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jobs are very hard to find for recent grads.
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Anonymous
| My DD recently graduated from an Ivy with a degree in Biomedical Engineering with an internship in her junior, and she is still looking for a permanent job. She has been looking for a job since January 2024. She also has twelve friends from HS, five from Ivies, four from UVA, and three from Virginia Tech, which also graduated in 2024. Of those twelve friends, eight are still looking for jobs. Those four that actually have jobs, they get them through family connections. Two have jobs with a government contractor because their father/mother is a fed SES in the government. The other two have jobs because their uncle/aunt is SVP in the company. My DD is very depressed at the moment. I feel so helpless that I am not in a position to help my DD and her friends. |
Anonymous
| 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? |
Anonymous
|
Does she have any contacts at the junior year internship that she could hit up for a referral? Is she on LinkedIn?
I would also recommend registering with a staffing agency and taking any assignment even tangentially related to her field. A lot of jobs are temp to perm so they can try people out before making a commitment. |
Anonymous
| I heard even fresh grads with CS from top 10 CS schools are also having a hard time. |
Anonymous
| Maybe she needs some fresh eyes to review her resume. Has she reached out to her school’s career office and tapped into the local alumni group? Has she tapped into her friends that have found jobs that could help her? |
Anonymous
+1. The school’s career services should be helping with this. They don’t want to have a bunch of unemployed grads either. |
Anonymous
It is a tough year for a lot of graduates. it was for me in the early 1990s, eventually they will get an opportunity, it does work out. I hope the SES employees who had contractors hire their kids are reported to their agency’s IG office. It is not ethical. |
Anonymous
Class of 1990. Top of the class in Liberal Arts College from state flagship in Rust Belt. No job at graduation. I got a paid summer internship at a non-profit through a professor. Looked for a real job from graduation to the following year. Same with many others in my class. There was a stock market bobble and the Persian Gulf War. Had three full-time job offers in May 1991. Two through career center. One through an interview with a college friend of my dad's. Two involved moving to DMV. The stay home one had tough conditions so I decided to move. The Internet makes things at least easier to investigate now. Today I would definitely do a cold e-mail campaign with relevant alums. Through LinkedIn or school portal. |
Anonymous
| Networking is critical in the job search. |
Anonymous
I smell bs on this one. That's not how it works OP. Perhaps they knew of the contracting company to which to apply. But they def didn't "get a job because their parent is an SESer". So it's ALWAYS been hard for grads to get a job. I graduated in 2008. So how many job prospects do u think I had? Lots of my peers created start ups coincidentally! No jobs = you gotta get creative! |
Anonymous
| Has she looked into medical device companies? In my town they are always hiring particularly for entry level positions. |
Anonymous
| How wide is your daughter’s job search geographically? My DD graduated three years ago during the pandemic. She sent out 150 resumes over a 3 month period and followed up on all of her leads. She prepared by researching the companies that offered interviews so that she would be able to demonstrate interest. She used her contacts to review her resume and cover letter. She had a buddy with whom she shared leads and talked daily about what she had done that day to try to find a job. And she was willing to move anywhere in the US for her first job. Within 3 months she had multiple offers and got a great job. |
Anonymous
The job market in '21 was completely different than it is today. in '21, companies were hiring left and right, especially in the tech sector. She has reached out to the university career center, alumni, headhunters, etc... She does this like it is her full-time job, and is willing to relocate. Not much luck, and even the school career center says that it is a very challenging job market environment. |
Anonymous
| 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. |
Anonymous
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. |