Yes and no. Tons of kids are placing OOS. Communication is a widespread major - is it journalism or ad / PR or something else and it requires location flexibility - especially today with the big agencies. I don’t see it being a harder road at all - hence my two had zero issue as did many of their friends. I do think it’s natural that more end up where they are in place - because they seek that. And of course companies will hit the local. I do see communications as a tougher major though…that’s true..it was in 1990 and it is today to find specific employment (many want to be journalists or in advertising or in PR)…and those are tough fields to crack in general.
It’s easy to blame a school - but perhaps the student is unlucky, inexperienced, not a good interviewer, or not persistent, or inflexible in their geographic and other desires.
It’s not always the school…is the point. It’s not - I found a job, I am great. I can’t find a job - my school or its perception stinks.
I know recent grads who refuse to leave the area despite the fact that most of the jobs (in that area) want 1-2 years of experience. Others accept a 1 or 2 year fellowship in a different location, get the experience, and then return to the desired location- where they prefer 1-2 years of experience.
I also agree that in a tight job market…school could matter. Some employers do have connections to specific schools, understand the experience a graduate had, etc. Of course this is not 100% and there are always exceptions.
Just throwing out my opinions on this, for the $0.02 they’re worth :
SW development jobs tend to go through a boom & bust cycle. Job applicants who are good at networking (networking with people, that is, not referring to LAN/WAN stuff) will be more successful at getting a job offer than those who are not.
Gone are the times of COVID where all jobs that COULD be remote WERE remote. So applicants need to be willing to actually go into a physical office. If you’re not willing to do that, then good luck.
Not all job sectors are down. Positions in healthcare, for example. Get a degree in nursing and you could get hired pretty much anywhere right now. Cybersecurity jobs are available, too. But if you’re a comp sci major and you want to work for Google, Oracle, Meta/Facebook/Instagram, Microsoft, or Amazon? Yeah, good luck.
College students applying for tech sector jobs need to be willing to live in places other than Silicon Valley, Austin, Seattle, Chicago or NY. Suck it up and take a job in another city and work there for a couple of years and then figure out how to get a job in your preferred geographical area.
Agree on the flexibility. Good friend’s kiddo finally got an offer for a software development job after 250 job applications. It’s with an excellent company but it is located in far western Massachusetts where there isn’t much going on. He’s moving out there knowing it doesn’t have to be forever.
Kid I am talking about similarly sent out (according to him) 200+ resumes and applications but has focused his search on the northeast to be with family. He chose his southern school because he loved the image of big sports big frat culture.
His brother who graduated the year before had several offers in prestige fields before graduation so this kid just assumed he would have the same luck.
What scares him the most is just the complete lack of responses he has gotten in spite of a solid academic record. While I can’t extrapolate from this students experience in this case he regrets not going to any of the local NE opportunities that had been available to him.
For this kid the national reputation is a hinderance because the reputation is about sports. He is always asked about football and if that why he went there. He is immediately on the defensive.
There may be something else that may be causing greater unwillingness to relocate, at least to some areas. “Worry about experiencing prejudice, discrimination, or racism” has increased significantly in recent years (55% of those surveyed in the US, up 11% over previous; see https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/decline-of-trust-in-the-us-and-other-countries-edelman-trust-barometer/3690273 ). This may cause some people to become more hesitant to look for or take jobs in locations which they perceive as a higher risk in this regard. This seems analogous to the apparent increase in frequency of college search / match / chances posts indicating not wanting to go to college in some parts of the country for these reasons.
Obviously, if one is desperate, one may have to put up with the (potential) bigotry. But when people have not gotten to that stage of desperation, they may try other options in (what they see as) less problematic areas first.
I had a co-worker in NYC who claims she had never met a Jewish person before she met me–and would pretty much remind me of that at least once a week-- and a boss in a medium sized midwestern city (a reasonably diverse place by any measure at the time) who spent every one-on-one meeting with me trying to convince me to accept Jesus as my personal savior.
You cannot predict where, who and when you’re going to meet who exhibits “problematic” behavior. I say get that first job, work your tush off, and then have world’s longest exit interview when you get a better job, explaining to HR that the workplace is filled with crazies and their microaggressions!
The reality is - certain schools have certain strengths. The communication student school mentioned is arguably one of the top advertising and PR schools in the country - and agencies are littered with their grads - in NY, when I was out in California, where I am now and elsewhere.
I have no idea what type of role the student seeks.
