<p>Make sure and click on the link to the actual results of the survey employers. It includes findings such as:</p>
<p>[ul]
[li]Thirty-one percent of employers indicated that recent graduates are unprepared or very unprepared for their job search.</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Over half of the employers indicated difficulty in finding qualified candidates for job openings.[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>This article is spot-on. People really overestimate the worth of their academic achievements and choices beyond for a very tiny sub-set of employers.</p>
<p>I think that the survey might not take into account the fact that computerized resume checkers weed out resumes before they are even given to either a person in HR or the actual person hiring. </p>
<p>For example, I think most on-line jog postings that ask for a candidate with a specific degree most likely weed out any resume where that degree is not included. So, it doesn’t matter if the person who makes the offer says “oh, I don’t care what degree they have” </p>
<p>If the job for example asked for either a marketing or communications major and the resumes without that were never pushed forward, than that person may think that he doesn’t care about majors but he does.</p>
<p>“demonstrate ethical judgment and integrity” a person need not go to college to learn right and wrong. if you have not learned by the time you are of college age you are in trouble.(literally and figuratively) and if you think a school can teach you how to be ethical that is funny.</p>
<p>Not everyone agrees what is “right and wrong” or “ethical”.</p>
<p>For example, a student may use old tests to study for an upcoming test. Teachers’ attitudes on doing this vary. Some encourage doing that and give out old tests. Others see doing that as a form of cheating, since they reuse old tests.</p>
<p>Differing expectations based on cultural, religious, or political environments may also cause different values or actions regarding what is “right or wrong” or “ethical”. International relations, politics, and affairs can encounter such differences easily. In business, an investment bank may have different ethical expectations compared to a charitable organization trying to help poor unemployed people get jobs.</p>
<p>School may or may not teach you to be ethical, but can teach you how notions of ethics can differ, so that you won’t be surprised when you encounter different notions of ethics.</p>
<p>Doesn’t that imply that many of the employers are now using the bachelor’s degree as a generic entry-level credential, rather than using the high school diploma as such? I.e. credential inflation in the labor market?</p>
<p>Kiddie makes an excellent point. When I’ve looked at internship ads for the fields my children are in, the number one item on the list of qualifications is usually class year, major and minimum GPA. Those things are what the personnel departments use to make an initial sort of candidates. Then from among the winnowed applicant pool, the employer can sort for the analytical thinking, communications skills, and integrity they also desire. But if you don’t have the right major, you won’t get the chance to show the rest of your skill set. So while employers may say they don’t care much about major, their recruiting practices say otherwise.</p>
<p>The article is way off. What employers say they want and what the process of hiring that is in place brings out are very different. I’ve seen grads with great skills in communication, both written and oral, integrity galore and every other attribute that are supposed to be so highly prized, unable to find jobs whereas those with demonstrable skills that lack all of these things have job offers at great salaries galore. Another example where practice and theory do not match.</p>
<p>Now I do believe that in time, those skills that are listed will win out, and those students who are truly up there in those attributes will find themselves moving up well in an organization but they are really having a tough time finding what are considered good jobs at living wages. Many never get a toe hold in companies that would have done mutual benefit because the screening process never could get the cream to the top. The computer engineer, the health care professional, the accountant, the engineer are going to get those jobs over the English major that might beat them all out on that list of attributes that employers claim are so important.</p>
What are the ethics of recharacterizing your own laziness to an ethical failing in someone else?</p>
<p>From the article:</p>
<p>
The way they are getting that now is to require 1-3 years of experience for entry-level positions, as dumb as that sounds. They want some other company take the risk first to see if a person is a good employee.</p>
<p>The analysis behind the article is suspect. For instance College Reputation is rated the least important aspect in evaluating graduates for hire (slides 24-27). Then on slide 61 the banner states [College] Brand reputation is important.</p>
<p>Hiring systems don’t work anymore. The whole system is broken except for a small number of anecdotal cases for whom the system worked.</p>
<p>What employers want is generally screened out by their computer filters. On the other hand, employers want experienced, entry level applicants. Meanwhile, applicants want good pay and benefits without experience.</p>
<p>There is Grand Canyon between the two sides. Employers need to lower expectations and be willing to train people. The only way they will do that is if the risk and cost of doing that is lowered which only be done by making it easier to fire bad or unproductive employees without getting sued. Employees need to stop thinking that life owes them and learn that hard work is the reward for their education and training, not perks and benefits. They worked hard to earn a job, not a car or house or vacations and travel. Nope! You want to school to work hard at the job of your choosing now step up to it.</p>
<p>In the meantime, this horrible economy continues…our kids futures are already spent and owed to China.</p>
<p>There are many Philosophy, Theology, Business Ethics, etc. courses that can teach a student why he/she should be ethical. (Of course, it is best that one learn such information at home at an earlier age.)</p>
<p>My recent grad finally was hired, but the search was interesting. If you want a sample of how the systems are sorting, do a search on Monster or Indeed or one of the others for math or mathematician, which is what you would think a math major would use as a search. A math search turns up all kinds of retail jobs where you would ( might) need to do some simple arithmetic. </p>
<p>It is really disheartening for these kids to shoot their resumes off into cyberspace with little response.</p>
<p>I guess I need to have her add what an honest rule follower she is to her r</p>
<p>Especially if saying what they really want could lead to charges of illegal or otherwise often-seen-as-undesirable discrimination (age, race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, etc.).</p>
<p>Regarding MDMom’s post…the only positions that are titled the same as the degree are ocupational degrees e.g. engineer, nurse, inhalation therapist, and the borderline occupational degrees e.g. accounting > accountant. Most kids that major in something that is not occupational need to figure out what are the names of the position that are seeking. That also gives them an opportunity to build their resume around those key terms. I don’t know what math majors do so I can’t create an analogy but I bet the job did not have a title that included the word “mathematician.”</p>
<p>About 2/3 of bachelor’s degrees granted in the US are in pre-professional majors. However, the most popular type of major is business, which usually does not have a one-to-one mapping with a job title.</p>
<p>Momofthreeboys, we did come up with alternatives. There are mathematician jobs, but not for those with undergraduate degrees. I was just tying to give an example of the way computers sort things out. FWIW, quantitative pops up lots of positions.</p>
<p>Reading through these posts has been both instructive, comforting, and discouraging. Our two graduated in May of 2012-English and Philosophy majors from a top 50 LAC. Our son was fortunate to turn a 3 month internship with a venture-capital firm’s new start-up into a full time job. The CEO wanted someone who had excellent writing and analytic skills-enter the English degree. Our honors graduate/philosophy daughter has had the experience most relate to -hundreds of submitted resumes for entry level jobs-usually an email in return explaining she does not have the requisite skills. She has made it through to 3 final rounds of interviews with large PR firms, only to learn ( as expected) they would hire someone with a communications degree. She has had 3 paid internships this year as well as substitute teaching at her former high school. The idea that she feels she isn’t good enough to get a job when many of her friends are working ( engineers, one at the Fed, etc) has left her totally demoralized. She is now preparing her application for grad school for spring of 2014 if she is not employed by this November. Her grad degree focus has been on something she will enjoy but also has high employment since the 2008 recession. She has changed the structure of her job search recently,and will forward the article to her on the first page of this thread. As usual, CC is a tremendous resource-thanks everyone!</p>