Don't sell yourself short

[Dave's Not Here Man]

www.cnbc.com/2021/05/13/many-college-grads-expect-to-earn-85000-in-their-first-job-this-year.html


Would be helpful if there were some factual data and apples to apples comparisons in how this "expectation" squares with past figures.

It (a degree) has never been the write your own ticket promise people thought it was but I digress, it was just as seldom a detriment to that type of assured security for lack of a better word. But one would certainly expect, and rightfully so imo, to surpass minimum wage and unskilled labor jobs, right?

[minx]

Agreed, although I worked a LOT of crappy jobs when I graduated and at some points I was working three jobs - FT, night and weekend. OTOH, I knew coming out that breaking into my field (TV/Radio production) wasn't going to be easy, especially as a woman. Christ, the interview questions I had to endure....and when I finally did get a job (audio tech for conferences), my boss was horrified when I showed up for set up in jeans and a T rather than a suit. Did this idiot think I was crawling under a platform stage to run wire in a suit and heels? Evidentally, yes. And she was shocked when after I did my sound checks, I changed and looked fine. That was pretty much the final straw, and I went to work for BC/BS at the princely sum of $15K per year (which was the highest I had been paid to date).

I think we need to be more upfront with students - it's more than okay to major in something you truly have a passion for (my sister majored in medieval and renascence studies), but you also need to be prepared for the fact that you may never find work in that field (my sister's degree would have qualified her to work in a museum as a docent) that will pay the bills. Too many kids are told that despite majoring in history, they'll be able to turn that degree into big bux without needing an advanced degree.

One thing I'd like to see is having more courses in community colleges focused on the 'lesser paying' subjects. So if you have a passion for history, you can go take history classes without having to take math and computer science. You won't come out with a degree, but you can satisfy your interests. And perhaps it can be somewhat subsidized, so you can do it while working 20-30 hours a week. So you get a taste of it, and if you want to continue, you can then take the rest of the courses to get your associates and move on.

But we have to stop pushing the narrative that you're going to walk out of college into the middle class immediately. And also stop pushing that a liberal arts degree is a 'waste of time and money'.
I'd also like to see tighter regulations on trade schools. Some sort of licensing so that people don't spend all their money and go into debt for something they could get on-the-job training for. And a realistic view on how many people get a good job right after graduating. My nephew spend gazillions on trade schools and went nowhere afterwards (computer repair - could have worked at U-fix-it and gotten the same knowledge while being paid).

[Dave's Not Here Man]

I think it's good for society when everybody has to "pay their dues" for lack of a better term. Even if it's working your way through college, which might be as much as paying your whole way through, or as little as just making enough to buy your own clothes and paying for your own transportation.

Unfortunately on-the-job-training is a relative thing of the past. So those low paying entry level positions are obsolete.... especially given that those jobs are now for college graduates and people with perfect credit scores and pass the company values/psychological profile screening online. Oh and a resume is required to work at Wendy's. WTF?

[minx]

You make an excellent point sir.

And I wish there was a way to get rid of the whole "how many extracurricular school activities are you involved in?" shit. Not every parent has the money or time to let their kid do them. I can't recall how much of my life was spend shuttling the youngest to activities before she could drive herself, along with how much of my time was spend volunteering for enterprises. I have zero regrets about doing it, but there were a lot of kids who couldn't pay the cost of entry in terms of getting rides places (lot of the activities had scholarships to pay the fees), so they missed out.

But colleges like to see that you participated in all that crap - like somehow being in Model UN is going to make you a star student.

I lost track of the number of 'entry-level' jobs my kids applied for that wanted at least a year of experience. WTF?
I walked out of college and into a job in an AT&T call center no questions asked.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

I entered the job market two years before graduating HS. By the time I graduated HS I was already almost 2 years into my job that started off stocking shoes on the shelf to assistant store manager for KINNEY SHOES.

I saw no reason to college at that point. Was already making more money than all my friends and dressed to the nines, and riding on that sweet ass wave while I had the chance.

Only a few years later like at age 19, I decided that retail life came at a cost not covered by my paychecks so I quit and went to work as the lowest of the low at a place called American Amplifier & Television which was a very well known av company in the DC area back then. Never took a single course but learned from a couple of the best in the field and always felt like that was something to pass along to those with the aptitude for it. And that's where the weak point is now. We don't aptitude test like we should be because we want more people in the jobs they have the aptitude for and out of the universities that they are set up to fail, having only been preached to their whole lives as the only way.

[minx]

I remember Kinney! When I was coming up, they were the 'fancy' shoe store

Before I had graduated from college, I had worked a large variety of jobs
-newspaper carrier (truly one of the shittiest jobs I've ever had)
-dishwasher at a seafood restaurant
-nursing assistant at a nursing home (I actually did this more than once - in HS and then in college)
-cashier at a lumber store
-stocked the candy bar at the student union and did the morning 'mop up' of the pub (truly the best job ever when you were hungover )
-ran AV for campus bands and speakers

Wasn't always fun, but it gave me a wide variety of experience across a lot of different job types. And when I did graduate, I did a lot of work through temp agencies where the assignments varied from a week to several months - again, not always fun but exposed me to a large amount of businesses and I got to see the good and the bad.

But good luck being a HS student and getting a PT job for 10-15 hours nowadays. Or even doing FT temp work.

And there are no opportunities like you had where you can start at the bottom and work your way up. I worked with more than one person who did that - graduated from HS, started at the bottom of the food chain and became a manager. And many of them were excellent managers too.