In the old world you graduated from college and sifted through a pile of job offers to pick that one job that best matched your skills and aspirations. Your new employer was grateful for your energy and enthusiasm and for your potential to be a valued member of his team.
There was a time when a college degree was a ticket to employment. It was almost taken for granted that once you graduated, a job would be waiting for you. In my own case I graduated from college in 1978 and didn’t bother attending any of the job fairs or recruiting opportunities the university presented. I took the whole summer off and didn’t get serious until that fall when I decided it was time to get a job. I remember thinking that a lot was happening in Houston so I packed a bag and drove to Houston on a Sunday. When I got there I found a cheap motel and bought a Sunday Houston Chronicle. I spent a couple of hours looking through the want Ads and made a list of the companies I would call. The next morning I started calling and had my first interview that afternoon. By Wednesday I had two job offers and was employed by the end of the week.
Unfortunately, this is not happening like it used to….a recent article in Investors Business Daily reported that “for the first time in history, the number of jobless workers age 25 and up who have a attended some college now exceeds the ranks of those who settled for a high school diploma or less.”
Another important fact is that many recent grads are saddled with debt. Big time debt. Debt that you just can’t walk away from. Debt that is stuck to you like hot tar on a cat.
On an episode of a talk news program a couple of recent graduates were introduced to tell their own personal tale of woe. One of the recent graduates had a degree in anthropology or some other low demand degree program. She also had a big pile of debt and no realistic prospect of paying it off anytime soon.
The other graduate was in a little better shape. He had two degrees including a degree in international business. Unfortunately, he still didn’t have a job. In fact, he said that he had been told by some of the people he had interviewed with that he probably needed an MBA to get a job. Four years of hard work, two degrees and graduating Magna cum laude and still not adequate to be offered a job? This, and tens of thousand in debt and they are telling him he needs another degree to get a job? If I were him I think I would look at other options.
There are any number of reasons why things have changed, and the state of the economy is only one of them. I will let someone else delve into all the other factors influencing this phenomenon. The purpose of this blog is to show you a path forward, one that doesn’t involve the old way of trying to find someone to give you a job. You may end up in the same place, but it will be your decision.
work in the real world 