In a different vein, a cautionary tale about “Studying the trades fixes all the jobs problems!” claims you sometimes run across: An article in the Wall Street Journal titled They Chose Careers in the Trades and Still Wound Up With Debt. (I don’t think it’s paywalled, apologies if it is.)
It points out that, among other things, because there isn’t sufficient capacity in low-cost (e.g., community college) programs in the trades in the wake of funding limits/cuts, evil scumsuckers for-profit institutions have stepped in, charging a serious premium for certifications.
I think you are mainly correct about the job sites, but they can still be a tool. If nothing else it could give you a sense of who’s hiring and you can use that intel to work your network.
Oh I’m not saying not to use Indeed for a job search - most companies post there. I was more saying as an employer I’ve rarely gotten good applicants from Indeed. So I tend to give them less of a look than I might otherwise. No idea if that is true for others but I suspect so since you tend to be innundated with sub-standard applicants especially if you use certain key words.
IMO, the main benefit of LinkedIn/Indeed is knowing what jobs become available and how much companies are paying (if they post the comp). If you see something that you’re interested in, hopefully you have a connection that works there. If you have no connections or isnt an exact fit, it may be hard to get an interview.
Oftentimes, if you’re not a local candidate, you wont get an interview even if you’re qualified.
It’s interesting and the comment was made earlier by @momofboiler1 - I get solicitations from linkedin, including phone calls. One auto company called me to ask interest - I said sure. They sent the job description and it had the salary band, expected compensation. It’s because they are based in CA and that’s the law. I’ve noticed that on a lot more jobs that I’ve looked at.
This seems to be another barrier for new grads searching for their first job since many are willing to relocate. My (soon to be) BME grad has been applying pretty widely and is happy to move to any area that he can find a job.
And most of the “trade” associations post salaries for new grads too. All new chem E grads at Purdue are gifted a membership to AiChE. They have all that information and also a job board. It’s a good networking tool as well.
I bet other majors have these kind of resources too. College career centers and profs will know of which associations to join.
My kid put in for a position 12 week paid position at the headquarters for the company he’s been working for since high school. He said the asked him continually about his commitment to moving. He assured them he was interested. He had numerous rental options He didn’t get it - his manager at his current location actually called him to apologize and said she was sure he was going to get it, but the moving aspect worked against him.
My daughter found her internship this summer through my network. Sent them her resume and they wanted her on the spot but still had to go through the HR formalities. We didnt hear for awhile so I followed up. They had no clue what happened so the hiring manager contacted HR.
HR had screened out any candidate that wasnt local so the hiring manager had to get HR to set aside her resume and they offered her the job immediately.
Not sure how often this happens but some candidates may have zero chance of even getting an interview if they dont live in the area.
Now we know for next year not to even bother applying for any job that’s not local unless we have some kind of connection.
I think it was AI or whatever screening process was used. The hiring manager literally told HR to flag her resume and it still didnt work.
The other thing many candidates probably dont realize is that if there’s an internal candidate or someone has a connection, a random applicant may have little to no chance.
“…The fundamentals of a liberal education are probably more important than learning how to code in Java right now.”
“I’m at a point where I’m thinking if I can’t get a job being a data scientist, I might as well pursue art,” she said. “Because if I’m going to be unemployed, I might as well do something I love.”
More students pursuing education for critical thinking skills and doing something they love is a big positive IMO and a better way to job and life satisfaction.
I don’t think we can pull an anecdote out of an article to know this is true in aggregate. Time will tell.
I think all generations have had bouts of this same issue - and I’m sure future generations will too after this one is solved - with the next great technology.
