How “Low” Can Jobs for Fresh Graduates Go?

The Educated Minimum Wage Worker

By Lawrence Tam

260,000 Grads With Minimum Wage Occupations Courtesy of CNN.com

Although declining, the number is too high and“wages across occupations … are declining”

Tsedeye Gebreselassie of the National Employment Law Project.

Could Seattle Become The Best Place For Jobs For Fresh Graduates?

Seattle’s minimum wage is $9.32 and there is planning in the works to raise it to $15 an hour.

BUT..

Will this help or will it cause workers to be replaced by software and labour saving devices?

• Nearly 60% of employers rated the current job market as good to excellent

• Many plan to increase their hires this year

• 65% of recruiting is in the fall

• 35% in spring

This means = Start Early

Although Hiring Is Up

Courtesy of Online Colleges.net

The System Is Broken

When we have an abundance of college graduates, paying more for college than their parents or grandparents but getting less of a return - The System Is Broken.

Although getting a college degree is still important, we must recognize that earning a degree and getting a job is not the same as it used to be.

What Experience Do They Look For?

What Attributes Do They Look For?

Applicable Skills

There are good chances of jobs for fresh graduates in:

• Business Administration

• Engineering

• Computer Science

However liberal arts degrees are in less demand than ever.

Degrees in Demand

Top Hiring Industries

Passion

It is all about what and who you know that opens doors for you, NOT your brawn or even how smart you are.

If you are talented and intelligent, but stuck in the prison of industrial age thinking, you are not going to get far.

What they are paying

My College Level Jobs (internships)

• I was hired as an intern to work with M.W. Kellogg during my college days in 1994

• There were a TON of layoffs

• I got this job NOT through the college intern program, but by contacting the head-hunter (campus recruiter) directly, OUTSIDE of the normal system.

Bummers

• Nepotism - I was in the “minority”.. not because I’m Chinese, or didn’t have a 3.5+ GPA… but through not having a parent that worked in the company.

• Only being able to SURF the company internal websites and NOT having external access to the Internet.

First Job Out of College (New Grad)

• With Motorola Semiconductor in Austin Texas

• Good pay

• Good times

• Laid off after 1 year. The whole department got dissolved and eventually Motorola Semiconductor was sold.

This was my pager, seriously!

Move On

• I retired from Mechanical Engineering in 2012 (forced retirement) when I was 33.

• I decided to never go back into the industry and went full time into my internet marketing and consulting business.

• My peak income for Engineering was just under $100,000 in a year.

• My peak income for internet marketing was just under $800,000 in a year.

Yes, as shown..

In My Experience

• I submitted my resume to over 50 different companies outside of the campus computers.

• I went DIRECTLY to the companies Human Resources departments.

• I landed jobs by taking massive action and just going after what I wanted.

Job Sources

Send your resume to over 100 places and be visible to any hiring company.

I got:

• one job through a friend

• one job through a head-hunter I connected with

• another intern through a professor

Love Or Love of Money?

If you are getting a job for the money…. there is a lot more out there for those that are hungry.

If you want to apply your degree.. do so.. But don’t do it because you think it pays the best.

Feel it out.

Be doing something you LOVE or do it for the money.

Game Plan

If it’s NEITHER….

Figure out a 2-5 year game plan to get to what you want… Money/passion or both.

Consider Working Online

• There are plenty of jobs out there.

• Do a lot of research.

• You should be well-organized, so that you weed out the wheat from the chaff.

Your Own Online Business

• Do a lot of research.

• Do not fall into the trap of being in constant research mode.

• Take action.

• Get your hands dirty.

• Take some risk.

• Take heart - I worked at Babbage’s for $5/hr in 1994 in college – now called Gamestop.

Start Learning Today

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