Failure to launch: helping graduates make their way into the workforce
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- With approximately ten million jobs available and around eight million people looking for work, why aren't the dots connecting, especially for recent graduates?
Anyone with a college graduate at home or working in a position where they aren't using their education can relate to this issue.
First, there is the pandemic to blame.
"We have such a large group of students and recent grads who spent the last few years not really being able to practice a lot of the skills that we consider as adults important to move into the next phase," said Career Coach Beth Hendler-Grunt.
Hendler-Grunt says COVID-19 wiped out internships, summer jobs, and places that allowed young people to hone basic skills, like how to speak over the phone and not realizing how competitive the market is.
In her book 'The Next Great Step, a parents guide to launching your new graduate into a career, Hendler-Grunt says this generation is not familiar with failure.
"I think there is the feeling that 'I go to a good school and have all the right grades, that things should fall into place' and what they're finding is it's a lot harder than they thought," Hendler-Grunt said.
And she says parents need to understand that reality as well and be encouraging.
Hendler-Grunt says parents can't get caught in the trap of equating their own self-worth to the success of their children. This is their thing and they need encouragement.
According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the jobless rate for new college graduates is higher than for all workers for almost two years running.
When it comes to helping parents that want to know how to help their college graduates find the onramp to life, the first thing to remember is that you can't do it for them. You can help, but they have to want it.
"I think there's some ways that we can really step them through the process and a really simple, structured step by step approach that makes it feel more feasible and not quite so overwhelming," Hendler-Grunt said.
To help them see their value, you can help them make a list of things that they've learned or things they enjoy doing and would like to utilize as they move into the workplace.
Hendler-Grunt says you can then help them talk out how to verbally sell those skills to an employer, which will help them determine how to move forward and what types of companies might need to utilize those skills.
And then comes perseverance and a willingness to adjust.
"Sometimes they have to experience the difficulty or the failure where they've applied to 10, 20, 50, or 100 jobs for them to realize maybe the way that they're going about it is just not working," Hendler-Grunt said.
Hendler-Grunt warns that depression and anxiety are very real risks in this process if there are rejections. Helping your graduate through the rejections require listening and not judging, and sometimes, some outside help may even be needed.