jobs are very hard to find for recent grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the notion of graduating and then looking for a job. Are these kids really just applying to random jobs with no specific plan??

I spent all four years of undergrad networking, interning, volunteering and strategizing so I'd have a job post-graduation. I knew I couldn't live at home again (mentally unstable parents) so I got off my tush and worked it. I did something to build my career options every summer and every semester of college. I had plans A, B, C and D, with sub options in the wings. My resume was highly tuned and demonstrated specialization in several highly desirable skills and I had recommendations from several folks who were well respected in their industries. I received several job offers by January of senior year. Waiting until graduation or close to graduation to find a job is stupid IMO.

Same! After several internships, I had my job lined up early in my senior year. I felt pressure to leave school with a job. My parents sacrificed for my education, and there was no way I was going to ask them for more financial support after paying for four years of an expensive private education. I have no empathy for the kids who start looking for employment after graduation. It screems of codependency.

A lot of these upper middle class kids never have had any type of job. The same parents who pay $60k a year for school are the type who don't make their kids work in high school or college because they don't need the money. Working in high school and/or college is not just about the money but also about learning people skills and how to get along in the professional world. A lot of this is on the parents.

[Anonymous]

Penn State engineering grad, spring 2024. Job in hand in Maryland prior to graduation. No connections to firm. Hard working smart kid. Had 1 internship (different place) and worked in restaurants other summers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister, the Wharton grad, was selling bikes at a bike shop in center city Philly as she could not get a job. Most Wharton grads move to NYC to work and my sister did not want to do that. My Dad got disgusted and made her talk to the military recruiters.

She went into OCS. She was not planning on joining the military. She did have a good career.

The academy grads are fast tracked but Ivy grads in the military do well. She worked throughout Europe and spent a lot of time in countries that were former Soviet bloc countries that want to join NATO.

Who goes to Wharton and works in a bike shop because you don’t want to go to NYC?

As a parent, I guess I might make my kid join the military too. This is like my kid wanting to work in politics but refusing to move to DC.

Family friend’s son graduated Yale a few years back and going into military as an officer. I think his mom wants him to be a senator one day and I think he might be.

Again, a decent number of Ivy grads purposely go into the military. A decent number of 18-year-olds with few career prospects and few $$$s for college, join the military because that's a job available to them.

Very few Ivy grads join the military (who had absolutely no interest in joining the military) because they can't get a job. That's the point.

I think *you* are missing the point entirely. You’re claiming something as fact for which you have no data point - other than you’ve never heard of it.

Sure, they could get A job. No one has claimed they can’t find any job. But why are you so against the idea that maybe it is the best option they have wt the time? That they accepted it was better than waiting tables because it’s a job in their field? Many people on this thread are claiming their kids cannot find a job in their field at all, so maybe it was that binary of a choice.

Does it threaten your sense of superiority that an Ivy grad could, as a last resort, go into the same military as “18 year olds with few career prospects”? I have literally no dog in this fight; I just think it’s odd you are so adamant this cannot be possible.

You certainly seem like you have a dog in this fight or you wouldn't get so worked up.

Around 1% of Ivy grads go into the military...period. So, how many of that 1% go into the military because they can't find a job? We won't ever know the answer, but do you think it's many?

Come back with some stats to support your position. Even on this thread, not a single person has indicated their kid is considering the military.

[Anonymous]

I remember being put down as a mom when my kids were in high school cause we didn’t drink the cool aid. We let our kids fail and choose a college that they wanted, which were neither ivy or top 10. We encouraged our kids to have jobs as high schoolers, so that they could find a path to college internships. We now have kids who all have good job and don’t live at home. And I hear the stories of my kids friends, who’s parent drank the cool aid and are not successful, and it is quite a few. And I am grateful we took the path we did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Connections count for more than an Ivy brand. That is just life. I excelled at schools that you would deem inferior, but immediately kicked a$$ in the real world. Also in STEM, I focused on nurturing connections in my field. My family couldn’t help me. Why didn’t your DD make adequate connections through her internship?[/quote]

Why do you feel the need to attack op's dd? Perhaps she did the best she could.

