To the Editor:
I was struck by the repeated references to “luck” in the recent article about the tough job search prospects for recent college graduates (“Many With New College Degree Find the Job Market Humbling,” front page, May 19).
We know how people get jobs, and luck rarely has anything to do with it. One of the students quoted in the article said that some of his friends got jobs because of “who they knew,” as if it were a matter of happenstance rather than a strategy.
The hard work of networking early on in a college career, wisely chosen internships, using summers well (which too few students do) and other positioning activities greatly enhance the chance of a good job after graduation.
In the small liberal arts college where I work, students who on the face of it would seem to be long shots to find decent work have done so by using techniques we know can produce results.
DANA ALEXANDER
Director, Office of Life Planning
Westmont College
Santa Barbara, Calif., May 20, 2011
To the Editor:
For the foreseeable future, this economy can no longer hold out the promise of employment to graduates leaving college without any concrete skills. The job market cannot absorb English and history majors being churned out by the thousands into an uncertain future, especially given the current levels of education debt.
Engineers, accountants, health care workers, computer scientists and highly skilled craftsmen will have a chance to achieve the American dream, but students double majoring in French and Spanish will be living in Mom’s basement.
In a just world, degrees in humanities would carry a warning on the diploma: “Earning this degree, while intellectually stimulating, may increase your chances of lifelong poverty and disillusionment.”
PETER A. KLEIN
Stony Brook, N.Y., May 19, 2011
To the Editor:
I graduated in the 1970s, during another horrible job market, and I hadn’t a clue what I wanted to do or how to get a job. I would have worked my heart out if someone had given me a chance. I became a career counselor to help others avoid my pain.
Now I work with employers and hear about the trouble they have finding qualified employees—entry level on up. It’s a paradox.
There are two issues: how directed candidates are and how they present themselves. For college students, the world is changing; a degree is not a panacea or a guarantee. Grades can be less relevant than specific skills, drive, people skills, relevant experience and the ability to express oneself.
Students have to prove why they should be hired over others, but it still helps to be lucky.
PHYLLIS BRUST
Director
Greater Chicago Midwest Higher
Education Recruitment Consortium
Chicago, May 20, 2011
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 