1 in 2 new graduates jobless or underemployed

<p>While “you” may not be able to stop work from moving offshore, clients can. Many accounting firms tried to outsource and the clients objected. Some huge hedge funds went nuts when they figured out that there very confidential data was not as secure as they thought. So now some accounting firms try to outsource and hide it. They have an interface group in the US and work goes back and forth. Some funds woke up to the fact that there data was going overseas, and then demanded that it stop. Fact is, clients (i.e., the market) want someone local.</p>

<p>I hate to sound like a broken record here on CC - but it’s not just STEM majors who are finding jobs, and not all buiness majors are created equal.</p>

<p>In general, D and her accounting friends in the class of 2012 have had little trouble finding internships and jobs. Granted, my sample size is small (N=15 or so), but of those 15, I think all but one has a solid job lined up post-graduation.</p>

<p>ellemenope–I’m glad you brought that up. The financial situation today is no where near as bad as it was in the 30’s and while it is bad enough, the stock market is double what it was 2 years ago and climbing, slow and steady, just like it should. The problem is, people are still remembering the 90’s when everything was exploding, housing prices, stock prices, etc. We are finally settling back into “normal” again and that is what people have to remember. Even back in the booming economy of the 80’s and 90’s, recent grads were pounding the pavement trying to find jobs and very few kids really had jobs lined up before they graduated.</p>

<p>I think the biggest difference back then is new grads understood they needed to start at the bottom and work their way up. Too many kids today want to start at what their parents are making…</p>

<p>The BS in pharm was the entry level to be Registered phramacist in our state up until mid 90’s. I know of many NY friends who obtained rPh with bachelors only 4 years plus one summer I believe. Know this because I contemplated going further for my Nurse practitioner versus pharmacy back in the 80’s. They did have to return to obtain PharmD but clearly were working as pharmacists with only a bachelors. AACP enacted the PharmD requirement early 90’s</p>

<p>The same is happening in nursing, my mail is flooded with programs pushing docotrate in Nursing, it is not needed, insane and it just makes for an over inflated costly entry point. </p>

<p>The young man I mentioned is going to a school that did offer scholarship money to him, my point was the university is charging that amount for full pay students. Yes and your correct it his degree is pharmD.</p>

<p>You can read around message boards of pharm D students not unusual to see kids freaking out over the amount of debt (well upwards over 150K) they will end up with to work for CVS for $50 an hour.</p>

<p>My uncle is a trade carpenter full benefits, makes $58, his training was free.</p>

<p>samiamy–a few nurse friends have been getting solicitations to complete their PhD programs, not to practice nursing but because there is a HUGE shortage of professors for nursing schools. One friend completed her PhD about a year and a half ago and gets calls or letters almost daily from various nursing schools about coming to teach for them.</p>

<p>A suggestion for students who need to work in the summer for pay and can’t fit in internships. DD worked as an unpaid intern 3 semesters while she was in school-- not a lot of hours per week (varied from 3 hours per week to 10 hours per week) but she did get the experience and recommendations from her supervisor. Depends on the locatin of the student and major but it was a good option for her. Her major is psych and creative writing-- the internship related to the psych major</p>

<p>D will take an unpaid internship for skill/resume building and tutor, babysit, petsit for $$. It will be a busy summer. She is fortunate that she does not have to work 2 jobs for money as some students must. </p>

<p>I agree with many on this thread that a diligent job seeker who starts the process early is likely to get a position in his field. I think part of the issue is unrealistic expectations on the part of the job seekers. </p>

<p>My H does a lot of mentoring and he is repeatedly shocked at the students he meets (often from selective schools, so these are accomplished young adults). Many of them cannot articulate their goals, are dressed too casually, fail to send thank you notes, etc. I will be advising D to work on her presentation skills as well as her academic/experience qualifications.</p>

<p>Steve, there are plenty of kids who are realistic who are not getting jobs.</p>

<p>What I want to know is what did the 1 in 2 that are gainfully employed do right. What are the success stories. Maybe the ones with the jobs were willing to move outside their region and look nationally or globaly. Did they coop or intern during their undergraduate years. Did they have connections - did mommy or daddy get them the job. Did they graduate from the top 1-25 schools and LAC’s? What did they do to get that job over someone else?</p>

<p>I know someone who graduated from Clemsen last year with a degree in Food Science and had to move to middle america (did not know a soul) to get a job in his field. So far so good - he’s doing fine. Mom and Dad may not be happy, but he’s fine.</p>

<p>kayf–and every year there are kids that are realistic about jobs that don’t get jobs. It is nothing new, which was my point. Kids might have to work a little harder right now but there ARE jobs out there, lots of jobs, they just might not be in the exact area a kid wants or might not be the exact company a kid wants, etc., etc.</p>

