Difficulties in Acquiring Jobs – Fresh Grads

Job Search - Fresh GradsIt’s an aspiration of every graduate to acquire an equitable employment as soon as possible. However, it’s quite common for them to face difficulties in their job search. Possible reasons could be the present state of economic affairs that is still not very encouraging. Apart from young graduates, experienced personnel are also facing difficulties in their job search.
Consequently, unemployment is nurturing disappointment among youth, as more people are graduating with fewer opportunities available in the job market. Apart from lack of experience, lack of self-confidence and ‘field smarts’ also contributes to their ineligibility. Nevertheless, this lack of experience can be improved by doing internships that can help in adding some experience on their resumes.
Since some companies initiate these internship programs for cutting costs and training resources prior to a full employment commitment, they prefer appointing recent graduates over experienced ones to get things done.
What advice would you give to youngsters searching for jobs? Furthermore, how can they grab the attention of recruiters in the job market where opportunities still seem pretty slim?



15 Comments

  • Syed Absar Karim

    The early bird gets the worm. Students need to work tough on their Final Projects, start doing internships within the academic duration this way they can have some experience in their resume when graduated freshly.

  • Subhas C Biswas

    Unskilled, inexperienced young people aged 14 and above find their first job at minimum salary, as helper to a skilled professional – be it a Carpenter or Tailor or Automobile repair mechanic, or even a lawyer or doctor. They become skilled after sometime and train others.
    Millions join their family business and start as an apprentice to learn the business skills and start earning a modest living, while their friends are studying in a college.
    Graduates, on the other side, are nurtured by parents, tutors and teachers to acquire knowledge and some skills, including crafts, games and sports, so that they can contribute to the society through business and employment. The education system prevalent in Asian countries, especially British Colonies, started around 1850s to create a pool of staff that can help the British administrators to run their administration. Nothing significant has changed in the system, except that the system has started generating more graduates than the society or administration needs, while the supply of teachers has dwindled, leaving many schools and colleges without minimum required staff.
    My suggestion to young graduates:
    1. Join teaching profession – be a tutor, teacher or instructor. There will be a favorable situation (at least next 30 years in South Asia) as supply is very limited to demand. More importantly, average students can become very good teachers or tutors. Teachers learn while teaching and can upgrade their skills.
    2. Use networking, acquire many skills, especially communication skills, and then start appearing for an interview. Learn a language used across the world or used in business places around you.
    3. Be independent financially as early as possible in your student life or later. Excellent family security (financial) often restricts job-search of youngsters.
    4. Start doing some work, even community development or organizing work to learn management skills.
    5. Plan a family and include job-search as a component activity in the plan. You will feel the necessity of stability and security from a job to set your own family. Peer-pressure or spouse motivation is a potential driver in a job search.
    6. Visit career sites and try to follow the advices. Job-search is a full-time activity and require excellent preparation to succeed. Most teachers and parents provide very poor and inappropriate guidances to their students or children. Authors and filmmakers created novels and movies on this subject.
    Finally, nor recruiter is expecting an experience in a fresher. But if you have experience of community work, leading a team of players, organizing events, counseling juniors, or even teaching people – write these as experiences and demonstrate the understanding and showcase how much you have learnt from these experiences.
    Recruiters loves to hear these and chooses the one who is different than the crowd on skills and attitude.

  • Thamir Ghaslan

    There are some really great answers here.
    I’m going to speak from personal experience, and my advice is to focus on employment or entrepreneurship more than degrees or certifications.
    7 years ago, I dropped out of a full time university, not out of lack of academic discipline, but because the university was in administrative chaos.
    How do you expect me to attend two finals, at the same date and time, without giving me a reschedule and your appeal process is lousy at best!
    Two semesters in a row of time conflicts and I’ve decided to drop out since my GPA irrecoverably suffered.
    Armed with a previous 2 year diploma and no bachelor degree a friend referred me on my first real full time job.
    7 years later I’ve gained valuable experience from multiple positions and my income got better thanks to performance pay each passing year.
    During this time I’ve enrolled with Open University, gaining experience on the one hand and a degree on the other.
    In my 7 years, I’ve seen a lot of high school and diploma colleagues drop out of work, get into a full time university, finish their degrees, and not be able to get back into the job market for almost 4 years.
    Even the few who did are getting lousy offers because of their years of work experience.
    The highschool / diploma bunch who hung on to their jobs are financially better off and are more experienced and employable.
    I’ve been tempted more than once to quit the job market and get into a full time degree, but currently glad that I have not.

  • Guy Battaglia

    I am taking off the gloves for this one…kids love directness and honesty.
    Don’t wait until you graduate to start looking for a job. The youth must start the habit and passion of work early on in tandem with their education.
    Innovation can be taught but it is better when it is discovered on one’s own.
    If they have the ability, mind set and fortitude to seek, gain and maintain employment during summers in high school and manage a dual load of work and education I guarantee that their employment seeking will have a richer and more rewarding return.
    Waiting to get your first job right out of college is very romantic. Except, if you are that that person’s first employer.
    Work Ethics
    Good Habits
    Positive Attitude
    Obtaining Necessary Experience.
    Don’t be a victim of the classic Catch 22, “How do I get experience if you won’t hire me?”
    Come with experience and the door to the work force will open a bit easier.
    Good luck and do not wait until the last minute.
    As a matter of fact, as soon as you define your major, start exploring all relative avenues for exposure to that field.

