September 24, 2013

Is it about Your Degree or Being Marketable?

Sep. 24, 2013 at 08:00 AM | By Rachel DiCaro Metscher | Comment Count

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Recently, I read the Wall Street Journal’s article, “Young Graduates Struggle Whether They Majored in Engineering or Philosophy.” As the title eludes, this is all about whether students choose the right major for future financial and personal success. There is a lot of great data shared in the article that prompts the question:

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the struggles of America’s young adults, who are coming of age in the worst economy since the Great Depression. Five years after the financial crisis, the unemployment rate for Americans under 25 is 15.6 per cent.
In 2010-2011, unemployment rates for recent college graduates ranged from 4.8 per cent for those with nursing degrees to 14.7 per cent for those studying “information systems,” according to a May report from Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce. (Political science was indeed near the bottom of the list, with an 11.1 per cent unemployment rate.)
This remains an unusually challenging job market for practically everyone, especially the young. Engineers and computer programmers have it better than most, but even most of them face unemployment rates well above their prerecession levels.
There are 2.7 million fewer employed young people today than there should be based on prerecession employment levels — it’s safe to say not all of those missing workers should be java developers.
Those with readily marketable skills are more likely to be employed, and more likely to earn a decent wage, than those without.

The concept of practical arts versus more liberal arts based curriculum is not a new topic. Jeff Selingo covered the concept at depth in his recent book and for our College Confidential community.

What struck me as most interesting or provocative was the concept of readily marketable skills. Are student really marketable with their degrees regardless of major? I think it is less about the major and more of a trend that students do not understand what it is to market themselves. And some colleges are looking to help its students by providing opportunities for co-ops, internships, and other hands on programs.

I think our policy analyst, Emily said it best recently to Fox Business, “With a plethora of services offered, it’s up to students to take advantage of opportunities to seek out guidance and advice for their ultimate goal of landing a job.”

Furthermore the issue is less about degrees and more about how to market yourself post degree. What are you, as the recent graduate, offering to the hiring company? It is less about you and more about what you can do, regardless of degree or not. It is the ultimate marketing problem for the graduate post recession: Marketing of You 1.0.

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