Niamh Shackleton
A damning study has revealed the reality of employers taking on college graduates.
For anyone who has graduated college in the last decade or so, you'll know just how hard it is to land your first proper job.
As of last year, it took the average college graduate around six months to get a job in the current climate.
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However, when they do eventually get a job, it seems as if many Gen Zers (people born in and around 1996 and 2010) are struggling to keep their jobs.
In a newly released study that looked at responses from nearly 1,000 business leaders in August, it was found that more than half of employers had already fired college graduates who were hired in 2024.
With this in mind, one in seven employers said they might refrain from hiring graduates in 2025.
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Intelligent's Chief Education and Career Development Advisor Huy Nguyen said in the report, as per Newsweek: "Many recent college graduates may struggle with entering the workforce for the first time as it can be a huge contrast from what they are used to throughout their education journey."
He went on: "They are often unprepared for a less structured environment, workplace cultural dynamics, and the expectation of autonomous work. Although they may have some theoretical knowledge from college, they often lack the practical, real-world experience and soft skills required to succeed in the work environment."
Of the 1,000 employers who took part in the study, reportedly 75 percent of them said that some or all of their recent college graduate hires were unsatisfactory. Yikes.
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The main reasons for this were lack of motivation, poor communication skills and lock of professionalism.
But employers aren't necessarily blaming the graduates themselves for this problem, but the US education system.
"As someone who went through years of education, including law school, I can tell you this: colleges are not preparing students for real-world work," HR consultant Bryan Driscoll explained to Newsweek.
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"Education today emphasizes theory over practice. Sure, learning Greek mythology is fascinating, but unless you're teaching it, how does that prepare you to communicate effectively in a corporate meeting or demonstrate professionalism? It doesn't."
Doubling down on this, 2023 figures suggested that nearly half of students didn't feel that their degrees armed them with the right skills, as per FE News.
An additional 20 percent said they would have found work experience more beneficial.