This past December, I recently graduated from college (Whoop Whoop!), and now that the celebrations are over, I see a difference in the job market when you have a degree:

1. Entry level jobs are expecting you to have 2-5 years experience related to the position.

Now, how in the world do they expect for recent college graduates to build experience in the field when we’ve been studying for the past four years and dealing with final exams? Yes, there are internships and volunteer positions that’ll help with this, although, a large majority of college students do not have the time to do unpaid opportunities because they’re working part-time jobs to pay for tuition and living.  I don’t see how such experience is possible, unless we’re coming from a wealthy family. You definitely have to have the dedication. In addition, there’s a reason why we have training before starting the position, we don’t know nothing! So why is it so hard to qualify for these career moving positions? I’m starting to think these employers don’t want to pay to train employees….just saying.

2. It’s all about networking, little about your experience.

Pretty much since I started working, I’ve earned job offers from going through the traditional process: application, interview, maybe a second interview, then a job offer/decline. Nowadays, it’s all about who you know. A person looking for a job can have all the experience in the world, but most likely they won’t get the opportunity for an interview because employers and HR are being told to look at a potential employee from another person/co-worker/family member they know from word of mouth. Is it fair? Heck no! Each potential employee should be looked at equally (resume, application, personality, experience, potential), not because of one recommendation (that’s why we have references). All college graduates worked hard to earn a degree.

3. BA/BS/MBA degrees are losing value since too many people are graduating.

Since I started my job search, I realized many positions require a master’s degree. Therefore, the job market is telling us to go ahead and borrow more money from the government and our parents so we can get a higher degree because the degree we just earned isn’t cutting it. So what just happened in the last four years? The encouragement and motivation to make our parents proud, have a successful career, and earning more money has been making us little energizer bunnies to look forward to the end. The end leading us to go back and try again.

4. We know you have loans and want to go out in the world on your own, but we’re only going to pay you a small wage/salary.

Hold up, how much? I know we have to start from the bottom but dang, we want to start living at least. What a bubble burst, huh? This is where you have to learn how to budget living expenses (or continue living with parents) and manage a full-time job that doesn’t justify or care about those loans or degree. I don’t really mind this because not everyone starts out with a high paying job, especially when you don’t have much experience within the career. Although, one must know they’re value, value and skills the job is giving you, and where can this position take you in the long run.

There are students who find their career opportunity right after graduating (Congrats!)  and then there are students who maybe still looking. It’s okay either way. No one said after graduating there will be miracles opening the day after commencement. Hard work continues after graduation, it’ll never stop, must it’s to you to continue believing in your potential and never giving up. Hard work; it’s a lifestyle.

Article about the job market:  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=88523&page=1