Dear recent college graduates,
I hear a lot of talk about how you will be entering the worst job market since the Great Depression. The unemployment rate is skyrocketing. Just this year, I’ve had to take two furloughs in an attempt to save other people’s jobs, which happened after two rounds of layoffs.

It’s true. The job market and economy suck.

But you don’t need to worry… not for too long at least. Sure, you may have just gotten a diploma qualifying you for a “higher than minimum wage” job in the “not retail” field, and it may be impossible to find a job in that field right now. However, the economy will turn around. Employers will need to fill positions they previously eliminated, and when it comes time to choose between rehiring the people they laid off before and you, they’ll choose you. Here’s why…

While they may have more experience in your field, you’ve proven that you can quickly adapt to change. Hell, Facebook alone has trained you to learn a whole new system without notice… and also how to protest those changes. In 2003, I graduated from Cornell College, where students take one course at a time – one semester’s worth of material in eighteen days; final on the eighteenth day; take a four day break; start a new course. I’ve used this bit in every single job interview I’ve ever had to show how quickly I can learn new things and adapt in stressful situations.

A lot of you communicate in 140 characters or less… and brevity is the soul of wit. It amazes me daily what people can say in such few words. You’re proving that you don’t need a long drawn out explanation to understand a situation. You’re saving time communicating, yet still communicating effectively. In addition, you respond faster to situations. When a plane crashed into the Hudson, I heard about it on Twitter before any news source reported it. Kogi BBQ only has a truck and a twitter account, and tells followers where it will be and when. And their ~20,000 followers respond quickly to get to the truck… and they do so en masse.

Finally, and I mean no offense by this, but you’re cheap. For years, the old-timers worked hard and got raises and promotions. They get paid more than the starting salary, and when a company is ready to hire again and has to choose between paying more and paying less, they’ll pick less. And if the more experienced person does get a job offer, they’ll have to take a huge pay decrease over what they were paid before, which may make them less willing to accept it.

So you may be entering a horrible job market and terrible economy, and you may have to take a job that isn’t in your desired field, but congratulations… you have more hope than most of us.

Tags: college, economy, graduates, job market, Twitter

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.