Are we Limited when we graduate? by: Jenna Savana

According to the Bureau of Labor, the average adult will have ten different jobs before they turn 40. (Marker, 2015) When students are young, they are told if they work hard in school they will get to go to college someday. After college they will have the career of their dreams. When kids are young they think of being a baseball player or a singer, but once they grow older the dreams of being becoming those things aren’t necessarily in the cards of reality. So students attend college to become something practical, and students choose to attend college so they can earn a better paying job. Some graduates are choosing not to go to school at all and just work. Are parents encouraging their kids to not attend college? Are students struggling to find jobs with their degrees after graduation? Or even just trying to find a job in general?

Companies are changing constantly, since the world is developing so quickly. New advertising and marketing is changing extremely fast too. We are forever evolving, in market growth, social media, and even print. Brand new jobs are listed everyday, that didn’t exist 10 years ago. Our economy is changing when it comes to jobs and what companies are looking for in their employees. The times are changing with the digital era upon us; companies are becoming more technologically savvy. Its what is trending, people are constantly on our phones, laptops, tablets, TV’s etc.; the amount of Ads we see everyday is unbelievable. The generation of people is changing too, companies that have more employees of the baby boomer generation are starting to get led out because the digital era is upon us.

Companies seem more eager to hire the younger generation because they know how to use social network tools. Companies and businesses are looking for fresh ideas from a younger generation. However, college graduates find it hard to even get an email back from companies these days. Resumes and cover letters are going through databases instead of being hand picked by real people. This makes the whole process seem less and less personal. It is also making it extremely difficult for the interview process.

Getting an interview is hard, even after having a great interview the applicant still isn’t guaranteed the job. Hearing back from a company is what seems to the most difficult, you can email and call but sometimes students never hear back if they just hired someone else or didn’t choose them. This is discouraging, but it is also seen to be a huge disappointment and bad reflection of the company. It doesn’t make the company look personal or friendly at all, and makes students question do they really want to work for a company that can’t even communicate properly. This makes students and young adults question the companies they want to work for or even worse the industry. No one wants to work somewhere where people and clients aren’t friendly. Along with that no one wants to work in a stressful environment or where they aren’t treated as valuable person to the company. This is causing students and young adults to be pickier about where they are working, especially because they want to change things and make an impact in the world.

Back in 2015, it was found that only a small 14% of college graduates have jobs lined up for after graduation. This means that there is a huge 86% that don’t have jobs lined up. About five or six of these graduates will not even try to get jobs in their field, and the remaining will just find temporary jobs doing whatever will pay the bills. Which means they will stay working there temporary for more than a year if not more. With a college degree just sitting there, not using it. Why are students settling to just work wherever they receive a paycheck? Why are these students going to school and graduating and then not caring about their future job? Not to mention going to school and getting stuck with loans and the huge financial responsibility. So what’s the problem here, are we limited when it comes to finding a job? Are college teachers supposed to be preparing us for what comes after we graduate more? Or are millennials just being lazy when it comes down to doing the research to find a job?

Talking about the generation that is upon is scary, millennials believe they are entitled to everything and everything. What makes it worse is that parents seem to be too afraid to tell them no. They want to give them everything they never had as young adults. However, this is also destroying young adult’s self-esteem. They are growing up thinking that its just going to be all come together with getting a job and working. Or better yet kids don’t want put in the effort to do things on their own and find jobs, because they are lazy. This comes from parents wanting to baby their children and do everything to make life easier for them. When in reality what good does that do? Its better for teenagers and young adults to be independent for them to find a place in this world. More and more children are growing up spoiled and lazy, this is letting them think “Oh Mom or Dad will just help me find a job.” When really its not something that students can just assume will figure itself out. Its something students need to have patience for and put an effort into doing.

There are several tools and resources that students don’t utilize when it comes to finding a job. Going to Career Services should begin freshman year for all students, by doing this it could help students chose an area of concentration. (Kaplan, Larson, 2015) Some students don’t even know where their Career Services is located until their senior year of college and some even surveyed that their University’s Career Services wasn’t helpful when trying to find a job. (Bloomberg, 2016)

UW-Stout holds the Career Fair every semester, which helps students interact with business professionals and it helps them network. Some Students make the mistake of not attending because they think its not important at the very moment. However, just attending and talking to companies helps students with confidence and it helps with building their professionalism in the workplace. It is suggested that businesses should partner with colleges to help students interact with business workers. With colleges doing this it would help keep the curricula updated too. (Kaplan, Larson, 2015) Some other Universities do not hold these sort of career fairs, which is unfortunate for students struggling to find jobs after graduation.

Another thing that is unique about UW-Stout is that most programs require students to have an internship before they can graduate. By getting an internship it gives students a taste of the real world and what its really like to work at a professional company. Some students might even argue that they learned more on their internship than they learned sitting in lectures for 4 years of college. So it also makes students question how much they are actually learning in college. Students are not only finding their jobs through Career Services, some students are finding jobs other ways. Networking of knowing people through friends, or knowing someone through professors, and even certain family members are helping. Getting involved on campus and in clubs that involve their major also apply to helping them find jobs. Certain clubs that relate around majors can benefit students with networking and even getting to go on tours to businesses. Some students take these advantages and some choose not too, however it defiantly benefits the ones who choose to be involved.

Many students who attend college are undecided when they start out as an incoming freshman. Or course there are a lot of students who know exactly what they want to do, and exactly what kind of job they want. However, there are the few that don’t necessarily know why they are there. Are college students going to college simply because its “What they are told to do.” Are are all college students really strongly driven when it comes to their education and their academics? Or do some college students choose college because its what everyone else is doing? Some students will argue they are at college for the social accepts and some will argue they are strictly there for school and school only. This plays a huge role in finding a job after graduation. Those strongly driven with education and their success in school are almost over achievers and are strong leaders. As for the students who struggle with their academics they might have a hard time finding the right job that fits them. Or they might just have a different perspective to finding the kind of job they want. So the real question to finding a job after you graduate… are we really limited? Or are we just lazy when it comes to doing the work to get there?

Report Abuse

If you feel that this video content violates the Adobe Terms of Use, you may report this content by filling out this quick form.

To report a Copyright Violation, please follow Section 17 in the Terms of Use.