Why Sally can’t get a good job with her college degree

[EveryLady]

Originally Posted by mdovell

That article is odd to say the least.

"A look projected job growth shows that good jobs will be hard to find. "

Is this a Chinese fortune cookie? Who proofread this article?

It also cites a federal reserve study that apparently leads to a 404

Excellent observation, for it illustrates the point of the article. In years past, these errors would have been caught by proofreaders who may well have been young English majors employed in their first post-graduate job. Papers all across the country have slashed those types of entry level positions.

Too, the author may well be a free lancer rather than an employed reporter with benefits.

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by Nickchick

It's unfathomable to me how people can just think that moving is going to make everything better. It is important to have a steady income but it is also important to be safe and secure in your residence. Why can't we have both? What happens if you don't get the job?
Moving is an acceptable option if you're the type of person who loves to take risks but some of us can't handle gambling.

Wow: must break the news that those who don't take risks usually end up failing less...but also succeed less. Much, much less. That is absolutely axiomatic to every...single...self-made successful person. You may have to take work in a field you don't have a passion for, yes. I did, initially. And, in a place that may be alien. I pursued my passion a bit later, when I had more resources. Doesn't it follow that getting experience in valuable life-skills and career skills serves its own end?

What "safe and secure in residence?" I lived out of hotels, and in a dump apartment adjacent to the Truckee River in Reno my first year out of college. My first month in Reno, I lived in a motel charging the equivalent of $250/week in today's dollars. Not exactly the Ritz Carlton. Who the hell cares? I was young and entertainment was cheap, that being free screwdrivers at the nickel slot machines at Circus Circus or Silver City Casino downtown.

Playboys and ditzy heiresses can do whatever they want, the rest of us have to go for it on our own skills. My old man politely showed me the door, or more-accurately said exactly nothing to slow me from getting out of his house so I could live under my own rules, less than a month after I'd graduated (about two weeks, actually).

I've fallen flat on my face, career-wise, a couple times when really young. Again, who cares? Each failure was a learning experience. My first employment opportunity in Reno did not work out exactly as planned, but something right behind it worked out fine. What, I was supposed to fold up and whine if the first didn't roll exactly my way? I don't claim any great wisdom at 22, but knew enough not to quit.

I'm not really a gambler, but do have a joie de vivre side and take calculated risks. Usually with a pretty good backup plan. How would anyone do anything like buy a house, propose to a woman (partner, whatever), invest in a stock, or anything else with big payoff (or loss) without being willing to at least try?

I think it "has come to this" even more hard-core for young college grads today. As a Gen X'er, my apologies that the Boomers and some of us X'ers screwed the economy, but there it is. When I parachuted out of Palookaville, a place with near-zero opportunity in my field, I had extremely high odds of success because I had a few business contacts, marketable education, a little intern-based experience, and iron-clad academic references.

Of the above, several availed me naught. I insisted on succeeding anyway. It worked out. There were struggles. They passed.

Make plans. Have backups. Plans will fail. Backups may fail. Regroup. Try again. Study your opponent. Apply learnings from college in how to impress people. Insist on positioning yourself correctly in terms of skills for what employers need. Etc. etc.

[mkpunk]

I found a great post on my tumblr feed about young people with various ideas of their future and the response. Strangly enough, it shares the ideas I've seen on C-D...

The United States of America on college education
Student:I'm not going to go to college because I don't want to go into debt.
USA:YOU USELESS PIECE OF ****. YOU'RE GOING TO AMOUNT TO NOTHING YOU ******* *******. YOU'RE THE REASON WHY MY TAXES ARE SO HIGH.
Student:I'm just going to attend a small community college instead.
USA:HAHAHA YOU WERE TOO STUPID TO GET INTO A GOOD UNIVERSITY. ENJOY YOUR MCDONALD'S DIPLOMA.
Student:I attended a four year university and received a diploma in a field I am interested in. Now I am $50,000+ in debt.
USA:YOU DUMB***. WHY THE **** DID YOU GO TO COLLEGE WHEN YOU KNOW YOU COULDN'T AFFORD IT? YOU DIDN'T EVEN CHOOSE A USEFUL MAJOR EITHER. GOD PEOPLE LIKE YOU MAKE ME SICK.

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

Yes, if there are no jobs where you are, move to where there are jobs. Seems like a no-brainer but people can be afraid of change or are too attached to their family/friends. My most recent hire moved here from Anchorage Alaska, two others moved here from Central Washington.

Moving from Anchorage is a somewhat smart move. While there is about the national average of the unemployment rate, it is a harsh area to live and likely doesn't have the opportunities as other parts of the nation do.

Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life

The truth is that not everyone can or should go to college.

This surplus is no surprise considering the nationwide push for all students to go to college that began in the '90s. Now the presumption is that any job that doesn't require a college degree is not "worthy," which is a shame.

I would agree entirely. Not everyone should but you hear the issue is college, college, college parroted. Yet we don't see college jobs asked for. That or the jobs aren't sexy. When you give a kid 20K loans what do you think they will take between something they are truly interested in and good at with no jobs vs. paying jobs but in a field you are either not interested in or not good at.

Originally Posted by L210

These types of articles tend to focus on the social science and humanities majors. The article referenced the Payscale list of most underemployed majors. What they neglected to mention is that business administration majors are more likely to be underemployed than psychology majors. They are actually the MOST likely to be underemployed. There are WAY more people getting business administration degrees than psychology degrees. Even though criminal justice is becoming very popular with women, there are many men still majoring in it. They also have a higher underemployment rate than those with psychology degrees because many of them go on to become police and correctional officers. The overwhelming majority of these jobs don't require degrees. I've also noticed that a lot of older people are studying criminal justice thinking that they can just walk into a criminal investigation or social work job. The LinkedIn group for criminal justice has nothing but people complaining about not being able to find a job.

