The Class Of 2012 On Jobs

TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2013

May 17, 2012 at 10:00 AM

The Class Of 2012 On Jobs

Caps, gowns, and a still tough economy. We’ll talk with the Class of 2012 about jobs, strategies, and how the real world looks from Graduation Day.

Photo Illustration (Alex Kingsbury/WBUR)

The graduating class of 2012 caught a cosmic break – sort of. Just as the country’s economy was sliding into turmoil and meltdown four years ago, they went off to school, to college. As waves of layoffs and foreclosures swept the nation, they were tucked away in class and dorm room, more or less sheltered from the mayhem.

Now they’re donning caps and gowns and stepping out into the world, joining a lot of jobless recent grads and more looking for work. It’s better out there. But it can still be brutal, too.

This hour, On Point: we talk with the Class of 2012 about jobs.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Carl Van Horn, director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. You can find his recent report on the job situation for recent grads here.

Evan Merkelson, graduating from Marist College who majored in human resources.

Tia Johnson, a graduate of Augusta State University, who majored in communications.

Naja Edwards, a graduate of the University of Illinois who majored in aerospace engineering.

C-Segment: Tom’s Commencement Address

We’ll hear a few minutes of Tom’s commencement address at Niagara University, given on May 12, 2012. You can find a transcript here.

From Tom’s Reading List

New York Times “Kelsey Griffith graduates on Sunday from Ohio Northern University. To start paying off her $120,000 in student debt, she is already working two restaurant jobs and will soon give up her apartment here to live with her parents. Her mother, who co-signed on the loans, is taking out a life insurance policy on her daughter.”

Wall Street Journal “Graduating college students face a mixed job market at best this year, and most will leave school without an offer in hand, despite an uptick in hiring by on-campus recruiters.”

Kansas City Star “They’re entering a slow job market recovery that has left behind many recent college graduates, as well as women and minorities. While other reports show that the 2012 graduates are facing the best job market since the Great Recession, the Rutgers study shows they’ll be fighting a lot of pent-up competition for the openings.”

Huffington Post “She’s far from alone. Of all those who have graduated college since 2006, only 51 percent have a full-time job, according to a Rutgers University study released Thursday. Eleven percent are unemployed or not working at all.”

Terry Tree Tree

The BEST of LUCK to the Class of 2012! I’m afraid they’ll NEED all the Luck they can get!
I hope they can really see the things that put them in the shape they’re in! Remember it, when you GO VOTE!!
Jack Marshak

Help is on the way for 2012 college graduates.

Obama impeachment bill goes viral. House Resolution 107

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9szk50VQes&feature=relmfu
- jefe68
  
  Funny how when GW Bush invaded both Iraq and Afghanistan not one of you right wingers said a damn thing. By the way Obama did not put troops into Libya.
  This is a load of bunk, the President does have a lot of power in this regard to how he uses the Armed Forces.
  - Terry Tree Tree
    
    ‘W’ was guilty of crimes FAR WORSE than the ‘right’ is claiming against President Obama!�
    AFTER the ‘W’ admin., have been honestly tried, THEN, you can talk about the crimes of the Obama admin.!
    Otherwise, it’s just HYPOCRICY!
  - MadMarkTheCodeWarrior
    
    Indeed… the blood of 300,000+ dead on his hands… Dubya, the two war president. Countless violations of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, Indicted for war crimes, a stain on America’s reputation. Asleep at the wheel while Wall Street ruined our economy and the lives of millions. Millions not guilty of the excesses that caused our meltdown… nuff said.
    - Kashby
      
      Hey as long as we’re off topic
      …Don’t forget W tossed aside the PDF “Bin Laden determined to strike within US”.
      
      Probably was too busy watching a re-run of “Family Feud”.
  - mark
    
    Amen, the Bush baby is the one that got us into this mess in the first place. He and his cronies.
- Mr. Trees
  
  Lulz, 800 views is not viral. How would a bill even go viral?
ToyYoda

Congratulations, and good luck! Job market still looks bad out there. I frequent a coffee shop and I still see the same English majors serving me coffee for the past couple of years.

However, the job market for any computer related technology has been heating up. If you are a computer major, or even a math major, things are looking better, if not ideal or abysmal.

I majored in mathematics long ago and now I’m a principal engineer at a robotics company as a contractor. They have offered me a full time position, but I have declined! Of all things, every person is scrambling to find jobs, and I am declining. My advice to young, if you’re single, and don’t have any financial liability, aside from college debt and maybe a car, I would look into contracting. First, you are more likely to be hired. Two, you are less likely to be exploited hourly. Three, it gives you a mental edge. Four, -and most important to me- you can have blocks of 1-3 months off where you can work on your on personal projects, whether that is travelling, or your own ‘startup’ idea. Mine is a mathematics project, which to me is worth millions (but sadly zero on the market).

Anyways, good luck!!
- Yardview12
  
  Cooperstown, NY is looking for two English teachers.
  - Sam
    
    Exactly!
    
    There ARE jobs out there, people just don’t want to or can’t relocate to fulfill those, and they are not very well paid.
    
    When I was graduating – 10 years ago – one of our teachers asked how much we were expecting to make right out of college/in our first job. That was THE most eye opening experience I had in all of college. Kids were saying mid 50′s and 60′s.
    
    I am making THAT now, 10 years later.
    
    Maybe some kids did get out of college and found jobs paying that – in Technology/programming, 10 years ago, but not everyone.
    - Don_B1
      
      In the mid-’00s, top school MBAs and even physics majors who went to big Wall Street firms started at $100,000 or even higher. But they created mathematical algorithms with constraints that their bosses could not, did not want to understand, leading to the derivatives (CDOs, CDSs, etc.) scandal that became the financial crisis.
      
