There are “help wanted” signs around here too. Most are for retail, part time positions at minimum wage. Yes, if you don’t have a job at all, there is that option. But most of the job openings I see posted around here are not for career type jobs.
And none have benefits at part time status.
Yes, lots of minimum wage retail & food service positions being advertised around here. I believe many are only part time with few or no benefits.
I guess people should try Maine!
@BunsenBurner interesting! One of the ones D was offered seemed to me to be one of those - she had maybe 60% of the asked for skills and ed level (and they were very specific). But she got it anyway 
Someone who matches the job requirements given by an employer who is very picky about specific attributes that are unrealistic to find among those seeking jobs.
It is a common phenomenon that many employers will overspecify job requirements, but are willing to hire those who match only a specific subset of the job requirements (i.e. the real requirements, with the rest of the listed ones being merely desired). But then every job seeker who matches any subset of the listed requirements will apply, even though most will not meet the real requirements. Presumably, your daughter’s 60% of the listed requirements included all of the employer’s real requirements, with the missing 40% being the ones that were only desired.
Some of these very detailed job descriptions are written to match the skills of a specific H1B visa holder who is in a process of acquiring a green card. The point is to prove that they have unique skills and absolutely no American exists with the right skills to fill this position.
Actually, I see a trend to publish a very vague job descriptions, possibly to prevent the applicants to adjust their resumes to match the real job requirements.
I got a bunch of jobs for which I was not qualified, sometimes because they figured they could train me and at least once because they decided to hire me as well as someone who actually filled the job description. I think now bots would have rejected my resume.
My older son got a job via an internship when jobs were really scarce, but not in CS.
Younger son had a miserable time - two unpaid internships, living at home for almost two years. The second internship offered him a job, but by then he’d decided that the new leadership at that NGO was incompetent, so he stayed only long enough to finish the project he was working on. He then spent months studying for the Officer Candidate School exam and is now a Naval Officer. Not something his parents would ever have predicted!
Purpke squirrel job or not, my friends’ kids are getting hired. Finally! They graduated from college 2012-13 ish. Kids were getting pretty discouraged. I am so happy for them. Kids who graduated in 2008 and onward had tough time, no fault of their own making. I read biggest wage increase is in low skill jobs. That is also desirable development.
My son graduates next month and has a job with a tech company. From what I saw they were looking for very smart tech kids. Engineering majors (of all specialties), computer science and math majors. Sounds like his friends/other classmates who are graduating have jobs as well. In major related/college degree required jobs. Not serving coffee.
I think it also reflects that more students are majoring in subjects such as computer science, business and math. The number of English and history majors has continued to decline since 2007; perhaps students have sought more immediately marketable skills.
@roycroftmom Perhaps. But a young friend took her English degree and music minor to a terrific marketing job in her dream city. She was slow to job-hunt as she went through the process with a prestigious grant she ultimately didn’t get, but once she changed direction it took only 2 months. She started her career about a month after graduation.
I have more anecdotes, but it would be interesting to know if what you suggest is a factor on a national scale.
Can’t say anything about jobs for humanities majors, but at least at our big U the shift towards STEM is happening, and it is hurting the U’s budget:
@BunsenBurner Paywall blocked my access to that article. Could you give a real brief summary?
@katliamom unblocking ads got me in.
Some interesting points:
IMO the saddest thing is…that those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. There is a societal cost to not studying history.
However, when there is insufficient incentive for people to avoid societal costs or negative externalities when pursuing personal gain, it is not surprising that societal costs occur.
My 2018 civil engineer had a job before graduating. Sent out 6 resumes, had the first interview on a Friday, offered the job on Monday, accepted it on Wednesday.
My 2018 (Dec) history major had a Disney College Program internship but made the major mistake of taking her boyfriend along. He hated it immediately so they both quit. Now has a job for the summer but it is not high paying. He can’t decide what he wants to do, everything from law school to police academy to joining the military. I fear it is going to be a string of minimum wage jobs for the history/museum studies girl.
@twoinanddone Ugh, the boyfriend. Echoes my own story way back when. Thankfully not my kids’.
@OHMomof2 Thanks for the recap. It makes sense - the drop revenue due to fewer cheaper humanities major subsidizing more expensive STEM majors. So many changes in American academia…
Good recap above. Also, Running Start kids do not register for the “money makers” because they’ve already accumulated those intro credits while in HS.
Here is the article mentioned in the ST article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/08/the-humanities-face-a-crisisof-confidence/567565/
When I was Mech Eng senior (1980s), I don’t recall having any technical questions at interviews. I assumed it was because my resume and transcript had details of coursework and GPA. Thinking about that more now, it was probably also because I interviewed with general company reps sent to the campus interview sessions.