A tale of two siblings is the subject of a promising article recently published by the Wall Street Journal. The article highlights the correlation between the U.S. jobless rate and college graduates’ income the first few years after graduation.
Adam and Mackensie Quade are siblings who graduated four years apart. When Adam graduated in 2010, the unemployment rate was 9.5%. He was rejected by over a dozen companies and naturally, became stressed out. Although he preferred not to leave his hometown, he accepted a job offer from a dental sales company in Des Moines, IA. Feeling desperate due to his initial fruitless job search, he considered himself luckily and accepted the job offer and relocated to Iowa.
When his sister, Mackensie, graduated with a biology degree from St. Olaf College, a liberal arts school in Northfield, MN four years later, the unemployment rate was approaching 6%. According to economists, this means that unlike her brother, she will hold a wage advantage for a decade or more.
Jamin Speer, a University of Memphis economist who has published research showing that students who graduate during a time of elevated national unemployment often have their earnings crimped for years commented, “There really is something special about that first year.” According to researchers and Department of Labor data, graduates who join the workforce during a recession earn lower wages in the formative years of their career, while graduates of prosperous periods of time realize economy-wide earning potential.
The article does not address other important critical success factors to graduates’ success. For example, millennials (born after 1980) do not exhibit the same levels of respect, confidence and grace as past generations. When asked how teenagers felt when meeting someone for the first time, 49% reported feeling a little uneasy and 19% reported quite uneasy on average. Additionally, nearly 40% of new college students have parents that intervened on behalf of their children to solve a problem1.
This means that while graduates may land an interview, many lack soft skills including actively listening; acting confidently and appropriately; critically thinking; maintaining a positive attitude and problem solving—all important factors to successful interviewing and job procurement. Today’s teens must be armed with proper tools so that they learn conflict negation and organizational skills, goal-setting and how to communicate confidently. This will enable them to reach their full potential despite the state of the economy.
Generation.Next Dale Carnegie Training for Teens & College Students is the only course designed to prepare young people for the real world. This three full-day course focuses on five key areas critical for future success:
Building Self-confidence
Enhancing Communication Skills
Interpersonal Skill Development
Teamwork and Leadership Skills
Effective Attitude Management
Graduates report that their new skills have made them:
Highly focused on their goals
Better decision makers when faced with difficult choices
More persuasive and confident communicators
Better prepared when applying to college or interviewing for jobs
Consider enrolling your teen or college student in the Generation.Next course to maximize their long-term success.
Image: freedigitalphotos.net
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