      This work made them rich while impoverishing many people, and costing the rest, in the country.
Drew (GA)

Best of luck Class of 2012, you’re certainly going to need it.
Michiganjf

Want to create jobs?

… end the corporate culture which makes shareholder interests and stock value (and the attendant CEO incentive stock options) the ONLY part of the formula which is important to those in a position to decide whether next quarter’s earnings should be their most important consideration.

… until then, expect CEO’s to be concerned ONLY with filling their pockets this quarter and the next, and say good-bye to even more jobs if they think they can squeeze another dollar out of their projected stock options balance.
- Michiganjf
  
  … meaning CEO’s don’t focus on a company’s LONGTERM viability and whether or not a large number of people will be able to afford their products or services three years or more from now.
- Zing
  
  If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
AC

my advice on this issue remains the same: can you be replaced with a computer program/software? with a robot? Then, learn how to create/maintain these cheap labor alternatives or start using snail mail, television and visiting your bank again…..
John in Vermont

If you just graduated and wondering about finding a job let me give you some advice from the far side of the job market – don’t be in such a hurry to get a job. Is all you really want out of life a paycheck, two or three weeks off to do what YOU want to do? You think school confined you – you haven’t seen anything til you get stuck in the workplace.

This is a great job market to just take a year to travel, work some part-time gigs, actually DO the thing you do as a hobby (photography, magic, sailing – whatever). Don’t concentrate on finding a job – find what you really want to do for the rest of your life or at least for a good chunk of your life.

Don’t let your parents, relatives, friends etc. force you into doing “something productive with your life.” If they were to really think about it – they wish they’d followed this advice.

In looking around you may become an ice cream taster, game tester, the person who lights couches on fire for underwriters Labs or one of the other “dream jobs.”

So, congratulations on graduating and good luck in finding yourself.
- KWS
  
  I think it is sad that one needs to be out of school to “find oneself.” If kids could figure out what they wanted to do with their life in high school, maybe we wouldn’t have so many 7th year college seniors and people wandering through graduate school, racking up huge debt or mooching off of family to make ends meet.
Terry Tree Tree

Mitt Romney, and ALL the ‘Job Creators’, that have grabbed up almost all the money, for ten years, will give them ALL a job, at least, til after the election?�
THEN, they grab their profit, FIRE, or lay people off, and go do it again?
- William
  
  How much money did the government grab up the past ten years?
  - jimino
    
    The lowest portion in history from the upper echelons of income and assets, and obviously not enough to pay its bills.
    - William
      
      It is wrong to blame those that worked hard for the overspending in Washington.
      - bellavida
        
        I like how how the far right started blathering about the overspending in Washington as soon as Obama took office. The tea-partiers were nowhere to be found when he was racking up debt starting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Didn’t see any Don’t Tread On Me flags even though there was massive spending going on.
  - Terry Tree Tree
    
    For ‘Civillian Security Contractors’? For Oil company Subsidies? For Coal Subsidies? To build, or ‘insure’ nuclear power plant construction? To give ‘Corporate Welfare’, to the Super-rich?
       To pay for Wars, in places the 9/11 ‘attackers’ were NOT from?
       To up-armor un-armored vehicles for war?
       To provide health-care for the VICTIMS of war?
       To provide health-care for the Millitary disabled by war?
       To pay BONE-USes, for EXECUTEives of ‘Too-Big-to-Fail banks and other companies, that FAILED miserably?
       To Bail-out Banksters?
    Quite a LOT, actually!
    - William
      
      You forgot the 60 plus billion a year Medicare gives up to fraud.
      - Terry Tree Tree
        
        Fraud is fraud! How many Republicans are turning-in, investigating their contributors that they suspect of Medicare fraud?
        About as many as there are Catholic bishops jailing criminal priests?
http://gregorycamp.wordpress.com/ Greg Camp

Human resources–this is an illustration of the problems with our world. I’m not a tree, a lump of ore, or a fossil fuel. I’m a person. What happened to personnel?
- Chris B
  
  Amen!!! What it says is that human beings are merely a commodity. Every time I hear the phrase, “human resources”, I think soap and lampshades. Which I’m sure is exactly how we’re regarded by many of those noble job creators.
J__o__h__n

It is ironic that the HR major can’t get a job that he wants.
Steve Soto11

Having gone to college in Puerto Rico, then having joined the military, and now back in college in Georgia to finish the degree I started back in Puerto Rico, I’ve been able to notice a huge difference in students and teachers due to either geography or the times.

Classes were so much more difficult and in depth in Puerto Rico, and the students were actually hard working. Now back in college, I see the students in general are just not putting forth the effort, which makes me shine in comparison, but makes me realize something is just wrong there. The teachers seem to feel obliged to provide more chances to these students than they deserve
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  Millitary experience gives you a different perspective, and the knowledge of what you want?
http://gregorycamp.wordpress.com/ Greg Camp

Given the state of education today, businesses may need to revive apprenticeships. Students are spending more and more time in schools to learn less and less.
- Adks12020
  
  Why is it that you think they spend more time and learn less? The number of credits needed to graduate from college have been pretty much the same for a very long time. I know they were virtually the same when my parents graduated in 1971. How is it that they are learning less? Do you think the teachers are worse, or the cirriculum? or are you just guessing?
  - http://gregorycamp.wordpress.com/ Greg Camp
    
    Just consider what an educated person was expected to know in days gone by and compare that to today. We crank out legions of specialists who know only their narrow fields, but have no clue about the broad world. They also have limited ability to come up with answers that aren’t fed to them by a machine.
- Sam
  
  Aren’t you a teacher, Greg?
  Do you think maybe your teaching “style”/ability has anything to do with students learning less?
  - http://gregorycamp.wordpress.com/ Greg Camp
    
    Yes, I’m a teacher, and until you take one of my classes, you don’t know my style. My assessment is based on how much my students already know when they come to me. It’s also based on conversations with others in my department and college.
    - Sam
      
      And you feel/think that each and every one of your students, who actually WANTS to learn, leaves your class knowing more?
      
