<p>When I say “it isn’t that hard to get a good job” that is my opinion. BCE I do keep up with the economic times LOL</p>
<p>Would you say I was insulting someone thumper? I wouldn’t since I don’t even know the person being discussed. I am just trying to explore some possible negatives of the job seeker. I just find it shocking an engineering grad has such a hard time finding a job.</p>
<p>
What do you think we are doing now? We are the people who hire you. </p>
<p>Do you want to compare unemployment rate:
1981-11-01 8.3
1981-12-01 8.5
1982-01-01 8.6
1982-02-01 8.9
1982-03-01 9.0
1982-04-01 9.3
1982-05-01 9.4
1982-06-01 9.6
1982-07-01 9.8
1982-08-01 9.8
1982-09-01 10.1
1982-10-01 10.4
1982-11-01 10.8
1982-12-01 10.8
1983-01-01 10.4
1983-02-01 10.4
1983-03-01 10.3
1983-04-01 10.2
1983-05-01 10.1
1983-06-01 10.1
…
2011-05-01 9.0
2011-06-01 9.1
2011-07-01 9.1
2011-08-01 9.1
2011-09-01 9.0
2011-10-01 8.9
2011-11-01 8.7
2011-12-01 8.5
2012-01-01 8.3
2012-02-01 8.3
2012-03-01 8.2
2012-04-01 8.1
2012-05-01 8.2</p>
<p>I had a job when I graduated.
Yes, I used to walk 5 miles in the snow to go to school. Thank-you very much.
2012-06-01 8.2</p>
<p>AGain </p>
<p>You have ALOT to learn. Not hard to get a job in the 80’s or 90’s Ha.
Do you have ANY clue how many resumes I submitted for friends/kids of friends for NURSING JOBS in the late 80’s and thruout the 90’s? Back then, all over the news, jobs in healthcare are where the jobs are. Well, yes the low paying ancillary jobs, which is the same as it is today.
A sample of one, is just that, a sample of one. YOU obtained a job. There are PLENTY of graduates today that have not.</p>
<p>Read my post more carefully. I sad “late” 80s to 90s that would have been 20 years ago. </p>
<p>Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
1987 6.6 6.6 6.6 6.3 6.3 6.2 6.1 6.0 5.9 6.0 5.8 5.7<br>
1988 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.4 5.6 5.4 5.4 5.6 5.4 5.4 5.3 5.3<br>
1989 5.4 5.2 5.0 5.2 5.2 5.3 5.2 5.2 5.3 5.3 5.4 5.4<br>
1990 5.4 5.3 5.2 5.4 5.4 5.2 5.5 5.7 5.9 5.9 6.2 6.3<br>
1991 6.4 6.6 6.8 6.7 6.9 6.9 6.8 6.9 6.9 7.0 7.0 7.3<br>
1992 7.3 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.6 7.8 7.7 7.6 7.6 7.3 7.4 7.4<br>
1993 7.3 7.1 7.0 7.1 7.1 7.0 6.9 6.8 6.7 6.8 6.6 6.5<br>
1994 6.6 6.6 6.5 6.4 6.1 6.1 6.1 6.0 5.9 5.8 5.6 5.5<br>
1995 5.6 5.4 5.4 5.8 5.6 5.6 5.7 5.7 5.6 5.5 5.6 5.6<br>
1996 5.6 5.5 5.5 5.6 5.6 5.3 5.5 5.1 5.2 5.2 5.4 5.4<br>
1997 5.3 5.2 5.2 5.1 4.9 5.0 4.9 4.8 4.9 4.7 4.6 4.7<br>
1998 4.6 4.6 4.7 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.6 4.5 4.4 4.4<br>
1999 4.3 4.4 4.2 4.3 4.2 4.3 4.3 4.2 4.2 4.1 4.1 4.0</p>
<p>I got my first professional job after a year of college. At the same time, unemployment was higher back then than it is today. A lot of graduates had a very hard time finding work back then. I got the rest of my degrees paid for by various employers.</p>
<p>If you do understand the economic times, then simple math would tell you that times are hard for graduates.</p>
<p>I don’t think you get the full picture just comparing unemployment rate. It does not count the folks “off the rolls” but still uemployed.
[Unemployment</a> rate drops to 8.3% on 1.2 million workers fall off benefit rolls - The Daily Economist](<a href=“http://www.thedailyeconomist.com/2012/02/unemployment-rate-drops-to-83-on-12.html]Unemployment”>http://www.thedailyeconomist.com/2012/02/unemployment-rate-drops-to-83-on-12.html)</p>
<p>To me it seems there are a huge number of workers that have been out of work long term (years).</p>
<p>That’s always the case, no different 20-30 years ago.</p>
<p>Sure, it has always been my case. My point is that if the rate does not capture magnitude of long-term unemployed, it’s not a perfect way to compare eras.</p>
<p>Have they changed how they capture the data?</p>
<p>^
Supposedly, there’s data on “real unemployment” that includes long-term unemployment and forced part-time wok, but I’ve never been able to find a reliable source for it. If any CCers know of one, I’d be much obliged.</p>
<p>samiamy, I do not know anything about engineering prospects and job out look based on locations, but do you know if there is a bigger market in different areas of the country? or even areas that need engineers but have a smaller pool to chose from?
