In my experience many employers aren’t interested in providing on-the-job training. Instead of hiring and training new grads they’d rather poach already trained employees from their competitors by stipulating a need for 2-5 years of relevant work experience. How students are supposed to acquire that when so many employers are cutting internship opportunities is beyond me. Then they complain that they can’t find suitable workers and that colleges and universities aren’t adequately preparing students for the workforce. They’ve completely downloaded the responsibility and costs of training on to workers.
10 Likes
There’s articles about this - not being ready - and also employers letting new employees go because of it.
Again, I’m not dismissing LACs or any colleges (they all have the issue) but those who say they aren’t paying for their kids to get a job - I find that hard to believe deep down.
And it’s the audience that matters.
The audience is the family at the beginning of college - come pay us to educate your kid.
But the audience is the employers at the end of college - and many (not me) are saying - the colleges are failing.
I think people are missing that point.
Many college grads struggle to land jobs due to a lack of preparedness, study finds | Fox Business
2 Likes
Employers are usually looking for folks who show a willingness to learn and grow. During the probationary period, if the new employee doesn’t show the willingness to continue to learn and grow, that’s what causes them to lose their jobs, in my opinion.
I’m not sure colleges can teach a good work ethic. This is internal to the person, and something they need to have learned their whole life, before college.
9 Likes
This is exactly what my D has been encountering since graduating. It is beyond frustrating.
3 Likes
All of this is very specific to the student/future employee and to some extent the reputation/perceived quality of the school.
Agree that in this day of ever earlier specialization and requirement of technical skills, the “average” student should aim to build a set of marketable immediately applicable skills. We can see the popularity of Northeastern. However, there are still jobs where the employer is looking for the “best available athlete”. This is the arena where the well known LACs and Ivy+ play, but even there, I do think there has to be a demonstration of some critical skills – could be quant or communicative, showing an ability to solve problems through critical thinking.
1 Like
It is fairly shocking and off putting when you encounter college educated adults that can’t spell, use proper syntax or write a cogent sentence.
5 Likes
The discussion arose from the Bowdoin article someone posted. Even the elite recognize the issue.
As for the comment about colleges can’t teach work ethic. I agree but then why are these kids passing through with As and Bs?
That goes back to perhaps - is college too easy?
1 Like
Academic rigor and success doesn’t necessarily translate to the grind of a workplace. Additionally, you can’t study your way to integration within a team working group in the real world.
5 Likes
I’ve been describing this as the donut hole for new grads. Minimum wage jobs are there in abundance and there seem to be a number of opportunities for those with some experience, but new grads with just an internship or two seem to be battling. Even in the fields where they traditionally haven’t had much trouble finding an entry level job.
3 Likes
Absolutely. I have worked over the years with a few people who were exceptionally academically talented and academically high achieving, but couldn’t translate that into on the job success, for a variety of reasons.
5 Likes
I talk too much about my LEO son, but his experience coming out of college correlates with the current discussion. He graduated back in 2022, but Covid killed his FBI internship, which influenced him to go in a different direction.
There were two things that made him stand out during his panel interview with his current employer. The first thing was his Covid pivot from that canceled internship to a non-traditional, volunteer focus on EMS, during a pandemic, in his adopted college community. The second, and more important thing was his matter of fact humility. One of the people on the panel asked him what he thought his biggest challenge would be if he were hired. Without hesitation he said it was his age. He said all 6 people on the panel looked up from their notes at the same time, and put their pens down. The follow up question was obviously why. He told them he knew he looked young for his age. That meant he’d need to work harder than most to earn peoples respect, acceptance, and opportunities to grow within the agency. There was no pretense. He communicated the facts and his willingness to grind it out.
Three month later he entered the 6 month academy. He won the overall fitness award over a former professional marathon runner and a recently graduated D1 football player. After graduation he chose to work 7pm-7am is the worst section of his community. He logged the most felony arrests of anyone else in the agency. He worked any and all available overtime. He was commended for the quality and detail of his incident reports. He received awards and commendations for going above and beyond what is expected of LEOs. In the last two years he’s completed more types of additional training than I thought possible while working full time, and attained several impressive certifications.
