Econintersect: A study reported in the fourth quarter of 2012 found that many students are not doing the things that could help them find jobs upon graduation from college. The study, conducted by Millennial Branding and StudentAdvisor.com, found that only only 1/3 have a presence on LinkedIn, a primary online mechanism for connecting to internship opportunities, and only 11% have a presence on WordPress, a major home for blogs.
An objective revealed by the student survey is to have three or more internships prior to receiving a bachelor’s degree. Yet only 40% have at least one internship. A full 85% believe an internship is either important or very important.
One of the most valued resources for students is having one or more mentors. The survey found that 70% say they have at least one mentor. From the survey summary at Millennial Branding:
37 percent say their parent is their mentor, 28 percent say their professor, 21 percent say their family or friend, 17 percent say their current or former employer and a mere 1 percent say someone they’ve found in an online networking group. Out of those mentored by their parents, 32 percent say that they provide good advice about job-seeking or career-advancement, 13 percent say that they know something about their field so they can give professional advice and 11 percent say that they went to college so that they can advise them on being a student. Only 10 percent have found a professional mentor through social networking.
Gene Marks, writing in Forbes, does not entirely agree with the conclusions drawn from the Millennial Branding/StudentAdvisor.com survey. Marks says:
Wouldn’t it be great if they could spend four years studying the arts instead of preparing for a job at Price Waterhouse Coopers? But that’s not reality in the United States. The reality is that today’s colleges are all about getting a job after college. Forget about lifeguarding down the shore after your junior year. Darn it…you’re almost twenty years old! I realize that you’re not even legal yet to buy a beer, but it’s time to get serious! You must have an internship! You must network! You need to begin marketing yourself now, now, now!
Marks says he believes that many employers do not spend much time looking for college graduate employees on social media and professional networking sites. He says that two things rank much higher than the “career development” activities which were the focus of the study: Grades and reliability. Employers want to hire college grads who have mastered the academic basics of their chosen profession and have demonstrated they can be relied upon by demonstrating good attendance for example. Having an internship is good for reinforcing those characteristics but do not replace the actual performance in college.
A review article at MSN Careers presented a summary of the expectations of the students:
- 41 percent say they are interested in following the employee career path.
- 34 percent are interested in going straight to graduate school.
- 15 percent want to be entrepreneurs.
- 8 percent want to be consultants.
- Fewer than 2 percent want to remain dependent on their parents indefinitely.
The MSN Careers article also pointed out that only 29% of students have sought out career and job help from career services at their university.
The importance of fundamentals in education and preparation for dealing with the real world was the topic of a recent GEI Op Ed.
Sources:
- Millennial Branding and StudentAdvisor.com Release New Study on Student Career Development (Millennial Branding, 12 November 2012)
- Prospective Employees: Your Job In College Is Not To Get A Job (Gene Marks, Forbes, 12 November 2012)
- Are college students setting themselves up for future job failure? (Mary Lorenz, MSN Careers, not dated)
- Education: A Rotten Foundation for a Crumbling Life (John Lounsbury, GEI Opinion, 19 January 2013)
