<p>nice article. Unless you have a 3.8+ in a highly demanded field, who are students to complain about being the starbucks barista??? why do they beleive they are entitled to great jobs immediately if they dont have a 4.0 in engineering or something</p>
<p>easy for me to understand too. My parents come from a war torn country, speak zero english, and are now doing well. i go to a top 25 school, and 2 older siblings go to HPYSM and are doing great! my parents scraped and saved, and never complained ONCE</p>
<p>I think it’s the same attitide as young people expecting their first house to have stainless appliances and granite countertops. Starting at the bottom and working your way up in the world, careerwise or otherwise, is out of fashion I guess.</p>
<p>It some cases I think it’s the parents fault. If they are never told “no” or to do it on their own or have to suffer the consequences of their actions they think everything will be given to them on a silver platter. Sometimes its just their naivet</p>
<p>Yes, over-entitlement or too-high expectations of new or recent graduate employment opportunities is a problem. (That tends to show in the case of students who think that taking large amounts of debt to attend a dream school is realistic.)</p>
<p>But the message may be more credible if it came from someone who actually did “work her way up from the bottom”, as opposed to someone who apparently went to college and MBA school on wealthy parents’ money and then got a good job at the already-successful family business and was fast-tracked to the executive ranks.</p>
<p>D1 (rising college sophomore) applied at a Starbucks-esque chain for a summer job. They said they didn’t hire just for the summer, but suggested she apply at Starbucks, as she could take the summer job and then transfer to a Starbucks location near her college during the school year. </p>
<p>If she finishes college and can only find a barista job that she could’ve gotten with a high school diploma then yeah, I will entirely understand if she feels underemployed. Because she would be. If that’s the only job that she can find then yes, she needs to buck up and work with an eye out to a better opportunity. But just telling her that she’s lazy and entitled? Give me a break. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>The linked article lays the blame for feelings of “entitlement” thusly:</p>
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<p>For pity’s sake, there is a world of difference between expecting a 1% life handed to you at age 22 versus expecting to get an entry-level job that in some small way expects that you’ve acquired some skills you didn’t possess as a high school graduate.</p>
<p>She doesn’t have the diploma yet, so I can’t see if it says it there. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>The question isn’t if she is guaranteed a better job. It’s that it is perfectly reasonable for her to expect one, based on her work ethic, her training, her major, her performance in college, etc etc etc. It is perfectly reasonable for her to feel disappointed if she didn’t get such a job. And yes, there is in fact such a thing as being underemployed. Surrounding underemployment with quote marks to imply that there’s no such thing (or that only spoiled entitled young people think it exists) doesn’t magically make it go away.</p>
<p>The sticky wicket there is reasonable expectation. What is a reasonable expectation when you have a higher supply of qualified candidates than you have available what they consider good jobs? Fair or unfair, some of these graduates may have to a) lower their expectations for the time being, b) do whatever it’s going to take to put themselves in the even more highly desirable candidate category, c) strike out on their own with a small business (not saying this would be easy or wouldn’t require help), and/or d) figure out if another alternative is available (for example, continuing with their education for now – which for some could possibly be a good option).</p>
<p>I don’t think you can blame it on that, because reading about, gossiping about, and closely following and envying the lives and lifestyles of the rich and famous has been a popular pastime for centuries if not millenia.</p>
<p>the expectation are out of wack with reality,</p>
<p>and they always have been for this generation and part of that is due to the way parents have “babied and nurchured” kids this last 35 years,people who lived in the pre-Reagan era understand all to well what needs to be done to get from one place to the next.</p>
<p>It’s not maybe that some are underemployed but it’s that they think they are because they don’t want to start at a true entry level job. It is amazing the number of young people who are angry to find out that they don’t get vacation time until they’ve been working sometimes as long as a year. Or that they have to work on Christmas eve because they’re the new kid. Or that flip flops are not work attire in an office. Or that they just can’t leave early on Friday because there’s a cool concert…I think it’s the same mentality (I blame reality TV) that makes young couples turn down nice starter homes because they don’t have stainless appliances or makes them throw debt inducing weddings.</p>
<p>Back in the mid 80’s when I graduated college I turned down a job offer because I thought I could do better - and I was right - I had multiple job offers as did all my friends. There was never a doubt in our minds we would get a job. Did anyone ever question my motives -no! ( in reality I thought one did not need a college degree for this job - truth was neither did the one I eventually signed on for but they only hired college graduates-it was all perception )…with the job market being what it is today I think we are more ctitical of those with the attitude of ‘I can do better’. </p>
<p>It seems to me there are far fewer teens working typical teenage jobs - many head straight to college and eventually end up seeking out internships- often unpaid. What happens, sometimes, is kids become accustomed to a certain lifestyle that has been provided and suddently they are out of college and supposed to be working/supporting themselves. The perception for them is the job/pay is beneath their expectations to continue with a certain standard of living they envision for themselves.</p>
<p>Perhaps kids whose parents are paying a $60k COA bill think they should be making at least that much in a year. I remember that my salary for my first job out of college (1980)was $13.5k, which was quite bit more than I had paid for my last year of college. Today, a fair number of students must be looking at salaries that are fractions of what their last year of education cost.</p>
<p>well did those kids who paid 60k have parents who could afford it? if not why did they chose to go to these schools? did they take engineering and comp sci majors or study fine arts and philosophy?</p>
<p>MDMom…I agree. I think there is more of a disconnect between cost, particularly of private schools, and starting salaries. In early 80s I made $10,000 (don’t major in journalism) and that was lower than many of my friends but tuition was about $1700 a year so I definitely “made back” my tuition. I guess you are probably in pretty good shape at in-state schools where you don’t pay more than around $22000 year COA but I’m not sure as many kids are making $50k (one year private college) a year straight out of school as would like to.</p>
<p>I agree that many unemployed 2012 grads have unreasonable expectations as to starting salary. Then again, my unemployed engineer tells me that “entry level” starting salary in his field is $60,000 - $65,000. Yes, but you have nothing dear . . . so apply to that posting offering $35,000 which you very well might not even get . . . or get a job at the mall (or Starbucks, dare I say after the previous posts?) while you are supposedly looking . . . It’s only been a month I keep reminding myself . . .</p>