Recession Could Hit Gen Y Hardest
Over the last few months I’ve seen post after post commenting that the impending recession won’t effect Gen Y and in fact may benefit them. I have to admit I’ve never quite bought into this theory. I lived through slow job markets in the mid 80’s and early 90’s. I know first hand that recent grads really took it on the chin when it came to job opportunities. I was one of them. So when I hear that recession won’t hurt Gen Y and may help them, I have a hard time buying it.
For years we’ve been told that a labor shortage is coming with the impending Boomer retirement and I’m sure it will, but not yet. More and more we’re finding that the Boomers are holding off retirement and will likely stay in the labor market until they are closer to 70 for a variety of reasons. What does this mean for Gen Y? For one we’re already hearing that while jobs are available, they aren’t necessarily the jobs they want. Couple this with a recession and job availability may well shrink.
Yesterday, Beyond.com released the following regarding the state of the job market for Gen Y, along with some tips for navigating the job market in a downturned economy. I say it’s a must read for all recent grads and anyone thinking of making a move. Tread lightly people!
PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–According to Beyond.com, Inc., the world’s largest network of online niche career communities, recent college graduates, made up mostly of the Millennial generation, are likely to be hardest hit by the worsening economic decline. Not only will these job seekers feel the largest impact due to the economy, but it will also be the first time many Millennials have experienced an economic downturn.
With looming recession worries, many companies will begin tightening hiring and training budgets, making them leery of hiring recent graduates who often require additional investments of time and training to get fully up-to-speed. Rather, employers will tend to seek out one exceptional candidate with standout credentials as opposed to several individuals with average qualifications.
“As college graduation nears, many new graduates will soon be launching their professional careers in the midst of what may be a significant economic downturn. However, many individuals from the Millennial generation have little or no first-hand experience of how to deal with periods of economic recession, which could potentially affect their chances of finding their first job” said Rich Milgram, CEO of Beyond.com, Inc. “To be successful, these job seekers will need to take every avenue of opportunity to sell themselves as a valuable, dedicated employee.”
Tips on how job seekers can stand out from the crowd:
- Gain more experience — Job seekers should increase their hands-on experience and broaden their skill set by doing additional internships, co-ops or apprenticeships.
- Consider further education — Considering a Masters program can help make a job seeker more attractive in the workforce and this value will only increase as the economy begins to turn around
- Leverage certifications —Job seekers can stand out by taking certification courses within their field to master their current skill set.
- Go niche— With competition for entry level jobs increasing, job seekers should seek alternatives ways to search for jobs. Niche career communities are a valuable, yet sometimes overlooked, resource to connect with employers through highly relevant searches and networking tools.
- Prove long-term value — With HR budgets potentially tightening, employers are looking for candidates who plan to stay with the company long term, so it is important for job seekers to convey their future plans during interviews.
- Review all correspondence — Job seekers should check and double spell check their resume, emails and thank you notes. Typos and grammatical errors can break a candidate’s chances for a competitive position. Get a second opinion before you send out correspondence!
Although these tips will be helpful in receiving their first job offer, it is important for new graduates to keep the momentum going once they start their new career. The possibility of an economic recession is leading employers to set high expectations for new hires. As a result, it has become more important than ever for job seekers to leverage their experience, enthusiasm and long-term value to employers to have the best chances of surviving potential layoffs due to budget cuts and downsizing.
Until next time…
Nothired.com, an inside look at HR
Ever wonder what happened to your resume? Why you never heard back from the recruiter who said they would call? Can’t understand why bloggers like me bang on HR people so much? Well, wonder no longer. You can now go inside the mind of HR via nothired.com. Hatched by a group of HR ‘gurus’ gathered in a San Francisco bar, this new blog claims to be ‘Dedicated to all those who wonder why no one has called to set up an interview…now you know’.
I don’t know about that, from what I’ve gathered so far it looks more like a bunch of bottom rung HR types taking pot shots at those they feel are lower than they, which should be a small group. Don’t get me wrong, I love snarky humor, perhaps more than most, but this type of behavior is best saved for the breakroom or the bar at happy hour. Taking it public just appears mean. HR has enough problems without having to resort to this sort of behavior. How would you feel if your less than perfect resume/interview ended up in public? Just not cool.
