<p>Um, my D does have job skills and has worked her entire time in college. She still can’t find a job. She jobs she’s gotten close to indicate that her resume is attractive. The jobs just don’t exist right now.</p>
<p>D really craves being self-supporting. It’s just not happening right now.</p>
<p>But can she paint or wire a home? The point is certain job skills have virtually no value right now. Others such as being able to properly do building improvements are in more demand in good times and bad.</p>
<p>Recent college grads I know are underemployed - working part time and looking for something full time.</p>
<p>Mom of a May 2005 college graduate here. He’s moving back home next month from his beloved college town…no jobs that can pay for him to live, pay student loans etc.</p>
<p>I feel bad for him, and for us. We’ve come to love our empty nest :)</p>
<p>It doesn’t help that his degree isn’t one of the highly marketable ones and that he is still “searching” for what he wants to be/do. It IS a tough time out there for even the most focused accomplished kids. So if you are one who’s more average, it’s even more difficult.</p>
<p>My nephew dutifully got his college degree in which he had little interest but just to satisfy his family. Then he went to mechanics school that taught him to repair the engines on big fishing vessels and cruise ships. He is now a partner owner of a business in the Seattle area and doing very well.</p>
<p>I wonder if some of our kids might get their college educations and then turn to the trades to earn a living and find that the college education helps them in growing a business.</p>
<p>Parents – what would you recommend for upcoming/new college grads in the job hunt? Obviously visiting the career center while still in school, pursuing internships, etc, but any other tips for a difficult market like this one?</p>
<p>Barrons:</p>
<p>Don’t I know it… quality tradesmen are very hard to find and these guys are busy even in these bad times - the painter is working Saturdays to get the work done at the church and the electrician is squeezing me in between two jobs - and even that is 5 weeks out. </p>
<p>Funny someone mentioned history grads - the plumber I normally use at my house has a masters in American history and is researching and writing a book. Plumbing pays the bills, history is his hobby.</p>
<p>I second grapejuice in his query. A sort of quasi-chances thread would be good where we could post concentration, gpa, work experience and get input on job hunting.</p>
<p>Make sure that you come out of college with some work experience - it doesn’t have to be related to your major but that would certainly help. Obviously dress well and speak well. I spoke to a lady in our shipping room and her kids have great internships this summer. She had to go to four interviews but the person that hired her said that she got the internship because she was well-dressed and spoke well.</p>
<p>Often working in the lower paying jobs, in the field of your choice, is the way to open the door to working your way up to the better paying jobs. Unfortunatley, we find many new grads do not want to accept the lower paying internships or even entry level jobs, however, that is the reality of the market today. Most college grads are not going to step into a secure, attractive, profitable, high salary job to start - they need to be willing to put in the time, accept the lower pay and work very hard to impress the organization, and work their way up the ladder - all while living within their means (which often means sharing housing or living back at home). It may even require them working a second job to make ends meet (many adults have done this in their lifetime, and many still do…why can’t the younger generation follow suit?!?)It would help if students would plan for their future by working full time during the summer and saving money, instead of either not working, spending all of their earnings, or simply working to fund their social life - (of course this last statement is not applicable to the student working full time to save for college tuition).</p>
<p>Lastly, it is admirable to follow a passion, however, it is also prudent to have a minor or double major/obtain a degree in a marketable field, such as a teaching certificate (even if your passion is coaching), or an accounting degree (while waiting for the big break in business). Hard work, sound fiscal planning, saving, living within your means, responsibility and sensibility all pay off.</p>
<p>springisintheair, if you know of fields (other than in the sciences/engineering/accounting) that have entry level jobs or internships available my S would sure love to know about it. That is the problem in a nutshell right now. There are very few of those historically available entry level jobs for your basic humanities/social science grad. My S would be very happy to be even invited to interview for any of the entry level jobs for which he has submitted his resume. He is personable, well spoken, dresses well and has held internships/jobs since he was 15 years old. I’m convinced that if he could get his foot in the door he’d have a shot at some of the few available positions. However, since few of these jobs pay enough for him to to live on independently, he’s sort of limited to this area where he can live at home. And he is more than willing to do that, though he would of course prefer to make enough to move out.