<p>Neighbor kid is graduating from Wash U next month and already has a generous job offer in hand that will allow him to live on his own. I believe his major is somewhere in the History/International Business area. He was hired by a large hospital software company and yes, he must relocate and will be traveling quite a bit. He gained experience by setting up his own house painting company in the summers when he couldn’t find work. He also found a paid internship by networking with one of his clients who was impressed with his initiative. He seemed to always be looking ahead to gain experience so he could get a good job when he graduated.</p>

<p>Kleibo- true stories from my real life. (I work in corporate HR so lots of kids in my neighborhood, friends children, etc. call me for job hunting help).</p>

<p>Kid- I want to work in the media/entertainment industry.
Me- Here’s a job board that might interest you- and look, the public television station in Minneapolis is looking for an entry level production assistant. No experience required- they’re looking for someone passionate about the TV business who wants to learn on the job.
Kid- Minneapolis? Are you kidding? I need to be in either LA or NY.</p>

<p>Kid- I am interested in getting a job with a museum on the curatorial side.
Me- Call my friend in HR at the Metropolitan museum- she just called me about an entry level role they are trying to fill in their education department.
Kid- Me? I’m not giving tours to third graders. I want to be a curator.</p>

<p>Kid- I want to work on Wall Street.
Me- I can send your resume to the hiring manager of XYZ investment bank.
Kid- wow, thanks so much.
Me- but just a heads up- the fixed income unit is headquartered in Hoboken, just across the river from their corporate tower in lower Manhattan.
Kid- Commute? I won’t commute. (note to the non-New Yorkers- Hoboken is a 10 minute train ride under the Hudson river).</p>

<p>I could write a book. My observation is that new college grads have not fully internalized the facts of the labor market. Fact 1- starting at the bottom means starting at the bottom. Fact 2- Not every good job is on Capitol Hill, SF, NY or Seattle. You may need to move to Dayton or Des Moines or Lexington KY for that first good career move. Fact 3- You will not have an apartment like Rachel and Monica in NYC. If you have an apartment like Rachel and Monica, it means you have 5 roommates in an illegal share, or the apartment is in Yonkers and you’ll be taking the train to work. Fact 4- You are better off getting a job at the Metropolitan Museum in ANY DEPARTMENT, and doing a fantastic job, and then moving into your desired department, than you are sitting in your parents basement playing “words with friends” and complaining about being unemployed. Fact 5- Yes, you are going to need to both inconvenience yourself, and “sell yourself” to your first employer. You may end up with an 8 am interview. You will need to be showered and dressed at 8 am, and they may not offer you coffee (although most of the time they will.) You may have to take public transportation to get to their place of business. You will need to perfect a little speech about why you are so enthusiastic about working there (nobody wants to hire someone who will need an intervention every morning to get to work.)</p>

<p>Etc. But I have never yet seen a kid who was motivated to find a job, willing to pick up and move, and prepared with their own personal mission statement about “why I’m perfect for this job” who was not able to get launched. Magazine publishing, museums, think tanks, TV production, social media start-ups- even in these tough fields where you are competing against thousands of other kids with a BA in Renaissance History… make it your business to get a job and launch yourself and you can do it.</p>

<p>My last disastrous career counseling session was with a kid interested in sports management. But no- didn’t want an entry level finance job with a minor league baseball team. Didn’t want an entry level marketing job with a major sports arena/venue. Didn’t want an entry level job in media sales for a prominent sports TV network. What the hell does he think sports management is? You’re either working for a team-- or working for an arena/facility, or working for a network. But no- he wants to be an agent, god bless, and the idea that actually learning about the business of sports might be a really good way to launch a career on the allegedly “sexy side” is very foreign to him.</p>

<p>I’d love a job working for an arena! Think of the free nachos and diet cokes!</p>

<p>I really resent the people who say college grads are not finding jobs simply because they are “lazy,” that they “don’t make enough sacrifices,” or that their “expectations are too high.” I graduated with honors in 2011 from a top school. I have looked for jobs within and beyond (FAR beyond) my field, but they’re simply not there–or they do not pay enough. My boyfriend, a 2009 grad, has held two professional jobs since he graduated–one in NYC that simply did not pay a living wage for the city, and one in Chicago that paid decently but that his company did not or could not make full-time (and hence did not pay enough or give him health insurance). We find ourselves in a Catch 22–we can’t live in the city (where the jobs are) because it is too expensive and we have no parental support, but we cannot move to the country because we cannot afford a car to commute to the jobs in the area; we need more education, but cannot afford to take on the loans to attain it.</p>

<p>Most of the people taking jobs now, quite frankly, are very privileged. They are people whose parents can afford to provide them a lot of monetary support, so that they did not have to take on student loans, so that they could take unpaid internships, so that they can now live somewhere that has many more opportunities.</p>

