How many of us have Higher Learning, and still mop floors

by Quarterback 53 Replies latest jw friends

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  Band on the Run

  I love Cole Hann shoes. My junkie days of Cole Haan and Joan and David are over. Found Ferragamos, then Jimmy Choos.

  I believe higher education gives you a broader world view and savvy about manipulating the world. The problem is that no one teaches students how to get jobs. I had no one. Now, I have an advanced degree in job placement. Poli Sci allowed me to go to law school and that worked out well. Today I would advise people to study Asian Civilizations, Sanskrit, history or poli sci but to supplement with something hard edged and practical.
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  Quandry

  with the shortage of work, even teachers are working as secretarys.

  The pendulum always swings back, and when it does, the teachers will be re-hired; the secretaries, however, will not get work as teachers.
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  mrsjones5

  Couldnt see the last post
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  QB:

  "This is a person, with a Business Administration graduate degree. Not sure about the relocation thing. It could be the small town that they live in. Perhaps family ties.

  But, this is happening in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver...many cities in Canada."

  Okay, several things come to mind with the points you mentioned. If this is someone with an MBA, but no particular field/business of concentration or significant work history, they'll have a hard time competing. The university I'm attending starts on the freshmen to start applying for internships, and we're expected to have two internships by the time we graduate, and sign on for a job during our senior year, months before we graduate. That's part of the reason I chose a uni in a metropolitan area rather than a remote college town.

  I'm not sure of the details, but I think the situation here has been that employers would prefer to hire someone with a solid bachelors degree, size them up, then help them get their MBA if they really like the employee. And I think that a BS in Industrial Engineering would get hired before someone with an MBA.

  Mobility has been a huge issue with unemployment. There are projects and money just waiting for civil engineers down around New Orleans, but so many CEs have mortgages and families that they can't up and move to where the work is. A schoolmate of mine got a BS in mechanical engineering and decided he HAD to live in NYC. There were few jobs for MEs there and he, as Johnny Wet-Behind-the-Ears with no connections, couldn't compete for the few openings. So he was "unemployed". Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are BEAUTIFUL cities. If there are any job openings in those cities, I bet that anybody from any podunk town would be applying to move there. And someone with a strong resume and impressive experience working out in the middle of nowhere may look great to human resources. Those cities are going to have a very competitive job marketplace. But I suppose there are plenty of those MBAs that would rather mop floors in Montreal than manage a nursing home out in Manitoba.

  And a person doesn't have to have a degree to bring in a good income. However, to be a doctor, dentist, or engineer, it's probably best if they have some extra education beyond high school.
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  Bubblegum Apotheosis

  Depends on your education, age and brain power, the companies used the layoffs to unload, some of their weakest links. One of the biggest employers (Not Walmart, they are always hiring the lowest common denominator) ask me if I knew anyone who need a job ( $12 an hour), and "no, I did not mention the local kingdom hall." the manager could not find decent english speaking employees, who could follow simple directions. Very seldom do you see a highly trained, motivated and properly educated person, stocking shelves at the Dollar Tree, unless we are talking about Oregon, whose economy is the Twilight Zone "Chemical Engineers" making $12 hr, Structural Engineers making $30k per year, I prefaced this with "highly motivated (would move to another state.)......"

  Some degrees transfer so easy to almost any field, "Masters In Finance, concentration in accounting and business admin" my friend has never been out of work, longer than he wanted to be.

  "M.B.A with minors in International Business, Marketing" still able to find jobs, quit Fidelity to work for a wild cat drilling company Haliburton, he was highly motivated to move to the Dakotas.
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  red21

  For a minimum wage job any degree is no help. But, if I am an employer and have a technical job or a job that requires some skills...and I have a kid with a HS degree and another with a college degree and all things being equal, I will hire the college degree. So, even if you are stock shelves, so what? That is a temp job until you can get a job in your field. I have seen so many young people give up or think they shouldn't have to pay their dues in to get good jobs. A degree is only 1/2 the equation. You need work experience. There are ways to get that in smaller jobs, volunteering, or unpaid internships. Don't give up if it is something you like! You can never get a high-paying job with a high school degree unless you learn some unique skill or start your own business. But, most don't.
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  NewChapter

  Education is only the first step in the process. I have worked with people with all kinds of degrees---back when I was a cashier in convenient stores! Just because a person is capable of finishing school, does not mean they have good traits for the work world. What I saw of these people is they lacked confidence, ambition, or even desire to work in their field. Frankly they didn't care for the responsiblity. One person had a legitimate reason--she was planning a major trip, and didn't want to be tied to a job that she would miss. When she got back from this life-changing trip, I'm sure she would have looked for work in her field. But the others had other problems.

  I also know people that have a hard time finding work specifically in their field of study. Maybe they didn't choose well. those the major in Psychology have the highest rate of unemploymet among college grads

  So we can pick on individual people, or point to trends in employment and the markent, as these will be in constant flux. But if we look at the overall pic, college grads still have less unemployment, and they still have more money and personal wealth. Point at individual cases if you like, it's the bigger outcome that is important.

  NC
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  Band on the Run

  Billy the Ex-Bethelite,

  I will never forget a mass meeting with the Placement Director of the Law School. Times were hard and some people did not have jobs months before graduation. A few people even had to pass a bar exam to be hired. He broke the news to us that there were many nice cities, besides NY, Boston, DC, and LA.

  This deep recession has changed many assumptions. Downtimes are cyclical. Even the Great Depression ended.

  When I read LinkedIn and similar sites, I don't know whether it is sad or good that everyone is so hardnosed. I grew up in the 1960s with follow your muse. After being a Witness, I flirted with the counterculture but many friends were commited. They ended up with great jobs precisely b/c they followed their muses. A career is not one single point in time. Everything I read states the US is losing economically b/c we do not value education as much as other countries. More education is need today, not less. There needs to be an overhaul of college financing. Fortunately, I applied in college in the days of Johnson's antipoverty program. College was stressed and funds were abundant.

  Heavily endowed private schools may be cheaper to attend than a public university. It was so for me. The money (substantial) was a small part of college. I can still recall encountering great literature, dance, arts, dorm life, etc. In high school, there was only a small group of us headed for college. The experience of being around bright, sophisticated, articulate, and witty classmates was such a blessing. I no longer felt all alone.
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  cantleave

  I have a masters degree which, so far, has meant I can always find work. I don't work hard or do long hours and quite enjoy what I do.I don't make a fortune by any means. If I had a basic education, I could earn just as much as I do, but I bet my work / life balance would be very different.
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  Heaven

  I have higher learning. The job I went to school for is not the job I do today. And ... I mop my own floors at home.