Terrible job market for recent grads

[Anonymous]

my Son IL graduated with a MS in comp sci in May 2023. Took him 8 months to find a job, that started in Feb 2024...which he just lost as that was with the feds. He took that fed job cuz my DD has been doing a clerkship in DC.

He's actually happy as he didn't want to work with the gov to begin with and now he is looking elsewhere. Texas may be where he and my DD are heading now. But working in the DMV was never on his radar until he met my DD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

Tell him to seriously consider applying to DOGE. I’m being genuine. I don’t think joining would make him a sellout. A lot of the people in their 20s joining projects like that probably aren’t doing it out of conviction—they’re doing it because they’re struggling to find a traditional job. Some may be socially awkward or neurodivergent and find it hard to thrive in conventional work environments. DOGE as an idea may not be ideal, but given his skills—especially in coding and machine learning—it could be a place where he puts them to good use. He doesn’t need to act like some 20-something with an inflated ego. If he approaches it with maturity, he could actually gain a lot from the experience.
And he can always frame it honestly down the line: the job market was brutal, he didn’t want to sit idle, and he chose to stay sharp and productive. For what it’s worth, I’m 100% not a Trumper, and if he explained that rationale in an interview and came across well, I would absolutely hire him.

Horrible advice. I'd never even bring in someone with DOGE on their resume for an interview, no matter their "rationale" and I suspect I'm not alone. It's the Liberty University equivalent for education on your resume. Unless you are deeply committed to a right wing career or looking at jobs where employers have few options, it's toxic. I'm a hiring manager and get 500+ resumes for every position and I would bin this so fast. Heck, I refused leave the private sector to go back to govt in a high level non political position because I didn't like the optics of taking something under Trump, the optics of going to DOGE are just atrocious long term.

I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that DOGE on your resume would get you an offer at META, Google, Palantir, X, Tesla, Andreessen Horowitz (VC firm), Uber, Pershing Square Capital (Bill Ackman's hedge fund), tons of VCs in Silicon Valley, Salesforce, Mark Cuban companies, Amazon Web Services ... sigh, you want me to continue, or can I stop now please? Those just rolled off of the top of my head.

But yes, if your goal is to work for IRS ... perhaps you don't want a DOGE job on your resume. It depends on what OP's son is aiming for in life.

Or any no one has ever heard of business in middle of Arkansas / Texas.

[Anonymous]

Parents and Mentors should learn more about what has been happening in US tech industry. Business claimed the H1B was expanded to address a skills shortage, and yet how can we have a skills shortage for 35 years? and how can we have a skills shortage when hundreds of thousands of IT workers are getting fired and replaced?

Graduating seniors who were told they should study technology fields, such as computers, are receiving a nasty surprise as they discover the jobs simply are not out there and that they face competition from foreign workers admitted under a variety of immigration programs, most conspicuously, the notorious H-1B visa program.

The very purpose of the H-1B visa is to replace American workers with cheap, foreign labor. No other description of H-1B fits what Congress has actually enacted. In theory, the H-1B program requires employers to pay the foreign workers at least the prevailing wage for the occupation and location, but in practice, the lobbyist-written H-1B statutes allow the employer to determine the prevailing wage.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/patriotism-unity/3404127/h-1b-visas-are-hurting-american-students/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

Tell him to seriously consider applying to DOGE. I’m being genuine. I don’t think joining would make him a sellout. A lot of the people in their 20s joining projects like that probably aren’t doing it out of conviction—they’re doing it because they’re struggling to find a traditional job. Some may be socially awkward or neurodivergent and find it hard to thrive in conventional work environments. DOGE as an idea may not be ideal, but given his skills—especially in coding and machine learning—it could be a place where he puts them to good use. He doesn’t need to act like some 20-something with an inflated ego. If he approaches it with maturity, he could actually gain a lot from the experience.
And he can always frame it honestly down the line: the job market was brutal, he didn’t want to sit idle, and he chose to stay sharp and productive. For what it’s worth, I’m 100% not a Trumper, and if he explained that rationale in an interview and came across well, I would absolutely hire him.