Whether he should have majored/minored in something more “practical” is a philosophical discussion for another day. We did not encourage him to do so. Had we known what the employment environment was going to be when he graduated perhaps we might have counseled differently, but that would be 20/20 hindsight. He isn’t really sure what he’d like to do in an ideal world, so he is very open to almost any kind of job. He continues to work daily and he submits his resume pretty much across the board. But sending a resume and cover letter into the black hole of internet postings sure does get frustrating.</p>
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<p>That reminds me, it is always good to proofread the resume for typos. ;)</p>
<p>S1 (new grad) and his best friend have jobs, the military.
His roommate who got an accounting degree is unemployed as is a neighbor’s S who got a degree in Meteorology. Both jobless young men have moved back home. </p>
<p>S1 says his university had a record number of new freshmen coming in on ROTC scholarships this year. The increase is specualted to be related to many losing college funds in the stock mkt and/or parents losing jobs,taking pay cuts,etc. combined with the tough future job market outlook.</p>
<p>So I’m an English major (not marketable, I know, I know) and I’ve been luckily enough to find internships with relative ease through the past couple years. I have no concentration, and have no time to add one, though I am trying to take some more econ courses next year so I can at least mention that I have business related coursework.</p>
<p>I’m in an emerging field (social media/social media marketing) which is slowly increasing in terms of job opportunities. Hopefully, that will be the case once I graduate. My parents have moved out of the country, so I don’t have a “live at home” option after graduation. I’m happy to take an entry level job but I simply don’t have the luxury of an unpaid/low-enough-salary-that-you-can’t-on-it job. </p>
<p>I feel like I’ve done/am doing all I can at this point, but I know lots of very well educated, articulate, experienced grads still looking for work. I think one big issue is geographic constraint – I’ve seen job postings for Omaha, Kentucky, etc, that I know people who are looking for jobs are qualified for, but when I pass the info along, they say, “Oh, I don’t want to live there.” I think no one has the luxury to be picky in this market.</p>
<p>I was surprised when D graduated from college last year (2008) at how many of her friends didn’t have a job on graduation day, and didn’t seem worried about it. The plan was to spend some of the summer traveling (or whatever) and then to buckle down to finding a job later. By September, the economy has gasping for air! Sometimes it doesn’t pay to wait.</p>
<p>Even kids who did have jobs lined up got caught in the Wall Street financial meltdown and lost those jobs they barely started. Some found that they didn’t like the jobs they got and went to find new ones. </p>
<p>I feel for the 2009 graduates! But the economy will improve (let’s hope we are not Japan) and jobs will become more plentiful. I hope they will be able to keep their spirits up–their situations will improve.</p>
<p>As to what new graduates and upcoming graduates can do besides hit the career center, networking is probably the most important thing to do. It’s hard for a newly minted college graduate to access a network–parents can help. Parents can let their friends know that S or D will be looking for a job in the (fill in the blank) field as part of general conversation. Friends may know of programs that aren’t widely advertised or jobs that could be coming up in the future. Or they may know someone that the S or D could talk to about how to get started in the field.</p>
<p>This all takes time. There was a thread a while back (must have been about a year ago) about trying to teach kids the efficacy of networks. It was very informative.</p>
<p>To follow up Packmom’s post #33, here are the links to both the Army and Navy OCS programs. They hire, train and pay. After serving, employers line up to recruit disciplined, multi-taskers with proven leadership skills. It’s certainly not for everyone, but a very good option for some.</p>
<p>[GoArmy.com</a> > Careers & Jobs > Becoming an Officer > Officer Candidate School](<a href=“http://www.goarmy.com/ocs/]GoArmy.com”>http://www.goarmy.com/ocs/)</p>
<p>[Officer</a> Training Command Home Page](<a href=“http://www1.netc.navy.mil/nstc/otc/index.asp]Officer”>http://www1.netc.navy.mil/nstc/otc/index.asp)</p>
<p>DS has a job so far…keeping fingers crossed it continues. DD graduates in June 2010 in a field that should have jobs…engineering. Keeping fingers crossed she gets a job.</p>
<p>@pierre0913</p>
<p>You’re right, alot of them do.</p>
<p>I liked this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1050112-what-your-college-junior-senior-should-doing-over-winter-break.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1050112-what-your-college-junior-senior-should-doing-over-winter-break.html</a> . </p>
<p>I don’t have any magic answers, but I do think telling absolutely every adult you run into that you’re looking for a job is not a bad idea. I also like the advice to choose either (1) a location you’d like to be or (2) a field you’d like to be in. If (1), take ANY job in the area and if (2) take ANY kind of job in ANY part of the country (world?) in that field.</p>
<p>What about Freshman/Sophomore summer?</p>