      You’re funny.
      
      And I didn’t say anything “bad” about your teaching style, as of course you pointed out I haven’t taken your class and wouldn’t be familiar with your teaching ability.
      
      I just find it funny that a teacher, blames the students, for the lack of knowledge. But apparently you just blame the other teachers who your fabulous students had prior to your class.
      - http://gregorycamp.wordpress.com/ Greg Camp
        
        What point, exactly, are you trying to make? Students have to bring a desire to learn, and teachers have to have the ability to teach. Unfortunately, the former is often lacking. In addition, schools need to reject all these bright ideas about how to teach this or that and get back to what has worked. Elementary schools these days aren’t requiring the memorization of basic math facts, for example. Students who can’t do basic arithmetic without a calculator are the result.
        
        Of course, you’re just trying to disagree with me, so I’ll let the matter go now.
      - Zero
        
        To you last comment: if a rigorous curriculum starts at an early age, a rigorous curriculum can be sustained throughout all levels of education. If previous teachers stunk, it would be harder for Greg to get the students up to par.
        
        It’s obvious that this is so. America needs to start kids in school at younger ages and the students should not have summers off, but wait, that will cost more money….
    - Brett
      
      As any good teacher should, it sounds as though you assess the students’ skills and knowledge when they enter your class. Getting a baseline would then inform the teacher as to how he/she should proceed…sounds like the method I’d use if I were teaching.
      
      While I see the need for teachers to be creative and attempt some form of individualization based on each student’s baseline, so to speak, the only way one can really teach–without unrealistic use of supports of which no teacher on the community college level would truly have the luxury–is in a uniform fashion.
      
      Besides, it sounds as though you mostly teach English Composition courses at the community college level. As much as a teacher can infuse the student’s experiences with some interesting writing exercises, the nuts and bolts of the concepts/skills taught would need to be straight forward. I believe that one has to learn the rules of writing before one can break them, something ostensibly missing in the education of most people under age 22, I’d say, with regard to their writing skills.
      
      While, one would think that all teachers should inspire and motivate, the kids are in college, after all; this is something for which either they or their parents are paying. It seems this aspect of the concept of going to college often gets lost on students. It isn’t high school!
      
      I also feel that writing well isn’t as valued as it was once. I believe strongly that all adults, whether a plumber, a social worker or a banker, should have the ability to write well.
      - Brett
        
        Sorry for the comma after “while” at the beginning of the fourth paragraph. I know, I know, “while” should be included as part of the introductory clause that begins with “while” and ends with “motivate.” I promise, I’ll do better in the second draft!
      - Brett
        
        I also noticed that in the same sentence I made “the kids are in college” into a kind of parenthetical expression; the comma after “college” was unnecessary. In fact, I use commas too liberally to emphasize how I want the sentence to read, I know. It’s all those British writers I read as a child. Damn them!
        
        I guess maybe, um, pride goeth before a fall?
      - Brett
        
        Actually, the whole damn sentence is poorly constructed and could be easily fixed by separating it into two/trashed entirely to start over. Again: SECOND DRAFT!
Chris B

Internships are a rotten and despicable con to get labor for nothing. They should be outlawed.
http://twitter.com/setaspellmedia setaspell media

a question for the students.. Is the only intention of going to university now just landing a job or carreer after graduating? Is it just an economic decision? or a quest for truly higher education?

In my day, we tended to vagabond to Europe to get a propesctive of the world to decide what we truly wanted to do.
- BHA in Vermont
  
  How long ago was that? I graduated in ’79 and at that time the reason to go to college was to get a good career job. I feel lucky that I have managed that. I don’t have the same hope for my kids.
- http://www.jameslcarey.com/ James L. Carey
  
  That world is surely gone. Most of our generation is hoping to have a job where they don’t have to wear an apron.
- irryl9
  
  As a student from 2006: Graduating with the amount of loans most students now have, with only 6 months leeway until you need to start repaying them, is a huge incentive to start your job hunt. While most would love to travel, they have so much debt it is simply not an option
Sam

What about Americorps and PeaceCorps and other volunteering organizations?

You can postpone your loan repayment and/or get the stipend to pay for the loans and living expenses.

I am out of college for about 10 years now, and got a job right out of college, and now I wish I would have taken that time to volunteer more and travel and see the world.
Adks12020

Get ready for a possible long haul kiddies. I graduated just before the recession (2006) and took a job I wasn’t that into just to pay the bills until I found something else. It pays the bills; I do ok and have health insurance but I’m still at that job, which I really don’t like despite about 2 dozen interviews over the past few years. Competition is fierce and if you don’t have the exact skillset many employers just dismiss your application. Even when I’ve gotten second, even third, interviews I didn’t quite get to the end. Last year I went back to school for a masters degree in the hopes it will help lift me out of here.

Like the guest said earlier, now your competing with people like me with 5 years of experience and your peers. Fingers crossed for all of us!
- Sam
  
  I feel sad, that we live in the greatest country in the world and it doesn’t feel like that. That we “have to cross our fingers” in order to SURVIVE.
  
  SAD.
  
  and hopeless.
  
