I was sitting at a table today and two of the other people there were old friends who had not seen each other for several years.
They were talking about people they had known who had recently graduated from college. Many of them are struggling to find jobs in their field and are working in retail.
Two common threads emerged. Many of the people who were not able to find jobs had never worked at a fast-food restaurant or any other for-pay job before they graduated.
The other common thread was that some of them had worked "internships" and had been offered a job where they interned. They were SURE they could do much better on the open market and turned down the job. What they hadn't counted on was how prospective employers looked at a worker who had been rejected by the company where he/she interned. They generally assumed that the company had not offer him/her a job and that he/she was damaged goods or a shirt-stirrer. One of the people they discussed had applied to 97 different positions after refusing to work for the company she had interned with and received zero replies.
In the for-what-it-is-worth department, a student who has interned has an enormous leg-up on the learning-curve regarding the software packages and processes used by the firm and the people. She is more valuable to them than she, as a total newbie, will be to some other firm that likely uses different software and processes.
With regards to being able to pay one's rent: The average wages for retail sales and fast-food is about $16.50/hour. The average wages of a production worker in a factory is about $30/hour. The average wages in construction is $35/hr. I don't see any advantages of working in retail over production work in a factory, even if you are a college graduate and looking for a job in your "Field".
I know that I am basing that on a very small sample size, but you guys worry about me if I don't post something every day.
Hey Joe, what’s going on with those college folks down in Texas? Are the legal proceedings grinding along?
ReplyDeleteYou right on the money regarding internships as well as the inflated view a lot of young folks have about their marketability. It’s amazing to hear some of my son’s friends opining about how much they expect to make. My son is working in a union shop making $33/hr while grinding away at his electrical engineering degree, I have a feeling that he’ll be just fine.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a very long time but I had a masters in EE and 3 years experience before I made the same money I made working the line for Chevrolet in Warren MI. Of course the working conditions were better as an EE.
DeleteMy niece interned on a job with no pay. I advised against it. She did it anyway and when she finished her term, she was let go. There is an endless supply of naïve college kids who will work for nothing. Basically free labor for the corp.
ReplyDelete$35 per hour in the trades? That's assuming years of experience and the ability to lead a crew. Monkey with some tools? Lucky if you find 20-25/hr.
ReplyDeleteThat depends a lot on where you are.
DeleteOut here, the demand for workers who can pass a drug test and show up on time is so high there are widely advertised jobs requiring no experience for $24+ an hour.
Jonathan
ERJ, we hire a contingent of relatively recent college graduates and individuals from a two year technical degree. At least in this example, there is not a person that I would say is not a hard worker and willing to learn.
ReplyDeleteFor me at least, one of the great struggles has always been not necessarily working in the field I studied in (that was never going to happen), but working in a job that was my calling. Turns out the career I am in may actually be my calling (as such); I just never looked at it the way I should.
I send out 97 applications in the average week, and have done so for at least 150 weeks. I averaged one response per MONTH, until this past week, when I got 5 responses in one day. Oddly, it was Tuesday, 1 April, but I've gotten follow up emails from them all. Might not have been a prank after all.
ReplyDeleteI find it helps to tune your resume to each position and be realistic about your qualifications.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was looking 3 years ago, I applied to 8 jobs and had two interviews. I also moved 2200 miles (which they paid for). I have moved for every job I've had, and each has been in very different engineering disciplines.
Jonathan
"Many of the people who were not able to find jobs had never worked ... any ... for-pay job before they graduated."
ReplyDeleteI realise that you've said this so that someone will come along and bluster "But in my day ..." I am that man.
At 15 I was employed as a casual labourer around our harbour during the school summer holidays. I saved the loot and eventually bought a motorbike. Personal transport made many more jobs accessible.
Moreover, working with adults is a good thing of itself for teenagers
"...working with adults..." is a big deal. Even in our day, a lot of kids were "compartmentalized" and had few interactions with adults. It is even worse, now. Some people feel threatened if you insist on face-to-face interactions. "Just text me!"
DeleteI don't know how to DEMONSTRATE how a job should be done by texting.
My response to such a scenario would be to shake the dust from my shoes. If later they asked why I gave up on them, I'd reply that they gave up on themselves.
DeleteBy attempting to dictate the terms, they cut themselves from valuable learning.
In my youth I mostly enjoyed working with older men. Mostly because there were a few who were out and out jerks. But they were few.
I learned a lot and as if at an accelerated pace. Learn from others has been a motto for a long time. Especially from their mistakes.
In having said that, I now remember what made the difference between me and many of my age.
DeleteTo learn is the goal. To acquire knowledge. Seek knowledge. There is at least one lesson in even the most menial situation. Watch and learn.
I don't know how rare it is to have that insatiable desire for knowledge, but it does seem rare.
I have very little insight on this, just 2nd hand info from others. When I was working, about 10 yrs ago, a young man in my office told me most of his friends would not work factory jobs or fast food types, because ‘they were better than that’. They all wanted high-paying office work. As I recall, a lot them were also ‘unable’ to find jobs. After all, they went to college - they simply could not stock shelves or something.
ReplyDeleteSouthern NH
The company I retired from tended to hire veterans, I can only think of one case were it didn't work out. They hired a homeschooled college student to work part time. I am sure she will get a job offer. The common thread is these folks can work unsupervised, show up on time and appreciate that a bonus will becoming if we all work together.
ReplyDeleteI can give you the other side of that intern job. My friend's daughter took an internship with Marathon Oil in 2018, she was invited to come to work for them in 2019, and took it. Today, she is working in NOLA, making low 6 figures, and is being 'groomed' to move up to management in the refinery there, because she was willing to listen to those underneath her and LEARNED.
ReplyDelete