[Anonymous]

Biomedical engineering is a degree that usually requires a masters to get a good job. Surely you know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Biomedical engineering is a degree that usually requires a masters to get a good job. Surely you know that.

Does the DD not know it? Surely professors, advisors, her summer employer, fellow students... mentioned it at some point

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going through the same thing here. The current job market is terrible for new grads. Hundreds of applicants for positions everywhere, many of them "ghost" jobs anyway. Entry level positions require years of experience. Career center and connections only advise to keep trying. Depressing and demoralizing.

I understand, but they need to get a job waiting tables at night and otherwise hustling to support themselves until something comes through. I'm watching my friend's retirement plans start to erode. She stretched to send her kid to an Ivy, and now the kid is several months post-grad with no job and asking my friend to cover living expenses. Instead of applying for jobs a senior year, the kid was off-traveling in a study abroad program. She vents to me, and I am getting angry on her behalf, suggesting she give the kid another month and then cut the cord.

if my kid had no job, she would be living with me. i am not funding another place for her to live!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Biomedical engineering is a degree that usually requires a masters to get a good job. Surely you know that.

I am perpetually shocked at how little research kids and parents do concerning their fields of study, even kids going to top schools. For whatever reason, neuroscience seems to be a trendy major...yet if you ask a parent what their kid will do with a neuroscience degree, they are stumped (I still don't know the career path).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dunno. Im hiring stem grads and cant find many qualified. 3.5 and up GPA, good class experience and willing to work in person every day. And this is for $80k and up.

80K is a paltry salary for an engineering grad.

[Anonymous]

I am curious if people responsible for hiring have a negative bias against kids who don't have a job lined up by graduation. If I get a resume from a kid who graduated three or six months ago, my first thought is the kid lacks initiative. Why didn't they apply for jobs during their senior year or even the summer of their junior year? If their resume is impressive enough to warrant an interview, perhaps I'll learn that they took a 6-month senior trip to backpack around Europe after a grueling 4-year degree, which sounds fun, but it still doesn't signal a great work ethic or hustle. I could get over it for a kid with a 4.0 and excellent references, but if the references are that great, why didn't they get an offer at their previous internship? Why weren't they strategic about picking an internship that would lead to their desired job? These aren't insurmountable objections, but I'd have biases when looking at a resume from a kid who has been out of college for a while with no real job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am curious if people responsible for hiring have a negative bias against kids who don't have a job lined up by graduation. If I get a resume from a kid who graduated three or six months ago, my first thought is the kid lacks initiative. Why didn't they apply for jobs during their senior year or even the summer of their junior year? If their resume is impressive enough to warrant an interview, perhaps I'll learn that they took a 6-month senior trip to backpack around Europe after a grueling 4-year degree, which sounds fun, but it still doesn't signal a great work ethic or hustle. I could get over it for a kid with a 4.0 and excellent references, but if the references are that great, why didn't they get an offer at their previous internship? Why weren't they strategic about picking an internship that would lead to their desired job? These aren't insurmountable objections, but I'd have biases when looking at a resume from a kid who has been out of college for a while with no real job.

I couldn't care less about a 4.0...I want good grades, but I don't give any preference for a 4.0 kid. The reason the kid doesn't have a job is probably because they placed way too much emphasis on a 4.0 vs. focusing on good internships and getting a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Biomedical engineering is a degree that usually requires a masters to get a good job. Surely you know that.

A friend's kid was told that so he got a masters, still didn't get any offers so acquired tech skills and certifications, now working at an entry level, low salary job at a small automobile software company.

[Anonymous]

It’s the personality too. My brother went to a better school than me and had to move home and work delivery jobs, finally went back to school for specialized training around 25. He was not supporting himself until 27 or so.
I finished early, had internships (hired by one after BA), then paid for my own in state masters. I have been fortunate to work continuously since I was 21 and had multiple offers from masters level internships also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is America obsessed with graduating from a "brand" name college?

Because for a recent grad, it helps you pass through initial screening, for jobs, grad schools, social situations etc.