  I don’t feel current political situation, with reps and dems fighting, nor any of the current prez candidates are going to make things better.
  
  The dude that was here yesterday, the 1% – i am sure THEY don’t feel sad, or feel like they have to “cross their fingers” to survive.
  
  Maybe the recent grads who can’t get jobs can join the rest of the young people in the parks – the rest of the 99% movement.
  - Don_B1
    
    Without the Republican obstruction, Obama would have done a second round of stimulus that would have strengthened the recovery. He was led to believe that if the first try was not enough, a second try would be possible. But as soon as the first did not do all that was attempted, the Republicans denounced it as a “failure,” and any additional action beyond more ineffective [see below] tax cuts have been extracted only by extending the Bush tax cuts for those earning over $250,000.
    
    But remember, the financial crisis cost the economy a drop in OVER $2.3 trillion in GDP over two years, and the stimulus of under $800 billion also over two years, was too small. And the Republican votes (Spector, Snow and Collins) move more of the stimulus into tax cuts which boost the economy by only $0.45 for each dollar spent (versus $1.60 for each dollar of unemployment compensation). Also payments to states to keep teachers and first responders were cut; the expiration of that money is a prime cause of those state cuts occurring now which are keeping the jobs creation numbers and thus the recovery down.
    
    And some $100 billion or more of the stimulus was for the adjustment of the Alternate Minimum Tax, which happens EVERY YEAR and would have occurred ANYWAY and thus should not have been counted as “stimulus.”
    - Zing
      
      That’s why they were elected, some voters wanted them to obstruct. Sorry you don’t like our system, but some voters think you’re wrong and if they have the power to affect policy, then so be it.
      - Terry Tree Tree
        
        MOST voters want legislators that will do what is BEST for the country, state, city, etc…, with the LEAST obstruction, which COSTS plenty!
      - Zero
        
        It is obvious that redneck right wingers who make up the republican base are a bunch of idiots voting against American and their own economic interests. I just hope the majority of the country wakes up and sees how malignant the republican party is.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Christopher-Peck/1698651022 Christopher Peck

No one can vagabond because they have too much debt! Forty years ago, it cost about $500 to attend the U. of Michigan.
Robertpeterson56

Suggestion for future show: David Owen’s recent book “The Conundrum” would make a provocative show. His thesis is that increased efficiency of energy consuming products often results in an increase in net energy consumption.
- Don_B1
  
  This is nothing but a well-debunked story that keeps getting “revived.” Some vampires never die:
  
  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/26/451740/debunking-the-fallacy-of-the-prius-rebound-effect/
  
  There are other places where this is debunked also; it should soon be an object of outright RIDICULE.
Charles A. Bowsher

To the recent grads, Congratulations!

I know this is all about recent grads, but as an older grad who paid off his student loans years ago I want to encourage the recent grads to sagely advise their younger siblings that maybe living in a dorm or at home while in school is a wise thing to do. So you have to do chores. Who cleans your apartment? Who does your laundry? If you use student loans to live in an apartment or join a fraternity or sorority I can’t really generate much sympathy for your economic plight. It just kind of bothers me that I hear so many young people complain about their student loan debt burden, as if it is some sort of surprise that they have to pay it back.

The young lady who went to school via the military had the right idea. I personally think the majority of our children would do much better if there was a mandatory 2-year public service requirement after high school that gave them two years at a home state college or technical school as part of the pay when done.
- Yar
  
  Amen brother. The public service model of higher education make a lot of sense.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=625642192 Tia Johnson
  
  Thanks. My time in the military isn’t really paying off in the job market at the moment, but I don’t have loans and I don’t live with my parents, so…
  I think an important thing we didn’t get to address is the issue of being over qualified. I’ve been passed over for some jobs recently because the employer thought with my background, I’d leave the area soon and he didn’t want to risk it. Even when you’re winning, you’re still losing sometimes.
  - Terry Tree Tree
    
    I finally figured out that ‘over-qualified’ was the interviewer was afraid that I’d be after HIS job! I am NOT a back-stabber! If my supervisor moves up, retires, leaves the company, then I would be interested in her/his job. I would NOT try to mess her/him up, to get their job!
- JGC
  
  I agree with the part about living in a dorm, if it can save money, plus the connections made will help later after graduation. There is a social aspect to university that deserves its due. Living at home to save money is another good idea to avoid debt,although you lose some of that important social aspect. But better that than being in debt to 5 figures or more.
- Zero
  
  I don’t know what you mean by “public service”…do you mean digging ditches for the government or joining the military? I think there are plenty of people who would dig ditches to pay for college, but people shouldn’t have to risk their lives for higher education.
Charles A. Bowsher

“Comrades” in Americore? Come on Tom!
Kristin2555

HAVE A PLAN BUT MAKE SURE IT IS ALWAYS ALIGNED WITH YOUR DREAMS – That’s my advice to my two new college graduates – one who needs to “reset” and exorcise college, and one who is comfortable just taking the next best step.�
The resetter graduated from The University of the South with a political science degree. She is off to the Yukon Territories for a 10 week long NOLS trek in the back country. For her, this is a mind, soul and body “cleanse” and we support it. I think she will be ready to tackle the next phase of her life after she gets back from this “reset”.�
Daughter 2 focused on school and internships during school without really worrying too much about post-grad world. She graduated from the Ag College at University of Tennessee with degrees in animal science and biology. She has very specific goals to work with large exotic cats in the area of conservation and will be submitting an internship application for an exotic cat sanctuary in Texas to start next Fall. In the meantime, she will live with us in Nashville and make good use of her bartender’s license. My advice to them has always been to follow their hearts. There’s no point in spending one’s life doing boring stuff, it is always possible to craft something of interest to do. Just take chances and have a little faith in yourself.
kaltighanna

Those people who keep shouting at the new grads to do “internships” and “volunteer” are clearly out of their minds. Not everybody has wealthy parents who can support them until they’re 25yo. New grads need jobs, real paying jobs. Taking unpaid internships is a waste of time and it costs money, not to mention it takes away from their ability to look for a real work opportunity.

