The Second Open Letter to Recent College Graduates and Their Parents
This article first appeared in print in Forest & Bluff, Hinsdale Living, and Sheridan Road Magazines.  For a copy of the original letter, please click here
Today’s job search process is difficult on everyone, with plenty of tension, frustration and challenges to go around. And within this pressure-packed environment there lurks an insidious career inhibitor: underemployment.
Most motivated college graduates vigorously pursue employment after graduation, but many are met with rejection or worse – no feedback at all from the marketplace. Discouraged, many resort to what is commonly called the “for now†job: working retail, waiting tables, bartending and working in call centers. Unfortunately, “for now†doesn’t have a defined end-point, and once the graduate is busy with his or her 40 hour per week job, there’s no time or energy left
for a full-time job search.
The potential long-term financial impact of accepting a position that may not require a four year degree, critical thinking, sound communication skills or analytical abilities, is significant as well. Our research shows that the $18,000 difference in average annual starting salary of our clients ($38,000) versus a minimum wage “for now†job ($20,000) yields a $200,000 difference by year ten. Add this “opportunity cost†to the magnitude of the investment in the college education already made, and the total is staggering.
Campus2Career consultants and advisory board members understand this problem of underemployment; and we know how to deal with it. We thoroughly prepare our clients for today’s job search process for the right career. Clients discover what they want to do, for whom and where. They learn how to market themselves on paper, via the telephone and in person.
End result: our clients are highly valued and sought after by organizations that they want to join. The response from families in the North Shore of Chicago and elsewhere in the United States has been gratifying. More importantly, however, the results our clients have experienced have been exceptional – each has landed the right job to begin his/her desired working career.
Please visit our website, campus2career.org, or call 312.343.5593 to learn more about C2C and our process. This is the first step to discovering and achieving the right career path.