Horrible advice. I'd never even bring in someone with DOGE on their resume for an interview, no matter their "rationale" and I suspect I'm not alone. It's the Liberty University equivalent for education on your resume. Unless you are deeply committed to a right wing career or looking at jobs where employers have few options, it's toxic. I'm a hiring manager and get 500+ resumes for every position and I would bin this so fast. Heck, I refused leave the private sector to go back to govt in a high level non political position because I didn't like the optics of taking something under Trump, the optics of going to DOGE are just atrocious long term.

I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that DOGE on your resume would get you an offer at META, Google, Palantir, X, Tesla, Andreessen Horowitz (VC firm), Uber, Pershing Square Capital (Bill Ackman's hedge fund), tons of VCs in Silicon Valley, Salesforce, Mark Cuban companies, Amazon Web Services ... sigh, you want me to continue, or can I stop now please? Those just rolled off of the top of my head.

But yes, if your goal is to work for IRS ... perhaps you don't want a DOGE job on your resume. It depends on what OP's son is aiming for in life.

I mean, maybe you're right? I've only been a hiring manager for Meta, Google, and AWS so I can't speak to the rest, but yeah for me, straight to the trash.

Sure you have ...

Don't know what to tell you. You go one level down from C suite and all of these places are pretty liberal. And have tons of options before turning to DOGE boys.

This. Doge is very polarizing. Guess what? Zuckerberg ain’t doing the hiring at Meta.

[Anonymous]

How about this opportunity? (no relation to this myself)
https://www.opportunitiescircle.com/cern-short-term-internship-in-switzerland/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents and Mentors should learn more about what has been happening in US tech industry. Business claimed the H1B was expanded to address a skills shortage, and yet how can we have a skills shortage for 35 years? and how can we have a skills shortage when hundreds of thousands of IT workers are getting fired and replaced?

Graduating seniors who were told they should study technology fields, such as computers, are receiving a nasty surprise as they discover the jobs simply are not out there and that they face competition from foreign workers admitted under a variety of immigration programs, most conspicuously, the notorious H-1B visa program.

The very purpose of the H-1B visa is to replace American workers with cheap, foreign labor. No other description of H-1B fits what Congress has actually enacted. In theory, the H-1B program requires employers to pay the foreign workers at least the prevailing wage for the occupation and location, but in practice, the lobbyist-written H-1B statutes allow the employer to determine the prevailing wage.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/patriotism-unity/3404127/h-1b-visas-are-hurting-american-students/

H-1B needs major reform, the first being getting rid of the 'indenture' requirement. If you let someone on H-1B job hop freely, the market will reset itself. At the same time, why would a company sponsor an H-1B unless they are confident that they are paying top dollar and that the person is likely to stay?

Getting rid of H-1B will just accelerate the complete offshoring of high paying jobs. Companies will work the congressional backdoor and make that happen - Trump or no Trump. At least an H-1B employee contributes to the local economy.

[Anonymous]

My son graduated with a degree in EE and luckily he got a job a couple of months before graduation. He did an internship every summer since his sophomore year. To be honest he just got lucky. I don't think he is more special than your son just luckier. Good luck to your son

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

Tell him to seriously consider applying to DOGE. I’m being genuine. I don’t think joining would make him a sellout. A lot of the people in their 20s joining projects like that probably aren’t doing it out of conviction—they’re doing it because they’re struggling to find a traditional job. Some may be socially awkward or neurodivergent and find it hard to thrive in conventional work environments. DOGE as an idea may not be ideal, but given his skills—especially in coding and machine learning—it could be a place where he puts them to good use. He doesn’t need to act like some 20-something with an inflated ego. If he approaches it with maturity, he could actually gain a lot from the experience.
And he can always frame it honestly down the line: the job market was brutal, he didn’t want to sit idle, and he chose to stay sharp and productive. For what it’s worth, I’m 100% not a Trumper, and if he explained that rationale in an interview and came across well, I would absolutely hire him.

