It’s become cliché to say that enrolled in school is the best place to be in uncertain economic times. With all of the talk lately about crises and recessions, another year of shelter from the job market under the auspices of another major or learning a language is probably sounding pretty good to most people.

Perhaps, though, your time has come and an exit from academia is unavoidable. The need for gainful employment now looms ahead and a little anxiety is understandable. It’s true that entry-level positions are the first to disappear when business slows down, and it’s also often true that the last person hired is the first to be let go when cutbacks are made.

This shouldn’t all be such a downer, however. As a recent college graduate, you’ve got some advantages over other job-seekers that ought to make the process a little less harrowing. In particular, it’s important to capitalize on the flexibility that being young and a little desperate gives you, because though the headline numbers for the whole country might not look so good, those are averages that conceal a lot of variation.

You need to remember that when people get upset about rising unemployment, they’re talking about the net change in employment over a month, meaning people hired minus people fired.

When we say that the economy lost 160,000 jobs in September, we are really saying that 160,000 more people lost their jobs than those who found them.

If you look at unemployment data by specific sectors of the economy, you can see that the pain is not spread evenly across all kinds of jobs, but rather is concentrated in construction and business services. In fact, three types of employment actually added jobs in September: education, government and health care services.

Another type of variation that you should be aware of is geographic. In the details of the same report about rising unemployment, you can see that the variation across states is significant.

Financial centers like New York and Connecticut are taking a much tougher hit than most of the South, including Texas.

What this means for you is primarily that you shouldn’t freak out yet. If, like me, you’re graduating in May, any number of things could happen before then.

The important thing to remember is to take advantage of your own ability to relocate to greener pastures and to learn new skills.

Do your research on the kinds of jobs that are out there and where they are, and don’t be too proud to take a less-than-ideal job. Another cliché to remember here: Take any port in a storm.