Yes, the job market is tougher. But in communications, which doesn’t always roll up to a specific job, it’s always been tough. Advertising / marketing / PR are always tough to break into. I went to Syracuse and it was no different when I graduated - most didn’t make it in our chosen fields regardless of the Newhouse ranking.
And an academic record alone doesn’t secure a job. Hopefully the student has experience beyond.
No doubt people have to send out hundreds of resumes today - and tailor each resume - at least in the skills section, to what is being asked.
It’s a competitive world and NY is a competitive place - but when jobs are getting hundreds of resumes, it’s easy to blame a school - but in the world of communication, that is a sought after school - loaded with alums. And when companies get hundreds of resumes, they can pick through who looks best to them.
Sometimes it’s the environment, sometimes it’s the student…but to dismiss and lay blame at a school’s name or perception sounds like sour grapes to me…especially given this major and this school which excels in the communications area.
I know you are saying this half jokingly, but I tell my kids (and myself) that there is no point in burning bridges even if you feel better for a short period. Better to keep those opinions/observations close to your vest and store it away for future actions/inactions when it matters.
The sad reality is that in a bad economy, the more academic and less pre-professional the degree, the more “optionality” the kid has. So English and not communications; Mechanical engineering and not Petroleum engineering; accounting (with a love of professional sports) and not Sports Management.
I’ve conducted hundreds of exit interviews (no longer part of my job, thank god). The best exit interview is five minutes long where you tell HR “This was a fantastic opportunity and as a result, I was lucky enough to be presented with yet another fantastic opportunity. I will always admire the company, my colleagues, and my management team because they taught me so much”.
Seems like the top schools offering a communications major have significant academic cache and national reputations per US News. Many of them appear to be top 20 nationally ranked which I think might explain this students challenges.
He is locally competing against Ivy plus kids and not getting traction. I unfortunately don’t think it’s the student because he isn’t even getting an audience to sell himself to. Given that him and his brother are similar in so many ways the college (which again I haven’t named) does seem worst case to be hindering and best case not helping.
I think it could be the economy…but we will find out that most find a job.
I’m not sure if a student has an English degree vs. a Comm degree that it changes things.
But we don’t know much about the student except where they went, their major (but not focus) and they were good academically.
It may be the environment…it may be the resume isn’t getting picked up. It may be applying for the wrong jobs.
There are so many unknowns. I acknowledge the economy stinks vs. last year but this major has always been an issue.
I highly doubt the school is the reason a student can’t get hired - most especially in this area where it’s considered very strong.
But - that field will always be fierce - bad salaries because the supply/demand curve is so overweighted on the side of supply - it’s a field with far more grads than there will ever be jobs.
In some ways, with a lot of media now contract and independent podcasts, the student can have more control to make their way. But again, I don’t know if the student wants media, advertising, PR or something else.
Accounting is always great…I know a finance intern at a major Sports company (think both arena and team), and yes, we’ve read of a biomed engineer from a top 5 biomed school not being able to find a job…as the parent posts regularly.
There are certainly no assurances…it might be bad luck…but it might be other things is my point…personally and it’s just my opinion, it’s zero relation to the school…but it’s a nice excuse for someone who is struggling…and I get that too - we all get defensive in times of strife (well most of us).
From what I’ve observed from my 2024 graduate and their friends, networking is what is making the difference in this extremely challenging job market.
The only applications that made the first cut to get an interview with HR were apps where he knew someone at the company and could list their name on the application.
This is where the alumni support part made such a huge difference. My kid initially was reluctant to reach out to alumni via LinkedIn who worked at companies where he was applying for an open position, as that is the equivalent of a cold call to a complete stranger. But he never was able to even secure an interview for positions, even when his background and experience were a perfect match, without some kind of connection.
I get it - it’s hard to weed through the enormous number of applications that companies are getting for each open position, and anything that helps you wade through that volume is a plus.
And all that can get you is the initial interview with HR - the rest is up to you. Can’t tell you how many times he went through a final round interview for an entry- level position to be told that they really liked him, but ended up giving it to someone with more experience (again, for an entry-level position!).
Happy to report that it finally paid off - he got 2 job offers (one in the dream field he had been trying to break into) but man, do I feel for all the new college grads as they are competing against all the more established people who’ve been recently laid off.
Looks like the distinction between majors in your examples is more like more general versus overly specialized majors, since mechanical engineering and accounting are generally considered more pre-professional majors.
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