<p>Our generation is being walked all over, forced to take entry level jobs for no pay under the guise of “work experience.” We are being thrown under the bus by baby boomers. Our social security will be eaten away by 2036 or so. I am sick of the ignorance flying around these days, especially on forums like this filled with, let’s face it, a lot of privileged people.</p>

<p>Here is a very enlightening article everyone who cares about this should read: [Young</a> People in the Recession - The War Against Youth - Esquire](<a href=“http://www.esquire.com/features/young-people-in-the-recession-0412]Young”>Young People in the Recession - The War Against Youth)</p>

<p>Honey- really? New York and Chicago are the only cities in the US with public transportation?</p>

<p>I’m very sympathetic to your plight- and would love to be helpful. But your post suggests that either you are looking for an entry level salary that is just not realistic, or that your search parameters are too limiting.</p>

<p>I lived in a boarding house for my first year of work. I graduated magna cum laude, was the top student in my department, blah blah blah. I got an entry level job with a major corporation during a deep recession at the end of the 1970’s/early 80’s, but could not afford to live in anything remotely safe near my work. I did not have any friends who could afford an apartment for the first year of post-grad employment. They lived on an Aunt’s couch, did serial house-sitting, commuted on the train, etc. </p>

<p>I know its convenient to think that the baby boomers are the problem- but frankly, we were so thrilled to have a paycheck given how tough the economy was, we weren’t too picky about our standard of living. In the early 1980’s you simply could not afford to rent an apartment in a decent neighborhood in Manhattan if you were in the executive training program of a large bank or other corporation. But getting that first job was key. Especially if- like you- they needed someone else to pick up the tab for grad school.</p>

<p>What is your field? perhaps the parents here can help.</p>

<p>I can’t fix social security on my own, but trust me, blaming your unemployment on the baby boomers isn’t going to launch you into a professional career during your lifetime.</p>

<p>I’m so sick of you people who constantly belittle those with humanities/liberal arts degrees and preach that all students should become STEM majors because that will lead to rivers of gold and happiness. That is so freaking pretentious. What if somebody doesn’t have the aptitude, or even worse, doesn’t have the interest to go into the STEM fields? Should they go into it anyway just to get a job? I’m a STEM major about to graduate and let me tell you, I had a very hard time getting involved in major-related clubs and finding internships because I had very little interest in the field. I majored in STEM because of parental expectations and it was the “practical” thing to do. That’s what will happen to all these liberal arts students. If you pressure them into STEM, they may get the degree but do nothing else because they have no interest in it. Not only that, but they will suffer throughout their college careers. Is that what you all want? Are you so focused on money and career prestige that you want your children to sacrifice their happiness? </p>

<p>You all disgust me. Stop pretending your children are actors you can use to play out your perverted fantasies.</p>

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<p>Accounting is usually listed as a major that is doing well. It has been doing very well since Sarbanes-Oxley went into effect. Government regulation of companies has only increased in the past decade and it appears that it is going to continue increasing. I’m sure that the new cost basis stuff being implemented for 2011, 2012 and 2013 has already caused many people to run to their CPAs for tax filing help this year.</p>

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<p>This reminds me of the late 70s/early 80s in terms of how hard new grads had it in looking for work related to their majors. The current downturn, though, feels worse because it doesn’t feel like their are catalysts to turn things around this time. The levers of government and central banks aren’t anywhere near as effective today.</p>

<p>Re: #56</p>

<p>Which STEM major? Biology is the most popular STEM major, but has poor job and career prospects, probably due to the huge number of graduates relative to the number of good jobs in the field (or even the number of low paid jobs with low growth potential).</p>

<p>Of course, many people who lump all STEM majors together in terms of job and career prospects (often in terms of “grass is greener” envy), even though each field is different (and economic and industry cycles can cause even the usually better-ones-for-jobs to not be so good at certain times – e.g. civil engineering has been doing poorly this downturn for obvious reasons). Perhaps your misguided parents were among them?</p>

<p>Note that “liberal arts” includes science and math.</p>

<p>Just wow - malcolmc. Don’t lump me in your ALL. Relax and discuss, please do not offend.</p>

<p>honied_dreams, I am very sympathetic. I have a daughter who is working on her master’s in a field that I question, so I’m not attacking you. But I wonder if you’ve thought through the logistics of getting a job in NYC. You could commute from one of the outer boroughs, from New Jersey, even from upstate to a job in Manhattan. NYC is not just Manhattan. Also, many/most new grads do the roommate thing to keep their costs down or work a second job. Have you considered those options?</p>

<p>To further that thought zoosermom - I live at the Jersey shore and there are literally thousands of people that commute to Northern NJ and Manhattan from Monmouth and Ocean County, NJ. It’s very common and much more affordable. It;'s does make for a very long day, but that’s the trade off.</p>