Horrible advice. I'd never even bring in someone with DOGE on their resume for an interview, no matter their "rationale" and I suspect I'm not alone. It's the Liberty University equivalent for education on your resume. Unless you are deeply committed to a right wing career or looking at jobs where employers have few options, it's toxic. I'm a hiring manager and get 500+ resumes for every position and I would bin this so fast. Heck, I refused leave the private sector to go back to govt in a high level non political position because I didn't like the optics of taking something under Trump, the optics of going to DOGE are just atrocious long term.

I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that DOGE on your resume would get you an offer at META, Google, Palantir, X, Tesla, Andreessen Horowitz (VC firm), Uber, Pershing Square Capital (Bill Ackman's hedge fund), tons of VCs in Silicon Valley, Salesforce, Mark Cuban companies, Amazon Web Services ... sigh, you want me to continue, or can I stop now please? Those just rolled off of the top of my head.

But yes, if your goal is to work for IRS ... perhaps you don't want a DOGE job on your resume. It depends on what OP's son is aiming for in life.

I mean, maybe you're right? I've only been a hiring manager for Meta, Google, and AWS so I can't speak to the rest, but yeah for me, straight to the trash.

Sure you have ...

Don't know what to tell you. You go one level down from C suite and all of these places are pretty liberal. And have tons of options before turning to DOGE boys.

This. Doge is very polarizing. Guess what? Zuckerberg ain’t doing the hiring at Meta.

No but META is looking for the same profile graduate—someone who is fluid with LLM and data-currently if you’re a grad struggling to get a job and you have the skills to these two types of work, DOGE is a very good training ground and the tech hiring managers know this. It’s different if you’re not in tech. I think the poster was clear that DOGE isn’t a place to put on your resume for comms or some of the softer skills jobs. It’s really relevant for grads wishing to gain skills in working with massive data and LLM.

[Anonymous]

I’m the posted who recommended DOGE. If the OP is still looking to make a recommendation to their son, here’s a good read.

https://www.wired.com/story/doge-application-interview-process/

[Anonymous]

I would be appalled if either of my sons applied to DOGE. Those DOGE boys are everything wrong with America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents and Mentors should learn more about what has been happening in US tech industry. Business claimed the H1B was expanded to address a skills shortage, and yet how can we have a skills shortage for 35 years? and how can we have a skills shortage when hundreds of thousands of IT workers are getting fired and replaced?

Graduating seniors who were told they should study technology fields, such as computers, are receiving a nasty surprise as they discover the jobs simply are not out there and that they face competition from foreign workers admitted under a variety of immigration programs, most conspicuously, the notorious H-1B visa program.

The very purpose of the H-1B visa is to replace American workers with cheap, foreign labor. No other description of H-1B fits what Congress has actually enacted. In theory, the H-1B program requires employers to pay the foreign workers at least the prevailing wage for the occupation and location, but in practice, the lobbyist-written H-1B statutes allow the employer to determine the prevailing wage.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/patriotism-unity/3404127/h-1b-visas-are-hurting-american-students/

Then why do Musk and Trump love H1s?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents and Mentors should learn more about what has been happening in US tech industry. Business claimed the H1B was expanded to address a skills shortage, and yet how can we have a skills shortage for 35 years? and how can we have a skills shortage when hundreds of thousands of IT workers are getting fired and replaced?

Graduating seniors who were told they should study technology fields, such as computers, are receiving a nasty surprise as they discover the jobs simply are not out there and that they face competition from foreign workers admitted under a variety of immigration programs, most conspicuously, the notorious H-1B visa program.