These types of articles often ignore majors with the highest unemployment rates for recent graduates such as architecture and information systems. For the science part of STEM, much like psychology and the other social sciences, one often needs a graduate degree to get a good paying job. Biology is also on Payscale's top 10 list of underemployed majors. I really did consider getting a degree in biology or natural science, but noticed that the job opportunities weren't so great in my area. I had more flexibility with my social science degree especially considering that I already have experience in the criminal justice field. The $15 an hour lab jobs were not appealing to me.

I know how hard it is from being a business management major and not finding work. I was unemployed for an entire year and a quarter without finding work out of college. The issue is I saw too many places ask for both experience AND the degree. And this wasn't even with the 50K jobs you hear about my generation, it was UNDER. We are talking about 45K with bonuses TOPS. The fact is I did not have relevant work experience nor a way to earn it.

The other thing is with STEM, there are winners and losers. Most of the winners are actually in the TE, Technology and Engineering. Engineering for instance combines sciences and math together but as majors Math and Science are not as common for success. It often requires a graduate degrees like social sciences (sociology, psychology and social work) to actually make a living, putting the graduate further along in the sea of debt

[Nickchick]

Originally Posted by go-getta-J

Nick.....you're a lot like me. I don't really have much in the way of "passions" or a "muse" either. That's why that advice is useless to people like us. I also don't have a singular laser focus mentality of wanting to be the CEO of a large company by 45, like some Type A ambitious types have.

Subjects like economics and finance do interest me however, not like a burning desire or love for it but a "hey this stuff is kinda neat and I could possibly make a good living from it"

So I am in the process of enrolling in a finance masters program. Hopefully I can leverage that to a decent paying finance/investment/real estate role. I'm optimistic I will eventually end up doing something that stimulates my restless mind while affording me a comfortable lifestyle.

You should try doing an MBTI personality assessment. It helped me better understand and articulate clearly my overall disposition and how I process information and stimuli, and what sort of work would be best suited for my personality type.

Well tbh I can definitely see myself being happy with graphic design which is what I got a degree for but the problem is I just don't see it happening. They always say it's a dead field.
I just can't see many other options that I could handle doing. There's so many obstacles you know. I hate talking on the phone, I'm afraid to drive, I have toothpicks for arms (which sucks because I see a kennel position open recently and I could be happy with that but apparently you have to be able to lift stuff)

Originally Posted by Blondebaerde

Wow: must break the news that those who don't take risks usually end up failing less...but also succeed less. Much, much less. That is absolutely axiomatic to every...single...self-made successful person. You may have to take work in a field you don't have a passion for, yes. I did, initially. And, in a place that may be alien. I pursued my passion a bit later, when I had more resources. Doesn't it follow that getting experience in valuable life-skills and career skills serves its own end?

What "safe and secure in residence?" I lived out of hotels, and in a dump apartment adjacent to the Truckee River in Reno my first year out of college. My first month in Reno, I lived in a motel charging the equivalent of $250/week in today's dollars. Not exactly the Ritz Carlton. Who the hell cares? I was young and entertainment was cheap, that being free screwdrivers at the nickel slot machines at Circus Circus or Silver City Casino downtown.

Playboys and ditzy heiresses can do whatever they want, the rest of us have to go for it on our own skills. My old man politely showed me the door, or more-accurately said exactly nothing to slow me from getting out of his house so I could live under my own rules, less than a month after I'd graduated (about two weeks, actually).

I've fallen flat on my face, career-wise, a couple times when really young. Again, who cares? Each failure was a learning experience. My first employment opportunity in Reno did not work out exactly as planned, but something right behind it worked out fine. What, I was supposed to fold up and whine if the first didn't roll exactly my way? I don't claim any great wisdom at 22, but knew enough not to quit.

I'm not really a gambler, but do have a joie de vivre side and take calculated risks. Usually with a pretty good backup plan. How would anyone do anything like buy a house, propose to a woman (partner, whatever), invest in a stock, or anything else with big payoff (or loss) without being willing to at least try?

I think it "has come to this" even more hard-core for young college grads today. As a Gen X'er, my apologies that the Boomers and some of us X'ers screwed the economy, but there it is. When I parachuted out of Palookaville, a place with near-zero opportunity in my field, I had extremely high odds of success because I had a few business contacts, marketable education, a little intern-based experience, and iron-clad academic references.

Of the above, several availed me naught. I insisted on succeeding anyway. It worked out. There were struggles. They passed.

Make plans. Have backups. Plans will fail. Backups may fail. Regroup. Try again. Study your opponent. Apply learnings from college in how to impress people. Insist on positioning yourself correctly in terms of skills for what employers need. Etc. etc.

I know you have to take risks sometimes but when you're already settled into your home... I may hate my city but I love my complex. I do want to move out someday but only when I get a house and houses are expensive. Also the good cities are the most expensive. It seems cool to live in San Diego but the tax down there is ridiculous.
I had to move residences a lot when I was a teenager.
I don't know. I do need to get a job but it really does feel like a gamble to me. The few times in my life I have taken a risk they've blown up in my face and I still kick myself about them. I know nothing is easy but I don't see how I could do it.