There aren’t many people that want to do his job, but the attitude he brought to the job is applicable across any profession. College graduates aren’t special, no matter the institution. Ivy Leaguers can, and do get outworked all the time by state flagship kids. That first day a new hire walks in the door their college degree is just parchment on a wall somewhere(I never even took mine out of the reinforced cardboard envelope it was delivered in). If they don’t jump in with both feet, soak up knowledge, strive to integrate into the existing work culture, and willfully accept that they’re on the ground floor, they will stand out in all the wrong ways.
17 Likes
You should be proud, and the community grateful to have him.
7 Likes
I appreciate your kind words. He isn’t special either, he just has a strong work ethic and a willingness to learn that helps set him up for success. He’s saved several lives, but there were some he couldn’t save, despite all of his training. He does his best to learn from the calls that don’t end well.
2 Likes
Ok so I’m old - graduated in the late ‘80’s from an Ivy. My first job after college was spending most of the day Bates stamping documents at a big law firm (any lawyers remember the Bates stamp?) which technically could have been done by a middle-schooler and paid not much. But I showed up every day on time, worked all day without complaint or a chip on my shoulder, did anything and everything that was asked of me with a smile, got along with everyone, tried to figure out what extra I could do to be of value, had fun with my friends after work on the extreme cheap, and actually thought I had a great life. Got promoted to whatever one rung above Bates-stamper was, then went to a middling law school and was hired as a summer associate by my Bates-stamper firm (which had never hired anyone from my law school before) because they liked me and trusted how I worked, and because I had excellent relationships with people who mattered there. Ultimately was hired by that firm as an associate after law school and my career was off and running. I have no idea if this little parable translates to today’s world.
14 Likes
I appreciate this.
Over the last few years - especially when the “employees” called the shots, there was so much, my work stinks - and companies came up with extras - whether free food, gift card, recognition points to buy merchandise, sports tourneys/golf days, concert tickets and more.
I always wonder - what is it you’re exactly paid to do if you need extras for recognition?
Too many complain about the work they signed up for and likely get paid well to do.
I get it- everyone likes a pat on the back - but in the end, doing a good job is what I’m paid to do to begin with.
So I appreciate people like this.
2 Likes
Good things come to those that don’t expect good things, but work in a manner that warrants it anyway.
6 Likes
One of my old bosses used to have a saying that I’ve never forgotten: Enthusiasm makes ordinary people extraordinary.
9 Likes
My college senior has spent his summers doing research planning on grad school but, after the funding and spots disappeared this year, he is suddenly at this late time looking for work without any internships at all. He is graduating with honors with a BA triple majoring in Math, Physics and CS along with earning his Masters in Math so hopefully employers will see the value and work ethic in that.
He has revised his resume for employment and is going to the career center and reaching out to alumni, while we are currently hitting up any contacts we have in the finance industry. I told him to make sure he puts rugby on his resume to show teamwork skills and to help humanize him. He will be renting an apartment in NYC with his girlfriend after graduation.
5 Likes
The positives for your S is he has marketable quantitative skills. The challenge is he is really late into the season for the better finance jobs. The normal pipeline is through internships summer of junior year. Does he have job experience (vs research) his prior summers? His search will need to be broad, and the goal is to find relevant experience, not his dream job at this point.
NYC will be another challenge. Does his GF have a well paying job, or are they planning to live outside of Manhattan? A 1 bdrm in a decent neighborhood in Manhattan will be over $2,000/month in rent – expect to pay over $2,500 for anything that is halfway decent. My S has been paying over $3,000 as his share of small 3 and 2 bdrm situations.
4 Likes
Is he also inquiring with staffing agencies? Consider something temporary to get a start?
Also, what about various startups?
Be sure to check out Cornell’s tech center for alum events/ networking.
2 Likes