I can’t tell you how often soon-to-be college seniors ask me if they should bypass job-hunting in this crummy economy and go to graduate school instead. The feeling is they can put off having to fight tooth and nail in a tough job market with limited jobs, especially for Gen Y.
Well, I posed this question to my new intern Evie Hayman and she researched the issue. She came up with some directions for you grads-to-be, and for parents who may read this and pass it along to their kids.
By Evie Hayman
Graduation is like ripping off a band-aid. College protects you from all the bumps and bruises of the real world for a few years and then all of a sudden you’re exposed to the world of working adults. As a senior at the University of Delaware, I am preparing for the moment I tear off my protection.
But what if I were to put off that pain like many of my peers who have decided to go to graduate school rather than look for a job? And can you blame them with a jobless rate at 8.9 percent and millions of people looking for work?
With unemployment still high and the job market not promising for new job-seekers, graduate school seems like a much better option to many soon-to-be graduates. For Kerry Flynn, a senior at Delaware, graduate school is an opportunity to decide exactly what she wants to do in her career while becoming more educated.
“I don’t know exactly what I want to do yet,” she said. “I think I could get a job [right now], but not in my area.”
At present, Flynn has applied to five graduate schools to pursue a degree in criminal justice. She is waiting to hear back on her acceptance. But even if she does get accepted, without a large enough scholarship she will be forced into the job market. “If I don’t get funding I will move back home and get a job doing anything,” she explained.
If she’s able to afford a graduate degree, Flynn believes it will give her more options than graduating in this job market. “I think it’s smart [to go to grad school]; I will be able to get a better job,” she said.
Another senior at Delaware, Kristen Pannullo, is getting ready to enter an exceptionally difficult job market: education. Pannullo is planning to look for a math education job in her home state of New Jersey. Although there is a shortage of math teachers in that state, education jobs are still hard to come by due to the recent budget cuts from the governor. As a result, Pannullo is not feeling at all positive about her job prospects. “I feel like I’m not going to find a job because there aren’t any jobs in education,” she said.
Unfortunately for Pannullo, graduate school isn’t really an option. “A lot of schools won’t hire you with a master’s and no experience,” she explained.
Like Flynn, if Pannullo’s plans don’t work out she might end up with a job unrelated to her degree.
“I will probably move back home and end up with a job in another field or wind up in another state I don’t want to be in,” Pannullo said.
According to Matthew Brink, director of the University of Delaware’s career center, many students are feeling like Pannullo. “Students have a higher level of anxiety and concern about the job market because of last couple of years,” he said.
But despite the job market, Brink would not recommend graduate school for everyone.
“If they would only be going to grad school because the job market is bad, that wouldn’t be as wise a strategy.” Instead, he recommends “having a regular and productive set of hours. Put together a job search strategy that includes set hours just like scheduling class. You still might land that wonderful entry level position.”
There is also a concern about being overeducated. “Sometimes what happens is, because you don’t have that experience first, you won’t be able to command the salary that a typical graduate would have with experience and a master’s,” he said.
Luckily for seniors like me who are planning to begin the job search, in the past graduates from Delaware have quickly found jobs. According to Brink, only 4% of the class of 2009 that went straight into the job market was still looking for a job six months after graduation.
National statistics show a slow improvement. A study from Michigan State University reported that companies are planning to increase hiring of bachelor’s candidates and decrease hiring of master’s candidates. Of the businesses in the study, 32% reported that they planned to hire new graduates during this academic year, a five percent increase from last year. In addition, sixty-one percent would not hire an experienced worker for a position reserved for a new graduate.
At this point, it is difficult to tell whether waiting to rip off that band aid by going to grad school will cause more pain than it prevents. As for me, I am preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.
(Evie is a senior at the University of Delaware majoring in English and political science. Her passions are writing and editing; and she’s the voice behind the Awkward Words blog.)
March 15th, 2011 at 11:15 am
Going to Graduate school right after college is for the most part, a really bad idea (the only exception I would say is if you want to be a doctor which requires many years of schooling before you get situated in the field). Most college graduates these days are roughly 22 to 25 years old and when you’re in your 20s, you’re still trying to figure out your path in life. I know I was. Trying to get a master degree in a career path without having really experienced the environment of that profession first hand is like jumping into the deep end of the pool without first getting used to it. I’m in my mid 30s now and I’m so glad I had the chance to experience having gone through a few changes professionally before landing in something that really fit and worked for me. That took me about 3 to 5 years after college. It’s typically why graduate programs ask you to have 5 years work experience behind you because the last thing they want you to do is invest the time, energy, and MONEY (LOTS OF MONEY) into something that will not be a good fit for you after you’re done. This is true of the law profession where many lawyers have dropped out of the profession simply because they discovered too late unfortunately that law was not the career for them. Now they’re saddled with six figure debt. Plenty of my lawyer friends made this mistake. Don’t make that mistake. I know the job market really sucks for undergrads right now, but be persistent and patient. Try to find creative ways to build some experience for yourself. Band together with your friends and create work for yourself. Give yourself the time to explore and figure out what you want to do before just jumping in the deep end of the pool. Believe me, you’ll be grateful for it down the road and so will your bank account.
