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http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/college-grads-taking-low-wage-jobs-be

Not surprised at all. A guy I used to play 40k with years ago was a super whizz on computer mainframe something or nother. And he worked at riteaid because he could NOT get a decent job in his field.
My brother has a 4 year degree in psychology, was a USMC MSG for 5 years protecting our embassy's and is literally a shoe in for a career in FBI......and he works for a company that does approvals for inspections on foreclosed homes......and he makes like $15 an hour. So yea.....no surprise

I was, though I made more money doing that than I'm likely to with the degree I'm getting now, at least at first.

Yep - not particularly enjoying it.

The absurdity of the source aside, there is a major problem with the balance between college education and finding a job.

With the ever-increasing price of college and necessity of student loans to pay for it, we're setting kids up to have serious long-term problems. The prevalence of college degrees lowers their value, which makes a college degree almost a prerequisite to a middle-income career, with a high-income level of debt.

And yet, with all the competition that exists in the job market, people are still getting degrees in the humanities (or social sciences).

Stand out from the pack, get a science, engineering, or technical degree. I guarantee that Fluid Dynamics will be a lot more helpful in finding a good job than Women and Poetry in the 18th Century.

I was pretty lucky, graduated last year and got a decent job almost right away thanks to a connection one of my professors had.

However, I know a lot folks who are having to take just 'whatever' until something better rolls around.

biccat wrote:
Stand out from the pack, get a science, engineering, or technical degree.

Then again, I know more underemployed engineers, physicists, and chemists than I do political scientists, economists, and lawyers. Of course that's just anecdotal, and I'm not in the mood to track down statistics.

Another major issue I see is the tendency for high schools to push colleges and degrees on students, while crapping all over trade schools. Plumbers, Electricians, Mechanics... these are all professions that can make very good money and will nearly always be in demand, but at least at my school, it was all about college. Even kids planning on going into the military were pushed to change their minds and go to college instead. I (nearly) have a computer science degree, and while my job is in computers (lit support/database admin) I rarely if ever use anything I learned in college. Assembly? UML? Hell, I don't even use C++. Granted, while an actual programmer will use some of those things, few college degrees end up teaching you only things you will learn. You still end up with extraneous classes that serve no real purpose, except to push you further and further into student loans.


And that's all without even mentioning the in text books...

Its all a vast conspiracy, the education-industrial complex!

We've had a recession about every 10 years since the mid 70s. This isn't the first generation of graduates to suffer. I got splatted in the mid-80s and mid-90s. I was lucky to avoid being splatted again in the dot com crash of the early 2000s.

Is now a good time to talk about trickle down economics?

Well as a banker, we do control the world. Sorry but I'm timing this one for the high upswing so the boy can catch it when he graduates. So its going to suck for you people for a few more years...

As long as I graduate with an above 3.0 GPA I'm more or less guaranteed a job in my field.(Clinical laboratory scientist)

Ma55ter_fett wrote:As long as I graduate with an above 3.0 GPA I'm more or less guaranteed a job in my field.(Clinical laboratory scientist)

Just watch out if your boss has a bad accent and calls it La BORE atory. If he occasionally calls you Igor ask for a raise, and quickly!

Frazzled wrote:

Ma55ter_fett wrote:As long as I graduate with an above 3.0 GPA I'm more or less guaranteed a job in my field.(Clinical laboratory scientist)

Just watch out if your boss has a bad accent and calls it La BORE atory. If he occasionally calls you Igor ask for a raise, and quickly!

Really? You only require a 3.0?

That's aiming low for Applied Science.

If I had you researching heart disease or a cure for cancer I would certainly expect above 3.8 and you to have completed a First Class Honours.

AvatarForm wrote:

Frazzled wrote:

Ma55ter_fett wrote:As long as I graduate with an above 3.0 GPA I'm more or less guaranteed a job in my field.(Clinical laboratory scientist)

Just watch out if your boss has a bad accent and calls it La BORE atory. If he occasionally calls you Igor ask for a raise, and quickly!

Really? You only require a 3.0?

That's aiming low for Applied Science.

If I had you researching heart disease or a cure for cancer I would certainly expect above 3.8 and you to have completed a First Class Honours.

Having the Degree tends to be a lot more important than your GPA, at least in my field.

15 an hour and I work at a meat packing plant getting 19 an hour Aussie....

Damn, I thought I had it bad!

I'm well aware of the fact that I may end up making more in my current internship than I will as my chosen major (New Media, focusing in graphic design and videogame design). Thankfully though, with the help of some parental investment, I won't have any student loans to worry about (so long as I keep my grades up. Once those go, so does the "parental investment").

I'm also aware of the fact that if I get lucky, I could also make some really dirty money in my field. Can't do much but just hope.

But my biggest fear is ending up mal-employed. I just couldn't stand a boring and menial job.

Despite the many folks getting mal-employed, the stats are that in the current economic situation those with a degree are still half as likely to be unemployed.

As for myself...
I would never to apply the prefix "mal" to it, but I recently became a full-dad for my newborn son because the kind of job my BA degree got me didn't make much (possibly any) more than the cost of childcare, a second car and other work-related expenses. My wife on the other hand has a masters degree (a specialized form of a PA) in a medical field that will always be in demand, so she has kept working.

