BOSTON -- It's nearly cap and gown time for the college class of 2008. High in hopes and many deep in debt with school loans, thousands and thousands of grads are hitting the job market.

NewsCenter 5's Liz Brunner reported that the class of '08 has the dubious distinction of graduating in an economic recession. The prized first jobs are proving harder to find this spring.

VIDEO: Grads Hit Job Market During Tough Times

Samantha Wagner, Boston University Class of 2008, is hoping to open some doors next week with a series of informational job interviews.

At 21, she's focused on a career in advertising. She's done all the right things -- received great grades and completed internships. But when she graduates in three weeks, Samantha probably won't have a job.

She won't be alone. Economist Paul Harrington said the sagging economy is making it much harder on the class of 2008 than graduates of recent years.

"You've got to have a game plan here. You know, the days of riding this full employment economy, 'someone will hire me,' that's over with," Harrington said.

Harrington points to the fact that we've lost 80,000 jobs in March. When firms get into economic trouble the first thing they do is stop hiring.

At Simmons College, Andrea Wolf said the '08 job picture is not all doom and gloom.

"Given that Simmons has a large focus on fields such as health care, education, library sciences, the market hasn't been particularly a change for our students," Wolf said.

Despite the recession, the fields with robust labor demand are health care, engineering and computer science.

Experts said that new grads need to be tenacious in their job search and flexible when it comes to relocating.

"I guess it just makes me work that much harder because of the recession. I know that I am going to have to be that much more on my game. I'm staying in touch with people, seeing if there are openings -- really kind of selling myself," Wagner said.