The class of 2013: A bubble about to burst
(MoneyWatch) A number of people have been writing about the headline out of a recent Accenture study: More than 4 in 10 young people who graduated from college in the past two years have jobs that don't require a college degree. It's quite depressing given the six-figure price tag a college education can easily present.
But what I thought was more interesting about the study was the broader mismatch between the expectations of the class of 2013 and the reality experienced by members of the classes of 2011 and 2012.
Accenture asked members of the class of 2013 how much they expected to earn. Just 15 percent of soon-to-be graduates expected to earn less than $25,000 a year. Unfortunately for them, a full 32 percent of members of the class of 2011 and 2012 earn less than that amount (and that's with a year or two of experience!)
- How women can win at negotiation
- What great coaches do -- and leaders should too
- The best question to ask yourself each night
Of course, we all hope to do better than average on the pay front, but I found this a more depressing stat: While 77 percent of 2013 grads expect that their employers will provide formal training, only 48 percent of the class of 2011 and 2012 said they received such training in their jobs.
In other words, the class of 2013 is in for a pretty rude awakening when its members hit the working world.
That training statistic, though, provides an interesting idea for employers looking to recruit younger workers. If three-quarters of graduates expect training and only half of employers provide it, you can make yourself stand out by providing learning experiences for new hires. It needn't be elaborate -- no one's expecting an employer to send the new kid on the block to Europe for the summer to get a short-form M.B.A. But a few weeks of formal training could get the word out that you're a good place to work, and make your new hires want to stick around.
Do you train new grads?
Photo courtesy of Flickr user spatulated