You made it to graduation! What happens now?
Caps and gowns and diplomas...oh my! Graduation season is upon us and with that comes a slew of recent college graduates (over 1.6 million according to the National Center for Education Statistics) ramping up to join the workforce of America, but what they may be greeted with is less than favorable for young job seekers. Recent college graduates will undoubtedly face fierce competition with the decrease in college hiring, but hunting for a job is not a recent college grad's only option. Many companies are offering new and unique ways for young job seekers to gain real-world work experience.
"I started my job search a couple of months prior to graduation," says Kenny Fellows, a graduate of the University of Michigan. "Prior to graduation, I had heard countless times about how tough it was in the job market, but I was pretty lucky in terms of being able to find an opportunity pretty quickly."
The opportunity Fellows found was with SkillStorm, a San-Diego based technical and professional services firm, and their new training program targeted specifically for recent college grads. The SkillStorm Program for Extreme Educational Development, also known as SPEED, is a six-week sales training program. The company covers all expenses including travel costs to the training site in San Diego, California, lodging, food, a weekly salary and performance bonuses.
"SPEED is a very innovative program. I hadn't heard of any other programs like it," says Fellows. " It was very intense, and not only allowed SkillStorm an extended period of time to train and evaluate us, but it also gave the us an extended period of time to evaluate SkillStorm, and the potential career opportunity set in front of us."
SPEED offers both lecture-style sessions and hands-on work experience similar to a traditional internship, but unlike internships, trainees that successfully complete the SPEED program are guaranteed a full-time recruiter position in one of the company's offices nationwide.
Fellows is now a full-time recruiter at SkillStorm and would strongly suggest training programs such as SPEED to other recent college graduates. "It is truly an unbelievable opportunity. If you are invited out to training, the worst case scenario is that you get a few weeks of intense sales training, and meet some really great people along the way. No matter the outcome, it is a very valuable experience and opportunity."
In the current economic state, post-graduation internships are also becoming more and more common. According to NACE's 2009 Student Survey report, more than 50% of college seniors had secured employment after graduation in 2007; in 2009, that number fell to a dismal 19.7%. An internship can be a great way to gain hands-on experience in the field rather than search endlessly for open full-time positions.
Rob Nunnery, a broadcast journalism major from the University of North Carolina - Ashville is a big fan of internships, both during and after graduation. "I actually had four internships," says Nunnery. "For me, it was an opportunity to get a glimpse into the broadcasting industry and my future career. It was a blessing for me because I realized that it really wasn't the career path I wanted and I was able to focus my attention elsewhere."
While most graduates find internships to be beneficial to their future, potential interns beware-internships are not necessarily a guarantee of full-time employment and, while the number of unpaid internships has increased in recent years, the Department of Labor is cracking down on many unpaid internships nationwide for illegally using interns for free labor. So how can students avoid being taken advantage of? First, interns should be familiar with federal regulations regarding internships. The Department of Labor recently released a new set of criteria for paid vs. unpaid internships, which can be found on the department's website. Potential interns should also ask questions - does this company have a formal internship program? Has the company ever sponsored interns in the past? Is there a clear list of responsibilities for interns? Asking these types of questions not only protects the potential intern, it also demonstrates a high level of interest in the internship opportunity, increasing a college grad's chances of being selected for the internship.
According to a September 2009 study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers plan to hire 7% fewer college graduates from the class of 2010 than they did from 2009's graduating class. This figure alone may not seem so troubling, but when you take into consideration the fact that employers hired 21% less college graduates in 2009 than in 2008, the outlook is not so cheery for recent grads. Does this spell disaster for upcoming college graduates? Not necessarily. While many graduating students may be nervous about starting a job search after graduation, there are other options they can explore. Some great resources for recent college grads to check out include www.SkillStorm.com/SPEED, the official site of SPEED, and http://www.internships.com/, a website chockfull of internship and internship-prep tools.