All I have to say to the class of 2012 is: I’m really sorry for your plight, but you’re luckier than me. I graduated in 2009…

It may seem awful now, but the economy is cyclical. Two years of not having your dream job may seem like a tragedy, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not. My advice: keep looking, stay relevant, read as much as you can, stay tuned to the news, and please, drop the “like”, the “hmmm”, and the “you know” from your speech, as well as any notion that you’re entitled to wealth, happiness and recognition. Real life is not a fairy tale and not everybody gets to be royalty.
- TFRX
  
  There is some useful writing at LawyersGunsMoneyBlog about how well off one needs to be getting out of college to “afford” to do an intership.
  
  It’s a racket, often a way to separate the riff-raff (disclaimer: I was one then) from the richer classes.
  - bellavida
    
    You are absolutely correct. I graduated in ’95 and to this day, my classmates at a private university that had help parental help so they could afford an unpaid internship, or take a summer in India and Nepal to “find themselves”, then later used those same parental connections to get good jobs and networking opportunities, have fared better than the average graduate from a blue-collar family. The rich class knows how to take care of its own.
marym

yes to the technical internship or the trade schools., but like everything else, look before you leap!!! Find out what you will be making in your first job..E.G. Chef/cooking school… leaves you in quite a b it of debt.. such as 20k on up.. but you graduate and get your first job making…. wait for it….. wait for it.. minimum wage.. It’ll take you forever to pay off your loans..
Sam

Beautiful Niagara campus.

I drove through Niagara Falls, NY last weekend.
I would say … 90% of that city is dilapidated and abandoned houses – ghetto.
- Markus
  
  Agree. Different topic from today, but would be an interesting show that covered the contrast between the Canadian side of NF and the American side. One is thriving (with some schlockey stuff) while the other is a sad mess. Ten years ago, NPR gave a stat that 50% of NF USA was on some form of welfare. Very sad, given they have the natural resource of the Falls and the Niagara river.
Markus

Friends who are venture capitalists (and yes, they do create jobs – the naivete on this issue is amazing) talk about how, until recently, the measure of success for graduates was a job on Wall Street. Good news is they say this has shifted towards starting businesses in silicon valley and similar places. A number of industries including health care and energy have dropped the status of working on Wall Street, somewhat. Encouraging.
- TomK in Boston
  
  Are you confusing venture capitalists with leveraged buyout predators like Romney? I haven’t heard any attacks on ventures.
  - MadMarkTheCodeWarrior
    
    Agreed… There are indeed true Venture Capitalists who really do create jobs, but then
    there are too many Vulture Capitalists… like Romney those who leverage a small investment
    with other people’s money to buy the farms, slaughter the cows and chickens,
    fire the hands, empty the cookie jar, demo the house and sell off the machinery
    and land….
    
    How many steaming plots of scorched earth have I seen left in my lifetime
    where a viable company once stood but management had bigger ideas for
    themselves at the expense of tens of thousands of American workers.
    
    Farm, steel mill, paper products manufacturer, computers… no difference: screw the
    workers who helped build the company, build reputation and relationships with customer.
    
    Do we really want a president who thinks that’s a model for success of the
    country? Get real, it is not sustainable.
    
    I remember when Ross Perot put up his chart during the Presidential debates on TV.
    I agreed with him then and everything that he said has pretty much come
    true:
    
    We’ve outsourced the basis of our strategic strength and national security, we allow ourselves to
    be the victims of unfair trade, 4 out of 5 jobs created by American corporations
    are overseas. That’s why this recovery is so anemic, not our president’s
    policies… if anything he should have pushed harder against the right for more instead of bowing
    down to the rich congressmen who insisted on continuing tax cuts for themselves
    and their big contributors rather than stimulating our economy with more of the historically proven more
    effective measures.
    
    �
    We need strategic economic initiatives to promote job creation here, not loopholes and tax codes that
    promote outsourcing and overseas investment. That ain’t right. That’s not what America, Apple Pie and Mom are all about!
    
    How about enforcing some tariffs that even the playing field!
- Don_B1
  
  While venture capitalists are often lumped in with the private equity types (e.g., Mitt Romney) are quite different. The latter underwent a name change from corporate raiders for understandable reasons. They are the ones who see weaknesses in a company that they try to exploit for their own profit; if their efforts lead to a more profitable company, all the better, but not a requirement.
Kathy

I’m so sick of this nonsense that normal Americans should give up on a college education. In 1925 my grandfather was a machinist in a foundry in England. He had a trade. He did not leave his wife and children for a year and emigrate to America so his great grand-daughter could be a plumber.
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  Plumber PAYS better than a LOT of college-degree jobs! You get PAID, while learning, instead of just PAYING.
     If you choose to be a plumber, or other crafts-man, you have an honorable trade, that isn’t likely to disappear soon.
     If you choose a degree, choose carefully.
     The BEST of luck to you, whichever!
- http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
  
  I had a plumber out to my house yesterday. For literally 5 minutes work the bill was $114.00. Executive wages in my book….over $1,000/hour.
  - Terry Tree Tree
    
    Unless the owner, the plumber gets LESS than half, usually.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Half is just fine with me, I will work for $500 per hour anyday.
- Don_B1
  
  If you don’t like plumbing, you should not be one. But if you are good enough to see the problems in each job and come up with good solutions, within code, and do it efficiently, you can make good money and take satisfaction in accomplishing something.
  