Until next time…
Travel Diary: The Griswold Family Vacation
Ah, the family vacation, a chance to trade the hassles of the daily grind and pack up the whole fam damily and really see what stress is really like. For spring break we decided to take our clan on a little history oriented trip to the birthplace of our nation, Philadelphia. Hang on to your hats and glasses, it was quite an adventure.
Missed it by that much -turns out getting the wife, the 13 yr old and the 1 yr old on an airplane is much harder than doing it solo. We headed out to the airport, what I thought was plenty early and even with a bit of a delay at Starbucks, the HOV lane saved us some time on the way to the airport, so far so good. Once there, we divided and conquered; my wife and son took the luggage and got us checked in, while my daughter and I parked the car and hurried back to the terminal. Parking should have been simple, but $25/day at the terminal was ruled out since I couldn’t expense it, so off to satellite parking we went along with the 78 stops to get back to the terminal, time was suddenly no longer our friend. The line at security offered the wait of Space Mountain in June with none of the reward. Then came the challenge of getting 4 people, 4 bags, a stroller, a carseat, 4 pairs of shoes, 3 cellphones, a laptop and partridge in a pear tree through security. Why are we doing this? We rolled up to our gate, what I thought was right on time. Turned out we were a minute late, and even though the door was still open, they weren’t letting us on. Crap, now what!
The Amazing Race Family style -Since we missed our booked flight we had to look at our options for later flights. We could a: take a flight through Columbus in 2 hours where we would be standby to get to Columbus and then go on to Philly or b: we could take a flight through Chicago where we would be booked through Chicago, but on standby to Philly , but guaranteed a 9pm flight (hmm Chicago, I’ve seen that movie, I know how it ends) or c: we could call the whole thing off. If our bags weren’t already on their way I think ‘C’ would have won hands down. So with no where to go but forward, on we went. The Southwest attendants were actually very helpful and early on assured us we would have at least 3 seats…but wait I have 4 people.
A different kind of lapdance -Yeah, so we made the Columbus flight, but could only get 3 seats. So with the 13 yr old tucked up front with his newly adopted grandparents, my wife and I sat in the LAST row with our 1 yr old on our laps for the 3 1/2 hour flight to Columbus. What sounds hellish was actually not that bad, our daughter slept for over 90 mins and was fairly easily entertained for the rest of the flight, she even made all kinds of friends with those around us.
The road less traveled -packed up and loaded into our rental car we headed for downtown Philly. I had printed directions to the hotel, but I also inquired from the rental car dude on how best to get to downtown. Turns out his directions quickly deviated from the printed ones as my wife pointed out several times. After a couple of wrong turns and asking a cabbie for directions (see it is kind of like the Amazing Race) we found our hotel and got checked in sometime around 10pm. Thank God for room service!
Highlights -So while the weather wasn’t always accommodating and the 3 hour time difference made starting early tough, we saw some great stuff and ate some great food. Sights -Ben Franklin Institute; loads of hands on exhibits from the mind of Franklin and others, The Philadelphia Art Museum; Run up (or walk) the 99 steps Rocky made famous and have your picture taken with his statue from Rocky III, once inside there’s a nice display of American and European art. Independence Hall; the birthplace of America, we saw where the founding fathers met, argued about, and eventually signed the Declaration of Independence (great tour), the Liberty Bell; the icon of America is on display along with some great info about it’s history, Federal Reserve Bank; great exhibit on the history of money in America, Baseball as America; select items from the Baseball Hall of Fame, a must for baseball fans, Princeton; beautiful campus and downtown area, the kids better study hard. Food - Jones Restaurant; hip, fun and family friendly. Great food, we went there twice, El Vez - another fun and family friendly place, great margaritas and guacamole (this place would do well in AZ too), Ricks Steaks; tucked into Rittenhouse square, Ricks is one of the places that claims to have invented the cheesesteak. I don’t know about that, but the cheesesteak was very good.
There’s no place like home - As much as getting to Philadelphia was excruciating, getting home was a breeze. We made the flight and arrived back in Phoenix without a hitch. We even managed to joke about the trip on the drive from the airport so I’d say we had fun. We’re already talking about how to make the next one better. Stay tuned.
Until next time…
