John Henry Weiss - Welcome to the Real World: A Complete Guide to Job Hunting for the Recent College Grad

Copyright 2014 by John Henry Weiss

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-62873-686-1

Printed in the United States

This book is dedicated to four talented, compassionate, and caring medical professionals:

Marilyn Edinburgh Baker, CNM, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Hamilton, New Jersey

Jeffrey Drebin, MD and PhD , Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Robert Mirsky, MD , St. Mary Medical Center, Langhorne, Pennsylvania

Steven Orland, MD , Capital Health Medical Center, Pennington, New Jersey

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Real World addresses a continuing national crisis: more than 60 percent of recent college graduates holding associates, bachelors, or masters degrees have not found employment six to twelve months after receiving their diplomas. They continue to live at home, much to the distress of parents, spouses, or partners, and sit at their computers firing off resumes into space believing that is the way to find that all-important first job.

If you fit this description, you probably have student loans to pay off as well, and you see the debt mount each month as your job searches yield few bona fide leads despite the flurry of resumes you have sent. When the resume routine gets boring, you might turn to tweets and text messages as a last resort for finding employment. You rarely leave home to look for a job and believe that somehow the job will come to you because, after all, you are a college graduate.

Many of you truly believe the words of the speaker at your commencement exercise who may have said something to the effect of, Congratulations, college graduates! Your college degree is your ticket to a life of happiness and job opportunities. Go forth from these hallowed halls and slay dragons, and do good things for society. You are a college graduate. You are a master of the universe.

Six months later, you begin to wonder what that diploma really means. You do, however, know (and so do your parents) that those nasty loans need to be paid off, and this means you had better find a job quickly. It is not a pretty picture.

Like many college graduates you probably buy into the hype about the bad economy causing the seeming lack of job opportunities. You and your colleagues blame politicians and unethical businesspeople for the high unemployment rate. I cant find a job because theres nothing out there, and its not my fault, many of you bellow from Boston to Seattle, from Bemidji to Miami. However, in your heart you know that is not the real reason. There is something wrong and you just cannot figure it out. There is help, however, and it is this book, Welcome to the Real World .

Welcome to the Real World believes that the lack of success is not due to the state of the economy or a lackluster job market; rather, it is the result of unfamiliarity with the adult world of work, its processes, and its nuances. This challenge is beyond the level of experience for you and other recent college grads, and all of you are crying out for help, along with your parents, partners, or spouses. Lets get real. For most of you, even the jargon of work is unfamiliar.

Ask most recent college grads the meaning of the term cold call in relation to a job search and youll get a blank stare in return. Tell them that the best way to get a job is to knock on the doors of potential employers and they think that is so yesterday. Tell them that communication begins with the way you dress and you get another blank stare. These are basics for those with experience in the adult world. For newly minted college graduates, like you, it is a new ball game. Your minds are truly clean slates when it comes to navigating the world of work because you have not yet played in the real world of work. There is nothing wrong with that picture. You have to begin somewhere, and I am here to help.

Adding to your confusion may be the conflicting literature about the meaning of work. Some interpret work as doing good things for others at home and abroad, cracking glass ceilings, or leveling the playing field for technology access. While some of that may be true, Welcome to the Real World believes that work is a means to self-sufficiency. When we work, we receive money in return, which enables us to provide our own food, shelter, and clothing. If a job does that and brings fulfillment in addition, that is fortuitous.

A PERSONAL NOTE TO PARENTS

Job-hunting college graduates are not the only family members feeling the stress resulting from unemployment. Parents feel the angst, too. The US Census Bureau studied the problem of children staying too long in the nest in 2012 and released some startling statistics:

1. Twenty-six-million young adults between eighteen and thirty-four were living at home with their parents.

2. Seven percent of parents with adult-age children living at home have had to alter their plans for retirement.

3. Thirteen percent of parents with adult-age children living at home have had to delay important life events, like buying or selling a house.

4. Twenty-six percent of parents with adult-age children living at home have had to take on significant debt, not only to support them while living at home, but also to repay their student loans.

There is nothing more disruptive to a family than having a diploma-holding child without a job living at home six to twelve months after graduation. Parents cringe when they hear their living-at-home college graduates whine, Theres nothing out there.

In a sincere attempt to help their college-educated children find a job that will put them on the road to independent living, parents often give advice of dubious value, which compounds the problem. The children shout back, What do you know? Youre twice as old as I am and your ideas are old-fashioned! Parents shout back, Listen to me! Ive had a job for the past twenty-five years and I know how this works. If you would only do as I say, you would be working today!

Both sides are somewhat right and somewhat wrong. To gain perspective, objectivity, and current information about the job market, parents should read Welcome to the Real World along with their recent college graduates. This way, the playing fields will be level, meaningful conversations will begin, and the bickering will end.

A PERSONAL NOTE TO RETURNING MILITARY PERSONNEL

I have included a bonus chapter devoted to first jobs for military personnel returning to the civilian workforce. These are the brave men and women who voluntarily gave years of their lives to keep America safe for all of us at home. Many veterans are entering the civilian job market after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and, like recent college grads, are finding that job hunting is not for the timid.