  The “math geniuses” who should have been working improving the Internet, developing better search engines, more energy-efficient cars, etc., instead went to Wall Street, earned $millions and crashed the world economy with their (misused by others) algorithms for derivatives. Some satisfaction!
Mark

You should also talk about how many students that graduated in the past few years have loans due and can’t pay them. The banks don’t seem to want to work with them. They just say pay up or defalt. My daughter graduated 2 yaers ago and still hasn’t found a job in her field,personal trainer/sports medicine. She still has a job as a waitress but it barely pays the bills much less the student loans. So Dad has had to step in and help but now my savings are depleated and the bills keep comming in. The banks don’t want to work with us to consolidate all her loans and lower her payments. Something has to be done, soon. Mark, Canton NY
Don_B1

There are two things that I hope the Class of 2012 does:

1) Finds a job, preferably one each will enjoy, with growth prospects over their lives, by learning that prepares them for the next job in the company or a new company.

2) They remember why the current job market is so dismal:

a) The Republicans cut taxes on the rich, cut the power of the average worker (unions, NLRB, etc.) to leverage growth in pay while the income of the C-level executives rose.

b) The Republicans (Alan Greenspan at the Federal Reserve. Christopher Cox at the SEC) decided not to enforce the law on the “shadow bankers” who were creating the mortgage/housing bubble. That bubble when it collapsed, took over a $1 trillion of purchasing power out of the economy, so that businesses had their sales of goods and services drop through the floor, with the result that they laid off a lot (4 million?) workers and then had the power, because of high unemployment, to get workers to work longer, for less pay, for less benefits. And only as the amount of mortgages under water declines will that slowly change unless the government stimulates the economy.

c) The Democrats had the right idea in the ARRA (Stimulus bill of 2009) but did not go big enough, because they DID need at least one Republican vote in the Senate (Arlen Spector, but he needed “cover” of at least one more, so both Olympia Snow and Susan Collins joined him). But they required further changes, one reducing help to the states (whose budget cuts eventually roughly EQUAL the amount in the stimulus). Thus the Stimulus was able to stop the job hemorrhaging, but not deliver a strong recovery. The Republicans want to return to the policies that created the problem.

I do not know of any commencement addresses that deal with Climate Change, but in ten to fifteen years that will be the biggest issue the government, and thus you and hopefully I, face. The International Energy Agency has reported that for every $1 not spent on CO2 emissions reduction between now and 2020 will require $4.30 to achieve the same result. So don’t believe those that say the world can wait until “more” is known. Today a good reduction plan would cost less than 2% of GDP, far less than the multiple trillions the opponents claim. And it will save much more than that in the future. [See http://www.skepticalscience.com for the true science.]

Remember the learning process that you underwent in your classes: you read things that did not support ideas that you had believed, so you did the hard work of searching for the truth, by looking up reputable sources and reading enough to absorb the logic that took the empirical data to the understanding of why the world actually does not work the way you might have initially thought. You will be called to do this for the rest of your life, and you should not hesitate to put even your basic understandings under the microscope.
- Bruce
  
  Excellent advice based on cogent analysis whether or not you’re part of the Class of 2012!
  
  Anyone who finds himself in today’s job market needs to understand that one of the compromises that the GOP extracted to fund the stimulus cited above, “reducing [Federal] help to the states,” has cost our country nearly a million public-sector jobs since the end of the Recession, even as private-sector employment rates have risen significantly.
  
  By one estimate, the national unemployment rate could now be 1 to 2 percentage points lower if the GOP extortion efforts had not succeeded in pushing thru these draconian cuts to Fed. aid to the states & municipalities AND Republican-controlled state legislatures/governors had not acquiesced refusing to consider any tax hikes, no matter how modest, in order to address their budget deficits.
  - Bruce
    
    To be clear, the “draconian cuts” I’m referring to were those lower levels of support for Grants to the States including the Fiscal Stabilization Fund that were adopted in the final version of the Stimulus Act thanks to the GOP stonewalling or threatening filibuster.
    �
    At the time, most experts agreed that these reduced funding levels would be inadequate to provide the necessary relief in the wake of anticipated State budget shortfalls especially in education. The result three years out has been draconian cuts to the public service sector by state and local governments. In addition, at the national level, due to GOP intransigence on raising revenues, we’ve seen reductions in the budget outlays for several federal programs benefiting the states such as CDBG, SCHIP, Foster Care, Clean Water and Public Housing.
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      So, if the GOP was trying to destroy, or help destroy the U.S., they have a good start?
      - Bruce
        
        Yes, as you suggest the GOP seems more comfortable with destroying things whether its the politics of personal destruction per Karl Rove, a preemptive war inspired by Neocon hubris, or the transformation of Wall St. into a Casino by anti-regulatory zealots.
        
        I know my analysis in the foregoing posts is somewhat oversimplified. No doubt, Obama’s team underestimated the depth of the Great Recession and the recovery time required to bring down the unemployment rate to an acceptable level. And their assessment may have predisposed them to compromise with the GOP on the size of the Stimulus package as well as cut State aid in favor of tax incentives many of which benefited the wealthy.
        
        One thing is for sure, the GOP and the elite it represents seem determined to lead the country down that same thorny path that Alan Greenspan euphemistically called “creative destruction” insulated, as they have always been, from the pain associated with that “creative destruction” by their entrenched power and privilege.
TomK in Boston

I feel bad for the class of 2012. They are on the front lines of the class war. I hope they know it.

