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Why Do College Graduates Get Hired?

Decent Essays

According to the Economic Policy Institute, nearly 25% of college graduates are either unemployed or underemployed – a term which means they are employed at a job beneath that which is appropriate for their skill level. (Knowledgeatwharton). This is a serious issue and raises some important questions for both college graduates and the institutions from which they obtained their degrees. In this paper, I will be discussing what I believe to be the primary source of this problem, the impact it has on college graduates, and a solution, which Butler Community College could implement would work towards rectifying this issue in our local community.
To more fully understand the source of this predicament, we have to look at two key terms, “technical …show more content…

In her article, she points to a survey conducted by the Workforce Solutions Group at St. Louis Community College which found “that more than 60% of employers say applicants lack “communication and interpersonal skills” — a jump of about 10 percentage points in just two years.” And according to an employer survey taken by the staffing company Adecco, “44% of respondents cited soft skills, such as communication, critical thinking, creativity and collaboration, as the area with the biggest gap” (qtd. in …show more content…

And in the case of college graduates this lack of preparedness is shocking. According to the “2016 Workforce-Skills Preparedness Report” put out by PayScale, 60% of managers felt like graduates were lacking in critical thinking and problem solving, 56% felt they had insufficient attention to detail, and 46% thought graduates lacked proper communication skills. And unfortunately for graduates, they often don’t realize that they are so underprepared for the world ahead. According to the same report, 87% of college graduates think that they are prepared for to work, while only 50% of managers would agree.
And the college graduate skills gap creates issues not only for the unemployed and underemployed graduates themselves, but also for the companies looking to hire them. In her Time piece, Martha White writes:
The annual global Talent Shortage Survey from ManpowerGroup finds that nearly 1 in 5 employers worldwide can’t fill positions because they can’t find people with soft skills. Specifically, companies say candidates are lacking in motivation, interpersonal skills, appearance, punctuality and flexibility.

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