March 15th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Thanks for the insightful post, Evie.
Just want to point out there’s a middle ground between a full blown Master’s and work experience. Schools of continuing education offer credit and non-credit courses that can lead to a certificate and in some cases, a Master’s degree.
It’s a way to try on areas of interest, bolster undergraduate credentials or even create a talking point while interviewing with prospective employers. Traditionally, many continuing ed students are already well into their careers, but it’s a good way for recent grads to experiment too.
March 15th, 2011 at 3:10 pm
I think that both James and Amy have made valid points worthy of consideration. I think that Amy’s suggestion can be particularly relevant for someone who does not possess all of the academic coursework that would make them a strong candidate with a potential employer. Additional coursework is an excellent way to make your resume more robust, show commitment and passion and help you to be more competitive with other qualified candidates for potential opportunities.
One additional comment related to the post by Evie - Mr. Brink suggests that students “put together a job search strategy.” I wonder how they are supposed to know how to do that when this is their first time looking for full time employment. I have spent the past year guiding and advising college students and recent grads through this process, but then I have 25 successful years of experience in executive search.
March 15th, 2011 at 7:23 pm
Hi Evie
Great post & always a difficult question to ask in an economy like ours. I was in a very similar situation when I graduated from college in the 1980’s. I opted not to go into graduate school & with the help of my university career center managed to find a job. It wasn’t my ideal job but then again, I didn’t really know what my ideal job was out of college. That first job taught me a lot about the corporate world that I was unfamiliar with. I went to graduate school 4 years later because by then I had a better idea what I wanted out of my career. I’m glad I waited because as James points out above, it’s a big expense to incur if you are not sure of what you want. The graduate degree plus my work experience also helped me command a higher salary once I finished graduate school.
I think these challenging times call for getting help in putting together a job search strategy from job search experts like Leslie Mittler. Candidates have to find effective ways to stand out from the throngs of other candidates. A job search strategy will help you do that.
Another way to stand out is to know what probing questions to ask the employer to understand what type of workplace they have. All corporations have insider secrets. Experienced candidates know this & they know to ask those questions. But employers know college grads don’t know what to ask & therefore don’t expect to get questioned on it. By asking the probing questions, you can stand out among all the other applicants. More importantly, the answers the employer gives to those questions will pull back the curtain of the company & give you a glimpse of what it would be like to work there so there are no surprises when you do.
Having an effective strategy that will help you stand out will help ease the sting when you rip off the bandaid. Sooner or later, it’s got to be removed!
March 15th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
Avoiding the poor job market is a terrible reason to go to grad school. You may well end up very unhappy as a result. Not having a real reason, and using a graduate level degree as a “back up” can be really problematic for your motivation as well. How can you be motivated to do awesome if it’s a back up degree? Undergraduate work seems like there’s a reason and a goal and an endpoint in mind, but grad school for these kinds of reasons does not have those things. For a lot of people, grad school may turn out to be a very expensive mistake that they don’t realize they’ve made until the end of their first semester. It’s always a good idea to think things out and figure out your reasoning, why you want something, before making such a huge decision as committing to grad school.
March 16th, 2011 at 9:54 am
I agree with Alicia. Deciding to pay for grad school just as a back-up plan could become a costly mistake. If you really want or need to go to grad school for your chosen field–then go for it and hopefully the economy will turn before your next graduation!
If you aren’t going to grad school, I also agree that standing out in your interview process is crucial. Here are five areas to think about before you go into the interview–based on our REACH framework: 1. Results (What can you provide this company or organization that is valuable to them?) 2. Enthusiasm (Why do you really want to work at this particular place?) 3. Attitude (What experiences have you had at getting the job done–including those undesirable tasks that inevitably come with any position?) 4. Cooperation (How well do you work on teams? Can you cooperate to get work done? Can others depend on you?) and 5. Honor (How will you show absolute integrity in everything you do? What experience have you had in this area? How trusting and trustworthy are you?).
Five simple words–but a wealth of information and knowledge to share with your prospective employers that will make you stand out. How do I know? Because our reseearch in organizations all over the USA showed that these 5 behaviors are what employers consider essential in today’s workplace. Best of luck, Evie and all 2011 graduates!