The oligarchs had a big victory in stealing the home equity of the middle class, once their greatest asset, with the subprime scam. Now the assault continues with student loan debt, a cancer on the USA. The strategy is to starve the states of tax revenue so they cut support of state universities. This has been going on for a long time now. Many “state universities” are getting percent support in the teens or even single digits now. You wonder if they should even be called “state” anymore. As a result, where a pillar of our economy used to be almost free, high quality public higher education, tuition has been rising rapidly.

So, tax cuts cause tuition hikes which cause student loan debt. I always say, follow the money. The result is another massive redistribution of $ from the middle class to wall st and the oligarchs.

The debt wouldn’t be so bad if good jobs were there. However, jobs with good pay and benefits are bad for corporate profits. When the romneys say “we have to be competitive”, they mean competitive with 3′rd world wages and benefits. Good luck paying back the loans that way.

I’m afraid that borrowing to go to college doesn’t make sense unless you are targeting the shrinking areas where you can make a good living. This is a giant change for the worse, as it means university has been changed into trade school.

Of course the children of the 1% can go to any institution they want without worrying about debt, which will help further solidify our developing oligarchy.

There is a solution – total rejection of voodoo economics. Unfortunately not even the Bush crash has got that lesson across. What will it take?
- Worried for the country(MA)
  
  The ‘state university’ system continues to pay Billy Bulger’s annual $200K pension.
  
  Bulger certainly didn’t pay into the system so it is the taxpayer and thus the students who pay.
  
  Why is there a dearth of jobs in the US? Massive over regulation and an uncompetitive tax structure.
  
  Look at the thousands of jobs avoided by the delay of the Keystone pipeline. We were able to defeat the German’s and Japanese in less time in WWII than it is taking to approve the pipeline.
  - Bron
    
    Very wise. Bring on the pipeline to create some temporary jobs, and kill the planet in the process. While we are all happily driving our cars right over the cliff, the planet can just be damned. Meanwhile, get your facts straight. The dearth of jobs has much to do with outsourcing, technology and the fact that boomers can’t retire because the banks stole their money.
  - Terry Tree Tree
    
    Massive over-regulation, like what caused the Banking Bubble, the Mortgage Bubble, Deepwater Horizon Blowout, TARP, Pre-TARP Trillions, and MANY others, where EXECUTEives got $ Millions of BONE-USes, for causing disaster?
    THEY sure were over-regulated, weren’t they?
    IF you lost money to them, you would likely call them CRIMINALS?
  - TomK in Boston
    
    Talking point alert! “Evils of regulation” script from 1980 detected, still dangerous after 32 years of never being right.
    
    Somehow this “virus” persists even as we suffer through a crash caused by DEregulation of the financial sector.
    
    “Uncompetitive tax structure”, LOL. Lowest individual rates in the developed rule and one of the lowest effective corporate rates. What, you want them even lower? Where does it end?
    Also good job on tactic #102, Worried: divert from a serious issue with an anecdote about abuse.
Gregg

I don’t know what the worry is, just look at “The life of Julia”. Government will take care of everything.
Jim

if republicans continue to be elected to congress and/or (God forbid) the white house… you will see more free labour in the form of unpaid internships in corporate america. employers will continue to exploit loopholes in our labour laws.

good luck to the grads and keep your heads up…
Rhonevalley

College is a racket. Everyone goes to college today and for many many young people their time in college will get them very little but enormous debt. Avoid the navel gazing track of humanities and social science unless you’re OK with not making any money. Sure there are exceptions…Some of us that have careers and experience owe the younger generation better advice than “Find your passion…something you love to do…find yourself…” It’s not only young people though, look at all those Master’s programs out there. “Get your Master’s from the comfort of home in one year!” If grade inflation has not infected the entire system, there may be some average students left out there. Specific advise? Check out welding, weld inspection, non-destructive testing, other skilled technical roles in petroleum and power generation, trades that provide career paths. They can pay very well after 5 (est) years and can take you all over the world if that’s what you want.
Terry Tree Tree

In his Commencement Address to Niagra college,Tom gave an impressive resume to this Radio Talk Show Host! Quite diverse, well-rounded, and a REAL background.
- Warren
  
  We sent a new Key Board to the Fire Station.You keep capitalizing.Hate speech should flow.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

iOnePoint:

United States send 2 attack submarines to Subic Bay. 150 miles from the shoals that China is claiming to take away from the Philippines.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Amber-Dru/100002491478976 Amber Dru

Why was there no mention of the 75,000 permanent work visas the U.S. gives out each month? Why no mention of the 7-8 million jobs held by illegal aliens ? The Legal Workforce Act mandates E-Verify nationwide, notifies you when multiple people are using your social security number and increases fines for employers who knowingly hire illegals.
- bellavida
  
  I’m glad you brought that up. My employer, has dozens of postings filed with the Federal government, at any one time, for H1B visas to fill jobs in the Information Systems department. These positions pay $75,000 to $100,000. It is claimed there are no qualified candidates in the country to fill those jobs. I would venture to say, that may only be part of the story, since these jobs are classified as long-term temporary and thus they don’t have to pay benefits, especially pension and health benefits.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Amber-Dru/100002491478976 Amber Dru