I graduated with a BSN a few years ago and applied to over 300 positions in a huge metro area.( one of the biggest in the country), I had experience as an extern ( a glorified nursing aide), volunteer experience, work experience in other fields, network with drs and nurses and got ONE INTERVIEW after MONTHS of trying . I had a very high GPA. I had many classmates with the same exact story and have met many people with my same exact story. Ignorant people would assume I didn’t apply to certain types of jobs or that my resume was awful. The truth was that the market was TERRIBLE and many local hosptials were closing or laying off workers. as soon as I used the SAME resume/ cover letter ( slight alterations depending on the job) in a different part of the country I got calls from nearly ever place I applied to, offers for interviews, job offers etc. Since it happened to me, I can definitly believe that someone has a 3.9 gpa, experience in that field, networks, is pretty and popular ( added for a certain poster/mindset), has a great resume and still can not get an interview after 300 applications.</p>
<p>The month I graduated from architecture school in 1982 the biggest architecture firm in NYC laid of 300 workers. It was not easy to find a job. Luckily I’d won a grant which gave me some breathing room. I spent a year doing stuff that was only peripherally related to architecture and worked part time as a librarian on the Caltech campus (thanks to my campus job as an undergrad). When I finally got work it was through connections.</p>
<p>That said, at least last summer I was amazed that some kids from my older son’s graduating class barely seemed to be looking for work. I know he was extraordinarily lucky to be very good at something in high demand, but they seemed to be at such loose ends.</p>
<p>Re post #196 (Samiamy) [hopefully bringing this back to civil & productive discussion]
I have followed my kids’ multiple job searches over the past 4 years. (Both had jobs straight out of colleges, but each has had occasion to search for job #2). </p>
<p>One thing that has become quite clear is that they almost always hear back from jobs that seem like very close fits for their experience & education… and almost never hear anything from jobs that aren’t a close fit.</p>
<p>Logically, it seems like there is nothing to lose in sending a resume and application to anything that seems remotely possible… but the reality is that the applying to “anything” route doesn’t seem to work. There has to be a fit. My kids tailor their resumes & cover letters to each job … both have more work experience in their histories than can possibly fit on a one page resume, so each has the freedom to pick & choose what to highlight and what to leave off. I’m not suggesting any sort of dishonesty or concealment – it’s just that my kids have a long list of part-time & short-term jobs that they held during the college years. Sometimes minor jobs in the employment history that have long since been dropped are resurrected for a particular position.</p>
<p>Since I don’t know your daughter, I don’t know what her niche would be nor what job opportunities she may have … I’m just suggesting that perhaps she needs to focus her attention more on seeking out the handful of opportunities that might be good fits than on the volume of resumes she sends out. I realize they may be hard to come by; I’m just suggesting that the time spent in the everything & anything approach might be better spent on targeting & attempting to build connections related to the target.</p>
<p>Regarding the OP, I agree that these two particular grads need an attitude adjustment. But I feel that, in fairness, it should be pointed out that there are plenty of grads who have held previous jobs and internships, who do not have a sense of entitlement, who are working their butts off to find work in their fields, and who would be willing to wait tables in the meantime – and who are still unemployed. There just are not enough jobs out there for our young people, and we need to be careful about assuming that any grad who’s not working is simply a lazy brat.</p>
<p>Many companies use computers to pull up resumes. If your resume does not have the right target words in it for that job you will not be picked by the computer.</p>
<p>So each job will have specific words in the description of what the job opening is. </p>
<p>You must have those words or sentence segments in your resume to have it moved on so that a person actually looks at it.</p>
<p>This may possibly be something that students are unaware of.</p>
<p>One can bring up a general topic such as presentation at job interviews and can suggest that being neat, well groomed and physically fit would increase ones chances for a positive outcome.</p>
<p>It can be seen as mean spirited among other descriptions for one to zero in on one person and suggest that they didn’t get a job because they were unattractive.</p>
<p>This is called tact and it is a useful quality to hone.</p>
<p>It would appear that some students that have put out many resumes have not even gotten an interview. Those that read with care would understand that appearance would not have been an issue at this time.</p>
<p>I guarantee the unemployed engineering and nursing grads just have something majorlywrong with them. Maybe they aren’t willing to relocated? Maybe they can’t pass a urine drug test? There are endless reasons whey they could be unemployed. I have never experienced any of these employment difficulties of all the whiners in this forum… My grandpa survived the holocaust and made a fortune over here with an 8th grade education. I think these silly parent supported highly educated graduates can do better than they are doing. Seriously…</p>
<p>ValleyAccountant, my daughter’s friend had 7 job offers. I would say she on the slightly overweight side but has an amazing personality. I don’t think overweight is ever an issue despite what you read. People gain and loose weight, it’s not a fixed thing.</p>
<p>One of the guys that we hired a year ago weighs over three hundred pounds and comes into the office once or twice a week. I guess that an MS from MIT can overcome a weight issue.</p>
<p>Another recent hire speaks and writes poorly but a Phd in EE from one of the better Cal schools can help.</p>