What do you do if you’re too old for entry level work, but not experienced enough for the next level? The New York Times posed that questions last week, giving voice to the frustration of thousands of young professionals who graduated college in the last few years, only to face a dismal job market. Here are the juicy bits:
“Companies typically divide their hiring into two pools: entry-level jobs, which are overwhelmingly filled by campus recruits, and experienced workers. Some allow recent graduates to stay in the first category for a year or two after getting their diploma. But recruiters say those applicants may find themselves at a disadvantage, especially if they have not been bolstering their résumés with classes, internships or volunteer work.
“If you’re a 2011 or a 2012 grad, the competition just got fierce — even more fierce — with the let-out of the 2013 class,” said Alexa Hamill, the United States campus recruiting leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers. “It’s like you’re in overtime, and they brought in the fresh team.”
And here’s the one that really drives it home:
“The class of 2009 just got royally screwed, because their first four years in the labor market were this horrible thing,” said Heidi Shierholz, a labor specialist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning research organization in Washington. “This year’s first four years won’t be that bad.”
One way to avoid the post-graduation black hole is to volunteer, take additional classes, and use internships to add to your skills bank and show an employer that you’re still engaged in trying to break into your chosen field. We at The Hired Guns tend to agree, but we can’t help notice that they’ve overlooked freelancing. While it’s not applicable to every field, for most, it’s a great way to gain some valuable experience and show that you’ve got that good ol’ entrepreneurial spirit.
Read the rest over at NYT.