  • Vikas Malik

    Very True……..Aims & Dreams are big & high of every graduate freshers…….but co’s don’t care at all about national talent……they require experienced only….which results as un-employement for freshers who arethe backbones of nation……even if we talk about govt. hiring……corruption & other hard criteria are there so middle & low level student can’t clear the questions…
    In private sector too…corruption is increasing day by day….many mnc co’s are asking for huge money of 20k – 80 k for just a job of 6 months @5k & then 10 k for next 6 months $/ then after a year just a CTC of 1.8 LPA along with 2 years bond which is bullshit
    No one cares about the talent, education, no one wants to train the fresher’s might be they have forgot they experiences comes after giving an opportunity to a FRESHER only exp. candidates don’t come exp. by birth on the earth.
    Don’t know when this issue will be resolved…a fresher spends 2-8 lacks on studies like B-TECH or B.SC – CS & after that still a job of 5 k, lol
    Mostly corporate HR Professionals carry big attitude that they don’t care for anyone….but when they look out for a job then some of them realise the same story with them.
    I dream about when there is an equal opportunity employer rule will be practices in Asian Countries……which is lacking a lot in national development.
    SUPPORT FRSHERS !!!

  • Dave Maskin

    Simply put, there’s too many grads and too few jobs…

  • RAMAKRISHNA KOPPAKA

    Dear Salima Nasir
    Seasons Greetings
    First of all let me heartily appreciate your question.
    Yes,it is very true that now a days youngsters are struggling at every stage of their life in getting admission to a good professional course,then get good rank at the time of passing out.Then the real drudgery in hunt for a suitable job.
    I can certainly understand their tension,mental agony.
    I would like to suggest the following :
    a).Keep cool,even if you are not selected.Try to learn your weaknesses.
    b).concentrate on fresh avenues.Make your ground strong.
    c).Play the game of job hunting just as cricket.As both are similar.
    d).Do not get dejected ,even if you are not in,when your friend is in.
    e).Keep your mind,heart very happy and calm.Success will come in search of you.
    f).You may be late,but never too late.We all have passed through these stages,very much.
    Thanks.

  • Ali Yasir

    You have already mentioned the most conventional ways to attract recruiters i.e. Internships/Trainings and being “Field Smart”, but in addition to what you wrote i would say that it has been observed quite frequently that our fresh grads are being suffered by an intellectual myopia as much as by the economic melt down. Most of the fresh grads under estimate the potential of the degrees they possess and rush blindly behind a stereotype. For instance, a graduate with Electrical degree will have a dream job of working in power sector without weighing the other possible domains available at hand, and same goes with other graduates. The only way out is to think out of the box and exploit what else market has to offer.

  • Ramesh Kumar

    This is a big problem faced by almost all graduates.
    My simple advise is to look around for any openings through friends and relatives. It often works to get the first job. Once you are ’employed’ with or without salary, oppotunity to get another good job increases. This first job may not give you money or stability. But, as long as it lets you learn more about organizations and know how to work in an office environment, it helps you a lot.
    Ramesh
    The Human Search Engine
    http://www.computerbasedexams.com

  • Nay Lin Maung

    Do not give up. Keep trying to find the job. There will be some jobs available.

  • Wallace Jackson

    Learn something that’s extremely difficult, takes a long time & noone else wants to do.
    For me it was open source programming of i3D games and simulations. Cheers.

  • Eric Saint-Guillain

    I remember the first job I had. After working in this company as a student, they did a job contract proposal for 8 months as employee. The salary was not very high, but it was an opportunity to acquire a first experience and acquire knowledge. It was the start point for future assignments.
    My advice to youngsters searching a job is to accept each opportunity they can have, even it is not well paid. The return on investment has to be seen on a long terms basis. The acquired knowledge and experience is the most important and sustainable value to increase your chance to get future assignments and opportunities.
    Best regards,

  • ADRIAN MATADEEN

    Dear Salmia:
    The best that grads out of school can do is to look at themselves within and find the most impossible story and then live it, ask Serge et al in The Google Story or Warren Lake on Linked in, it does work, and maybe they would create the next ???
    Adrian

  • Bernard Gore

    Yes, it’s tough. It was tough for me as a graduate back in the 80s in the last deep recession. And that’s a valuable lesson to learn, that they can’t teach you – has to be experienced. Too much is too easy or simply “expected” – hopefully the tough experience will generate at least some strong characters, because our current political and business world is certainly lacking them!

  • Bhalchandra Pai

    Just imagine what will happen 10 – 15 years from now on…………..becoming a grad will not gurantee you a decent job. Try to get into streams or profession where the opportunities are high…….i mean less of crowd.
    The youngsters should think of becoming a writer, painter, golfer, chef etc…..just becoming a grad is like a drop in the ocean.

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