The very purpose of the H-1B visa is to replace American workers with cheap, foreign labor. No other description of H-1B fits what Congress has actually enacted. In theory, the H-1B program requires employers to pay the foreign workers at least the prevailing wage for the occupation and location, but in practice, the lobbyist-written H-1B statutes allow the employer to determine the prevailing wage.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/patriotism-unity/3404127/h-1b-visas-are-hurting-american-students/

H-1B needs major reform, the first being getting rid of the 'indenture' requirement. If you let someone on H-1B job hop freely, the market will reset itself. At the same time, why would a company sponsor an H-1B unless they are confident that they are paying top dollar and that the person is likely to stay?

Getting rid of H-1B will just accelerate the complete offshoring of high paying jobs. Companies will work the congressional backdoor and make that happen - Trump or no Trump. At least an H-1B employee contributes to the local economy.

This is what happens. The US doesn't train enough citizens to be really, really strong in tech. Over the years, there have been variations in the # of H1Bs awarded, and in years where there are fewer H1Bs you see US-based companies expanding their hiring of personnel outside of the US (statistically significant differences). For a while, a lot of these jobs were moved to Vancouver because it's so close to Seattle and because the Canadian government was more pro-immigration. Now, it's becoming easier to spread work to distant locations, so US firms might simply be expanding their hiring in India or elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be appalled if either of my sons applied to DOGE. Those DOGE boys are everything wrong with America.

Efficiency sucks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS graduated early from Virginia Tech with a computer engineering degree in December 2024, and has been looking a FT position since August 2024. He did internships in his sophomore and junior year. He applied over 1100 positions, received 14 interviews, and two offers. Those two offers were rescinded due to budget cut, and feels so depressed at the moment. Many of his friends who will graduate this week are still jobless who also have multiple internships. I really feel bad for them.

Tell him to seriously consider applying to DOGE. I’m being genuine. I don’t think joining would make him a sellout. A lot of the people in their 20s joining projects like that probably aren’t doing it out of conviction—they’re doing it because they’re struggling to find a traditional job. Some may be socially awkward or neurodivergent and find it hard to thrive in conventional work environments. DOGE as an idea may not be ideal, but given his skills—especially in coding and machine learning—it could be a place where he puts them to good use. He doesn’t need to act like some 20-something with an inflated ego. If he approaches it with maturity, he could actually gain a lot from the experience.
And he can always frame it honestly down the line: the job market was brutal, he didn’t want to sit idle, and he chose to stay sharp and productive. For what it’s worth, I’m 100% not a Trumper, and if he explained that rationale in an interview and came across well, I would absolutely hire him.

Horrible advice. I'd never even bring in someone with DOGE on their resume for an interview, no matter their "rationale" and I suspect I'm not alone. It's the Liberty University equivalent for education on your resume. Unless you are deeply committed to a right wing career or looking at jobs where employers have few options, it's toxic. I'm a hiring manager and get 500+ resumes for every position and I would bin this so fast. Heck, I refused leave the private sector to go back to govt in a high level non political position because I didn't like the optics of taking something under Trump, the optics of going to DOGE are just atrocious long term.

I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that DOGE on your resume would get you an offer at META, Google, Palantir, X, Tesla, Andreessen Horowitz (VC firm), Uber, Pershing Square Capital (Bill Ackman's hedge fund), tons of VCs in Silicon Valley, Salesforce, Mark Cuban companies, Amazon Web Services ... sigh, you want me to continue, or can I stop now please? Those just rolled off of the top of my head.

But yes, if your goal is to work for IRS ... perhaps you don't want a DOGE job on your resume. It depends on what OP's son is aiming for in life.

I mean, maybe you're right? I've only been a hiring manager for Meta, Google, and AWS so I can't speak to the rest, but yeah for me, straight to the trash.

Sure you were.

[Anonymous]

DOGE has acted unethically and is taking actions that objectively decrease efficiency and waste long-standing in human resources.