan twenty-somethings, those statistics present a stark reality. 

2010 Miami University of Ohio graduate Ali Trifero echoed the sentiments of Leo, when they sat down with Patch to discuss the fate of recent college grads.

Trifero agreed that today's job market presents challenges they had not envisioned when they graduated from high school together in 2006.

Like Leo, Trifero held a job in New Canaan during her high school years that she continued with during college, whenever she was back in town. But for her, her part-time job, at Togs, the trendy clothing store on Elm Street, was more in line with her ambitions.

Always interested in the fashion business, she had secured related internships during college, and  taken summer courses at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

With plans to pursue a career in fashion, she knew that in any economy, opportunities in such a competitive field were going to be scarce. She also knew that the starting salaries in the field were going to be low. 

She learned what many others trying to start their careers in this climate have, sometimes the first "job," after graduation, is an unpaid internship. Chosen from among many applicants, she was thrilled to be offered an internship with noted designer, Zac Posen. 

While banks and accounting firms are still hiring for their training programs, other businesses which have been particularly hard hit in the downturn such as, publishing, advertising driven businesses like broadcasting, and non-profits, have embraced the trend of unpaid internships for college graduates. For the hopeful candidate, the goal is to gain experience, learn more about a particular industry, and with luck, turn a temporary position into a full-time one with a pay check.

As Trifero acknowledged, she and others she knows who have accepted internships are fortunate to have parental support. We're "taking advantage of internships because we can," she said. She also said she has learned through exposure to all aspects of the business that she has a passion for sales, "Sales is trendspotting and forecasting," she explained.

Leo too, has learned to be flexible, both in her aspirations and her plans. Her hope is to eventually move from human resources to the banking side. "Even though it's not what I want to do ultimately, I'm making myself more marketable and seeing how the corporate world is run," she said.

And while they both realize they have been lucky, they said they know plenty of others who are still looking for that first break.

Dr. Dan Mason, a psychiatrist who has had a practice in New Canaan for many years, sees the stresses this challenging job market places on young adults and their families.

He has observed that, especially in a community like New Canaan, many of today's young adults were raised with a sense of certainty about their future that has been shaken, for them and for their parents. 

While he says some kids are comfortable "cocooning" with their parents, others are exploring options they might not have in a more certain environment. 

"We want certainty for them. We want comfort for them," he says. But he counsels that as many parents struggle with changes in their own economic outlook, they, and their children, are learning that there no guarantees, and that, "we need to learn to live without certainty."

Plans have changed: some who envisioned graduate school sometime in the future have decided to apply now. Others have embraced community service, whether nearby, or through national programs like Teach for America and City Year, or with international organizations.

Dr. Mason's own son, Zachary graduated from Amherst College in 2008. While he says it was always his plan to join the Peace Corps after college, he acknowledges that it did allow him to, "insulate myself from this godawful job market."

Spending the last two years in Mali in Africa, he raised funding for and built latrines in a remote village. In what was a life-altering experience, he learned a lot about himself, about the world and about what he wants to do with his life going forward.

Returning to the United States, he finds that many of his college friends who stayed behind have had their plans derailed. Some who had Wall Street offers in the fall of 2008 now find themselves unemployed or working in "remedial positions" and struggling to pay back student loans.

Mason plans to apply to law school, although he believes that with applications to graduate schools increasing, that too will be even more challenging than it might have been a few years ago. While he would eventually like a career in public service, his work in Africa helped him recognize that he first wanted to work in the private sector, gain valuable experience and make a living.

Like the younger grads, he's back at home with his parents for the time being, and equally grateful to them.

New Canaan resident Molly Shaker, who graduated from the University of Vermont in 2008, learned that if she wanted to pursue her passion for communicating she was going to have to be flexible. Shaker had always wanted to be a writer, and after graduation, she and some friends planned to continue the magazine they had begun as undergrads in Burlington. "Phoebe," which went from a planned traditional magazine to an online publication, was well-received, but not economically viable.

Shaker, who is the daughter of New Canaan Patch editor Sheryl Shaker, loved living in Vermont, but by 2009 she realized it was time to return to home to New Canaan. She moved back in with her family and began planning her next move.  Opportunities in the shrinking world of print were scarce, but with a lot of perseverance, she eventually landed a job in television, and discovered her calling. Today she's a script coordinator with ABC's "Good Morning America."

As she explained in an e-mail, "I go to work at 11 p.m. where I edit and format scripts, and watch the wires for breaking news...Once the show is over at 9 a.m., I can finally go home and get some sleep before doing it all again that night. I absolutely love working on live TV... I hate my hours with a fiery passion, but couldn't be happier once I'm in the studio."

Twins, Alex and Jamie Wolff, who graduated from New Canaan High School in 2005, and St. Bonaventure University and Pepperdine University respectively in 2009, are wearing many hats while pursuing their dream jobs. 

Hoping to eventually work full-time in sports television, today they take freelance opportunities at CBS Sports whenever possible. Meanwhile, they earn extra cash as water polo officials, (both played in high school and college) and cover sports for New Canaan Patch. Jamie spends some of his free time as a volunteer firefighter for the New Canaan Fire Department.

As they explain, full-time positions at CBS, and elsewhere in the television industry, were eliminated over the last few years. Hiring freelance talent, obviously gives companies the flexibility to employ as needed, and to eliminate benefits.

Their plans for the future, as they put it: "Keep grinding every single day and hopefully an opportunity will come."