Observations About Recent Grads

Each year, I share thoughts about the new crop of graduates entering the employment marketplace. As a recruiter, my first comment is where have they gone? By late June, dozens of recent grads have usually shared their resumes with me. This year has been very quiet. My first thought is that many folks are continuing on to further their education prior to stepping into the ocean. If that is the case, I extend my best wishes and sincerely hope they have chosen programs to make them employable once done with their extended stay in academia. I am concerned that many decided to step into the ocean for an extended vacation and have not even begun to think about their careers. This will  delay their job search longer than one would think. Employers interpret late entry into the job hunt as laziness or a fear of failure. To close, please remember that employers are in the driver's seat. For the first time in many years, I have a handful of clients interested in meeting with and hiring people right out of college. While this has caught me a bit off guard, I am delighted that this trend has slowly developed. A challenge right now is that the pool of entry level candidates interested in working and willing to take a ground floor assignments is terribly small.