What happened to our dreams?!
I'm a recent college graduate from a private university which consistently ranks among the top 20 universities in the U.S. I have to confess, though, that I am less than impressed with the return on my 24 years of tireless dedication and self-sacrifice that I invested for my education. In the five months since I received my degree, I have picked up shining new computer/web programming skills (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and JQuery so far), digital media editing techniques (Adobe CS6) and developed better social media networking. Nonetheless, I have yet to find a job. Moreover, I have heard almost NO feedback from the countless employers to which I have applied since graduating. So my question is:
What happened to the future we were promised?
It's a valid question in today's society. We have somehow shifted the emphasis on knowledge in the workplace to an emphasis on immediacy and efficiency. And it comes at no surprise given the rapid-fire bits of commercialism that we are assaulted with in our day-to-day lives. In journalism, writers are even told that they have less than 150 characters to grab the reader's attention and give them the major points of your article before the reader loses their focus and moves on to the next big headline. REALLY?! I mean they even developed an entire website based on this idea (yes, I'm looking at you Twitter).
This focus on efficiency and "doing what works" leaves little room for new ideas, much less new employees. So what about the hordes of new college grads, like myself, that have incurred untold amounts of debt from our student loans? Why aren't we getting the "dream jobs" that we were promised? It only takes one look at a list of job openings to answer that question: employers are only targeting "experienced and expert talent." THIS IS WHY OUR ECONOMY IS FAILING, PEOPLE! Maybe the older generations can't see it because they are too busy trying to keep up with the digital revolution that has transformed the entire structure of corporate America in the past ten years, but take it from a generation that grew up online: you have to start focusing on fresh and malleable ideas if you want to get ahead of the competition. "Doing what works" isn't going to work anymore, sorry! But where do these ideas come from, you ask?
Ah, yes! From the younger generations, of course!
Yes, thats the very same population that the corporate world is currently neglecting. Well, I can't help but find a little bit of comic relief from the irony of it all. College grads need the jobs to pay off our student loans and survive, and the employers need us to help them improve their revenues (whether they know that or not). But as they remain paralyzed with fear of inexperienced workers, we are further developing our web-based culture and pretty soon, without us, they will all become as obsolete as we are to them now.
So my suggestion to struggling companies out there: I have no pity for your revenue decreases so stop complaining. If you want to prosper in the market these days you should open your doors to younger, more tech-savvy employees. What we lack in experience, we more than make-up for with our quick learning, resilience, and adaptability. We drove the web trends of the past decade so I think we have more experience than you give us credit for. We are quickly learning that we have what you need and, as a fair warning, if you don't start making us fit into your job market soon then soon we will make our own job market. Just don't say we didn't warn you!