By, Nils Gollersrud
College graduates are commonly told that all the tuition money and time spent to earn a degree will pay off since it will help guarantee a high-paying job. While a college education is certainly an advantage for finding a job, there’s still significant challenges that college-educated job seekers face in today’s job market.
The lack of required skills and experience is a common reason that young job seekers are discouraged from applying to jobs. It’s also common nowadays to see “entry-level” jobs ask for “2-4 years” of relevant experience. Sometimes this experience can come from internships, volunteer opportunities, or school projects with transferable skills. However, some skills, like using a certain type of software program or project management process, can only be learned on the job. Regardless of where the experience can be gained, this requirement can cause confusion for otherwise qualified candidates who have trouble marketing their transferable skills and can make them feel that they’re not good enough to apply for a job that they’re actually qualified for.
Recent college grads also have limited experience and opportunities with navigating professional relationships and networking. Lots of jobs are not publicly advertised and these roles are usually filled through networking instead of the complete application and interview process many entry-level job seekers go through. It’s hard to get the expertise for networking and build a successful network of well-connected professionals in college, especially since most relationships are among peers of the same age. Professors are typically the best people for students to build networks with, but even then that can be challenging since professional relationships are typically built over the long-term and students only really interact regularly with their professors for a few months at a time and then move on to new classes. Colleges do offer mentorship and networking opportunities through career services, but these are more readily available for business students than students in humanities disciplines.
Even candidates with graduate degrees can face difficulty finding a job. Despite their advanced education and knowledge, it’s hard to demonstrate their skills and expertise if they don’t have the hands-on experience to match. For instance, a candidate with a master’s degree who directly continued school from undergrad may not be seen as compelling a hire as a candidate who only has a bachelor’s degree but has experience from entry-level roles after graduating. Candidates with graduate degrees and limited professional experience may also be seen as “too qualified” because of their education credentials, and could also be passed over for roles with little or no career advancement opportunity.
Links:
https://www.themuse.com/advice/what-to-do-when-entrylevel-positions-need-two-years-of-experience
https://hbr.org/2019/04/the-biggest-hurdles-recent-graduates-face-entering-the-workforce
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/i-have-masters-degree-and-cant-find-job
