What May Be Causing New College Graduates to Struggle to Find Work

The individuals who are currently working part-time or full-time, actively or passively searching for a job, or are presently unemployed make up the labor market. This concept is constantly changing and has its own organizational mechanisms, which are dependent on various internal and external factors. The labor market is also strongly linked to the current economic environment of a country as well as of the world as a whole. People who have been a part of this informal organization for a long time may feel themselves more confident and secure here. However, those, who are just making their first tries, newly graduated students, might find it difficult to succeed. Pianin mentions that the young adult workforce is usually the last to be hired and first to be fired. There are different reasons for it, although their young age, immaturity and lack of experience are the main obstacles that cause college graduates to struggle to find employment.Weissmann in her article included the report of the Economic Policy Institute that stated that roughly 8.5 % of college graduates between the ages of 21 and 24 were unemployed. This figure does not seem to be significant. However, it represents a few hundred thousand or even a couple of millions of young people, who do not have an opportunity to make money for living. On the other hand, the unemployment rates vary depending on the level of education:
The unemployment rate for young adults (ages 20 – 24) was 29.2 percent for those who did not complete high school, 17.5 percent for those whose highest level of education was high school completion, and 12.2 percent for those with some college education, compared with an unemployment rate of 7.0 percent for those with at least a bachelor's degree.
The average unemployment percentage is 16.5, which is not too far from the information provided by Weissmann. But then again, when looking at the country’s population, this number is significant, since it includes a great amount of people without jobs.
One of the main factors that make it difficult for the recent college graduates to find a job is their young age and lack of job experience. Many agree that inadequate preparation for the job market is definitely one of the reasons why students have a hard time finding employment. It is true that employers are more likely and willing to hire an applicant who has some experience in the given area, than a new specialist, who needs to go through training. It is clear that business owners are aimed to increase revenue while having little expenses. Therefore, college students do not fit in reaching this goal. However, from the data provided by the Institute of Education Sciences, the level of education matters. According to this information, at least four times less people are unemployed, who hold at least the lowest degree. It means that the more effort a student puts into his or her education, the higher are the chances to win a competition when applying for a job.
Another obstacle for the recent graduates to find employment is called offshore outsourcing. This is a general name for the process when the production is transferred abroad or overseas, where the labor expense is significantly lower, which allows the companies’ owners to make more money with fewer expenses. Offshore outsourcing may be beneficial for the executives, although, it is certainly bad for the potential domestic employees. Roberts says that employees displaced by foreigners and left unemployed or in a low paid work have a reduced presence in the consumer market. Offshore outsourcing is not good for a country’s economy as well as for the new college graduates. This tendency has slightly decreases over the last couple of years since the expenses on labor overseas slightly increased. Such growth in salaries has become a reason that made the companies’ owner transfer their production back home, where the quality is better. However, even in spite of these minor changes, the recent college students are still facing difficulties when looking for jobs.
Most of the modern production relies on technology. Moreover, some companies take most out of it and, thus, replace their employees with digital workforce. Therefore, such innovations are complicating the recent college graduates’ hiring process. In fact, the employers are benefiting from the use of technologies, which increase the productivity, and the decrease in the number of the mistakes made because of the human factor. Nevertheless, at the same time, such situation makes the employees to get new working skills with the sophisticated software. Such circumstances put the employment competition to a completely new level, since not everyone can afford to get a good education. Therefore, they lose this contest to those, who have a better training or have been working for some time and have obtained a necessary job experience.
Furthermore, there are some not that noticeable but not less important psychological factors. Everyone has a different personality and a different set of feelings and emotions. Therefore, it might be difficult for some of the recent college graduates to dare to take on the responsibilities of a well-paid job position. This fear might be an obstacle for the students to find employment. In addition, college students are humans and, thus, always want the best. However, such finer things do not always occur in adult life, and it is necessary to understand that people need to compromise and to sacrifice. Although, it might be difficult for some young adults to comprehend, who may be naive or expecting too much from the future. However, when the recent college graduates face the situation in the real job market and make their first attempts there, they might get frustrated and lose hope and desire to keep on searching. Students are not preparing themselves for the adult lives. Carapezza and Noe-Payne interviewed Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa who had talked to the graduates about how often they discussed politics or read the news. They found out that thirty-six percent had never done that. It means that about a third of the graduates do not know what to expect as adults and might have some delusions about their future jobs.
Possible Solutions
One of the main things that students need to consider in order to avoid becoming another unemployed or underemployed graduate is the level and quality of their education. Even in spite of the fact that new specialists have fewer chances to get a job than those with some necessary experience, it is usually the case that the better and more profound knowledge make it easier for the recent college graduates to win the employment competition. Therefore, much of what the former students can get depends on themselves and the effort they put.
However, college graduates cannot change the situation on the labor market themselves and, thus, need the help of the government. One of the main obstacles on the way of getting a well-paid job, the offshore outsourcing, should be taken into account by the country’s supreme administration, and they should take measures in order to encourage the entrepreneurs to use the domestic labor instead of moving the production abroad or overseas. In addition, the legislative actions need to be taken in order to protect the working places for the local employees from the invasion of the cheap foreign labor. One of the possible ways to raise this question is through the organization of the students’ meetings and manifestations, showing their concerns about the problem.
Another important step on the way to successful employment needs should be consider during the education period. There should be trainings, seminars, exhibitions on what the labor market looks like. In addition, the specialist can give advices on how to search for a job and go through the interviews. This could be of a great help. However, the most important preparation for students is practice. Universities should sign contracts with the companies to hire students for internships time so they could obtain certain skills and experience. These events need to be organized by the educational institutions; however, the governmental assistance and guidance are necessary to coordinate such activities. Of course, once again, the students need to demonstrate their need for such events and express their concerns about the problems they face searching for a job.
Moreover, parents should participate in the preparation of their children for their future adult lives. It is quite essential so they give their offspring advice on what profession to choose, do the market research with them, and tell their sons and daughters what looking for job looks like. Such support might turn out to be very effective. For instance, such assistance may become a good lesson for current students’ future parenting. More info about it you can find here https://elitewritings.com/.

Recent college graduates have always faced difficulties on their way towards employment. The main problem has always been and still is the adolescence and immaturity of the graduates. Unfortunately, it is impossible to dispose of these obstacles, although some measures can be taken in order to decrease their impact. The government needs to take the problems of the young generation into account, because young adults are an active and functional population layer, which provides a lot for the national budget. However, the students and young people in general, need to demonstrate the difficulties they are facing through legal actions.
It is important for the students to get not only practical experience, but also to prepare themselves psychologically. The period of time right after the graduation is a very tough and requires much effort to get used to the radical changes as well as to take on the new responsibilities. Recent college graduates need to be able to go through these hard times in order to succeed.
A successful employment of recent college students depends on many factors. However, it is important to remember that much of the success rest on the students themselves, as well as on the assistance of the educational institutions and the government.

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