Mosley, Lora: Paglia

Jobs are declining, making it hard for people to find jobs, and there doesn’t seem to be any hope in the decline stopping anytime soon.  That means college graduates will have a hard time finding jobs.  Employers want someone who can do the job with as little training as possible, which means they should already have experience doing the job.  College students don’t really have that experience because colleges today don’t give students the hands on training that employers are looking for.  College is supposed to prepare students for the real world.  How can colleges to that if they’re not giving students the proper training?  There are many ways colleges can prepare students for the job market.  Internships, interview etiquette, and teaching courses relevant in the job market are good first steps.

            

Colleges should help students find internships.  Internships give students a taste of what a certain job would be like.  They get the experience employers would like prospective employees to have, and students have a greater chance of getting a job following graduation.  Interships could be described as students getting trained before applying for the job.  It’s also a chance for students to see if they want a job similar to their internship.  No one knows for sure if a job is for them until they try it out first.

            

Another reason college graduates don’t get a job is they don’t know how to dress or act in a job interview.  They may dress and act like they don’t care about getting the job, though they really want it.  They were never shown how to act during the interview or how to dress for the interview.  The interview is the first impression for one’s potential employer and the most important key to getting a job.  It’s easier for some people to look good on paper, but not so easy in person.

            

Lastly, colleges don’t teach courses relevant to a student’s major during their freshman and sophomore years.  What is a journalist supposed to do with college algebra?  What is a math teacher supposed to do with philosophy?  It doesn’t make sense to put students in courses that don’t have anything to do with their major.  If colleges would take all four years to teach students about their major, not add all the irrelevant courses to their curriculum, it would make students’ lives easier and more prepared for their job.  Colleges seem more focused on making students take all kinds of classes that are irrelevant to their major, rather than on educating students about their specific majors.  That leaves students very unprepared for the job they obtain after they graduate.

            

Colleges don’t seem to give students the hands-on training needed to make it in the job force.  It’s not fair to the students that colleges fail in that aspect.  Jobs are declining rapidly each day and it’s not going to stop anytime soon.  Colleges should realize that reality and step up their game.  They should help students get more internships; they should teach students proper interview etiquette, and they should teach students things that are relevant to their majors.