I've only been at it for a few months, but so far it is the best decision I ever made.

University degrees were never intended to get a person a job. The point of a 4 year liberal arts education has almost nothing to do with a job.

It has everything to do with exposing you to as much information as possible and making you a well rounded, intellectual person who has a wide knowledge base to draw on.

Film degree and 8 year airforce vet. Making 9.25. Only thanks to my father in law having construction connections.

Ill be honest here.
I rather take an under paid job than be jobless.

I was out of work for a month, in that time i did multiple small jobs to make ends meet.
Only a few actually paid well, but the point was i had money comming in.

I could have simply gone down the benefits office and signed on, but thats not for me, i like being out.

Jackal wrote:Ill be honest here.
I rather take an under paid job than be jobless.

I was out of work for a month, in that time i did multiple small jobs to make ends meet.
Only a few actually paid well, but the point was i had money comming in.

I could have simply gone down the benefits office and signed on, but thats not for me, i like being out.

I have taken a number of jobs that one might think I am over qualified for in order to make ends meet. The problem now comes that I have been out of my chosen field (medical engineering) for so long that I am now essentially un-hire-able to the point where I am contemplating going back and doing another qualification.

The problem also comes that people see you have qualifications far and above those that are required for a job and don't hire you because you are too qualified - they think you will be bored, or will upset the balance by having a brain. Despite having a lot of extremely good references for various jobs I am hugely over qualified for I am really struggling to get more un or low skilled work (even generic admin work). Hence me sitting at home during the day.

I put off going on the dole for as long as possible each time I am out of work but it is just not affordable or justifiable to build up some cash while working and then have to use all that (and significantly more) just to make ends meet while trying to get more work.

I would MUCH rather work than live off the state. Even if I had to work 8 hours a day in order to earn my dole money, I would be happy and would do my best and work as hard as I could.

thedarksaint wrote:University degrees were never intended to get a person a job. The point of a 4 year liberal arts education has almost nothing to do with a job.

It has everything to do with exposing you to as much information as possible and making you a well rounded, intellectual person who has a wide knowledge base to draw on.

So what is the point of a liberal arts education? Is it just a 4-year intellectual vacation? (that is, a vacation in pursuit of intellectual betterment).

If so, why do we place any value on such an education that doesn't actually prepare you for a job.

biccat wrote:So what is the point of a liberal arts education? Is it just a 4-year intellectual vacation? (that is, a vacation in pursuit of intellectual betterment).

If so, why do we place any value on such an education that doesn't actually prepare you for a job.

A lot of arts degrees prepare people for work by equipping them with skills such as information processing, ability to produce work to a certain standard, etc, as well as obviously giving them an education in whatever their chosen subject is.

Though the Arts are not exactly the first subjects I would choose to protect if I had to save money in the education system

thedarksaint wrote:University degrees were never intended to get a person a job. The point of a 4 year liberal arts education has almost nothing to do with a job.

It has everything to do with exposing you to as much information as possible and making you a well rounded, intellectual person who has a wide knowledge base to draw on.

So you can fill out those unemployment forms with floursh?

biccat wrote:
If so, why do we place any value on such an education that doesn't actually prepare you for a job.

Why do we place any value on formal education at all? Short of things like lab experience, any undergraduate education can be replicated with access to a decent library, or the internet (with the right subscription services). At the graduate level you're essentially paying for (if you're not a PhD student) access to lab facilities, and the collegial environment.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

SilverMK2 wrote:
A lot of arts degrees prepare people for work by equipping them with skills such as information processing, ability to produce work to a certain standard, etc, as well as obviously giving them an education in whatever their chosen subject is.

Though the Arts are not exactly the first subjects I would choose to protect if I had to save money in the education system

What are we considering the arts to be? Humanities? Humanities and social sciences?

There's a lot of conflict over whether or not the social sciences are truly arts anymore, and many universities don't classify them that way.

Frazzled wrote:

thedarksaint wrote:University degrees were never intended to get a person a job. The point of a 4 year liberal arts education has almost nothing to do with a job.

It has everything to do with exposing you to as much information as possible and making you a well rounded, intellectual person who has a wide knowledge base to draw on.

So you can fill out those unemployment forms with flourish?

Buh-zingah!

I talked to a guy working at Jesse Brown Outdoors (a little outdoors/camping stuff shop) the other day. . . he's got a masters in something or other, yet works at Jesse Browns.

rubiksnoob wrote:I talked to a guy working at Jesse Brown Outdoors (a little outdoors/camping stuff shop) the other day. . . he's got a masters in something or other, yet works at Jesse Browns.

Yes... I have a Masters in International Finance and Commerce...

I spent the last 2 years doing the following:

- dehanding, clustering and packing bananas

- managing plant for a box manufacturer

- driving a forklift

- conducting traffic control

Now Im enrolled in a Govt-sponsored Graduate Diploma in Workplace Health and Safety... hence the reason for this thread.

Though, I am enjoying life significantly more than I was when I was a Corporate Business Manager for Commonwealth Bank of Australia

... I have time for a hobby now...