A recently conducted study has shown that a majority of college students, about 79% of them actually don’t adequately prepare themselves for the job market since they didn’t have the prerequisite skills to ensure that they would be shoe-ins in the 9-5 world. Of these numbers, about 57% of the respondents shared that they attended unpaid internships. The stat keep getting bleak since about 76% of the respondents did not get a job offer given their limited experience and resources.
A number of reasons were highlighted as to why college students were performing dismally. The research conducted by Millennial Branding in conjunction with AfterCollege were able to come to terms with the fact that:
Students Didn’t Bother to Aggressively Apply for Job Openings
The survey showed that about 44% of the students applied to less than five jobs at any one instant. According to Schawbel, the one-man show who runs the consultancy agency Millennial Branding, this is a worrying trend since in order for students’ efforts to be remotely feasible, they need to apply to at least 30-40 jobs.
Schawbel exclaimed that most students were actually unaware of sites like Chrysler Job Application that shared numerous tips on how to maneuver and land job openings. Schawbel was also of the opinion, that in this day and age, trying to get a job is actually a full time job commitment.
In addition, he commented that one should never be contented by one instance of success, instead, one should always keep ears open ready to take on the next job opening once it emerges. Even after getting a job, students should ensure that they use their current opportunities to acquire necessary skills that they can put to good use in future.
Insufficient Networking
The study showed that about 57% of the students expressed the desire for their current institutions’ to have done much more in terms of availing networking opportunities to them. However, Schawbel was of the impression that on a personal level, the students weren’t fully committed to creating their own networks.
Schawbel opined that students are supposed to turn to their career offices to seek help that will enable them to get exposed to various environments and different personalities. Instead, most students have probably never even visited their career offices, shared the bad experience they had while at the offices or complained about the lackluster setting of the offices.
He believes that the most important life lessons students can acquire is actually passed on from alumni. These individuals can teach students about the machination of day-to-day process in job environments, share insights on how to craft resumes, the interview process and how to navigate the waters in order to land job positions.
Other initiatives like attending conferences, meetups, and industry events can help students stay in the know with regards to their areas of interest. Schawbel shared that instead of complaining, student’s need to look up sites like eventbright.com that offer amazing opportunities for students to get exposed.
Checking out LinkedIn
While other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have elevated levels of fun associated with them, students should also learn to embrace LinkedIn in order to grow their job connections and actively apply to the job market.
