Tough Job Market Even Tougher When Graduates Are Unprepared

The past couple of years represent two of the toughest years to enter the job market in recent history. Sadly, the task of landing a job has been made all the more difficult by an ill-prepared group of graduates.

Researchers at York College in Pennsylvania recently released a study indicating that many college grads are unprepared for the demands of the workplace. It seems that while acquiring that diploma, too few individuals have learned the meaning of professionalism.

The Pennsylvania researchers asked hundreds of business leaders and human resource managers across the country about the set of qualities they would like to see in new college graduates. Those surveyed consistently mentioned three basic traits as being important:

• the ability to communicate and listen respectfully
• the motivation to finish a task
• attention to appearance

Of the three, only the second carries with it some academic connotations. Yet, those business experts responding questioned the professionalism of recent college graduates, indicating that all three of these basic skills tended to be lacking.

Perhaps worse yet, the one area where recent graduates tended to stand out was their collective sense of entitlement. Whether it be paid time off or the rate at which they might be promoted, recent grads did not seem to grasp that the tough job market demanded more humility.

The Ability to Transition

Certainly, one of the key elements for new grads to take the next steps in their lives centers upon their ability to transition from the academic world to the world of work. While you may be a multiple dean’s lister and possess a kick-ass degree, neither ensures a smooth transition to the demands of the work world.

In fact, while those attributes can help you earn that all important first interview, a lack of basic professional skills becomes immediately evident to skilled human resource officers during the interview process. Graduates without solid communication skills are quickly exposed during the formal questioning period. Sometimes it is the failure to listen to the actual question. At other times it is the failure to clearly articulate an answer.

As for the sense of entitlement, that too comes through during the interview process. Too many applicants ask questions about salary and time off. Others in turn offer a message “that it is all about them” by failing to do basic homework of familiarizing themselves with the company they applied to work for.

Maturation Process

There is no doubt college helps every student, at least to some extent, with the maturation process. For many college is the first chance for students to be on their own without mom or dad riding them hard about what they should be doing.

But too few college students focus simply on the academic side. Yes they attend classes and study for tests and yes they demonstrate academic drive as they work towards earning that coveted diploma.

However, college campuses are filled with opportunities to work on all pertinent skills. From participating in a variety of clubs to working on campus, college offers many learning opportunities above and beyond those simply related to the classroom.

It is while participating in clubs or working at menial tasks that we learn how to communicate with groups of people beyond our circle of friends. In such settings we also learn the importance of completing tasks, no matter how mundane.

And in such settings, we learn that the world moves forward based on the hard work of many. In other words, it is imperative that college students step outside their world into the larger world around them. It is in such settings that students round out their skills and even begin to put some of the important things they have learned into practice.

Continued Tough Employment

There are few indications that the tough job market will end any time soon. Given such, underclassmen have fair warning as to what they can expect next May.

Those interested in transitioning from college to the world of work have been given a wake up call. To be one of the lucky ones, start today working on your communication skills. Begin to dress and groom for success.

And while it is imperative to keep after your studies, it is also a given that you must seek opportunities to contribute to a club, volunteer for meaningful service or work on, or off campus. Such steps will go a long way towards helping you develop the relevant professional skills employers seek.

Leave a comment