J visas so foreign youth can work in the U.S. and travel takes jobs too! The papers are flooded with stories about how this is a national crisis, yet the State Department thinks we have 109,000 jobs to give away?
39.9 percent of young adults (18-29 years old) who have not completed high school want a full-time job but cannot find one (39.6 percent of U.S.-born Hispanics; 65 percent of U.S.-born Blacks).30.9 percent of young adults (18-29 years old) who have only a high school education want a full-time job but cannot find one (33.3 percent of U.S.-born Hispanics; 44.2 percent of U.S.-born Blacks).20.4 percent of young adults (18-29 years old) who have completed only some college want a full-time job but cannot find one (23.1 percent of U.S.-born Hispanics; 29.7 percent of U.S.-born Blacks).10.8 percent of young adults (21-29 years old) who have a bachelor’s degree want a full-time job but cannot find one (11.6 percent of U.S.-born Hispanics; 18.6 percent of U.S.-born Blacks).*
- AC
  
  ?? we’re hiring but you need a science or engineering background –
  I’m confused by your list? you can’t just throw people into certain positions – they could seriously hurt themselves, others or cause serious property damage & worse, loss of life.
  Sometimes, it does really require an education based in a specific industry. I’m not sure of the ‘why’ but a lot of americans don’t want to do this kind of study? It’s actually really fun, despite the ‘nerd’ stereotyping that still goes on….:(
  also, you do not list where your sample base/information was gathered? how do we know we can treat it as legitimate? (sorry, but my Dad was a statician & taught me how to be suspicious of selective data)
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Amber-Dru/100002491478976 Amber Dru
    
    Source: “A Bleak Employment Picture for the Young: Unemployment and Underemployment In the Second Quarter of 2011,” by Dr. Steven Camarota, Center for Immigration Studies, September, 2011 and�
    http://www.heldrich.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/content/Work_Trends_May_2011.pdf
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Amber-Dru/100002491478976 Amber Dru
    
    ?? we’re hiring but you need a science or engineering background …What is the company’s name and location? ….. Earlier this year The Washington Post ranked recent college grads unemployment rate by major. #8 Recent college graduates who majored in science had an unemployment rate of 7.7 percent.#9 Recent college graduates who majored in engineering had an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent.
    - AC
      
      of course I can’t do exactly that, but i can do better – every Feb. in most states, you will find a career fair for graduating senions put on by several disciplines. I can tell you the 2012 one we had had a lot of Jr’s looking for internships, but the seniors didn’t want to relocate so many lost out. We did get 4 really great new people though….
    - AC
      
      **seniors
- JGC
  
  I was visiting family in the Outer Banks last summer, and I was surprised at all the Eastern European accents at the checkout counters for the grocery stores, souvenir shops, etc. I mean, everywhere I went, instead of the typical Southern accent. These people were all late teens to mid 20s in age. I have to think that they were hired as part of a J visa program. Not one of them looked engaged in their employment. Boring and a grind. I felt bad to be there buying that scented candle or bag of groceries, like I was exploiting them. I also remember reading about foreign kids that were hired under the J visa program to work at the Hershey chocolate plant in Pennsylvania last summer, and they went on strike for pay below minimum wage, dangerous work and essentially a false bill of sale concerning what the J visa program was supposed to provide for their American experience.
  
  This program has its uses, but should be U.S. bridge-building for foreign university students, and not taking away from employment for our own youth. We have many kids who could well use that first job experience to set them on their way in life.
  
  At the same time, it is extremely important that foreign university workers on the J visa return to their own homes with positive overall experiences of life in the U.S., because they are the ones who will be running their countries 30 years from now.
Barbara Moore

What surprises me most about the discussion of this topic is the lack of historical perspective. My children were babies in the 60′s. That’s when La Leche League etc. was a big deal, along with natural childbirth, midwifery, having babies at home, etc, etc. Pretty much everybody I knew breastfed their babies. People joked about maybe it’s time to stop when your kid climbs on your lap and unbuttons your blouse. People carried their babies around in carriers, both back and front, breast fed in public, took babies to bed with them, the whole nine yards. Eventually when the sixties ended, all these customs faded. Now everybody talks like this has never happened before. But surely there’s plenty of evidence about how it worked before. Maybe other people have brought this up, but I haven’t found any similar comments. Why is our historical sense so shallow?
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  WOW! Did you breastfeed through college? The subject of the day, is prospects for today’s college grads?
TomK in Boston

Make no mistake, this is about class warfare. Look at the big picture. Follow the money. In the Bush crash, the home equity of the middle class was redistributed to the romney types. Where is the money flowing FROM and TO with student loan debt? It’s not a hard question, class.
Brett

Back in my day, college was cheap; living in general was inexpensive. One could make mistakes in decisions about majors or in career choices then rethink the whole thing, without the consequences presented in today’s world from ill-conceived choices. I wouldn’t want to be young again for any amount of money, fame or exceedingly good looks.
Megan

I’m a college graduate of the class of 2011. It took me a few months after graduation to find a job, but I eventually did. However, I don’t necessarily blame it on the economy. In my personal experience, and from what I’ve heard from friends, the college graduates that are struggling seem to be simply those without a plan. And I would argue that this isn’t news. I just don’t know too many people that have done everything quote-unquote right and are struggling with finding a job. Myself as an example, I graduated without much of a plan, and I spent more time searching for a job than my peers who knew what they wanted for awhile. My thoughts are that no, the economy is not ripe with opportunity, but if you’re in college and you have fairly clear post-graduation plans (both the A and the Bs), you don’t have to worry so muchif you stick with them.
TomK in Boston

I think this is important. Of course, student loan debt is a threat to the middle class. More broadly, it’s about our values.

�
Once we had a consensus that very inexpensive, very good, public higher education was a priority. Whatever it cost would be repaid to the society many times through the success of the graduates. This was expressed, eg, in the “Compact” of the University of California. That was a different America. IMO it worked rather well.

Now we have the Ryan-Romney-Rand America. If you want an education, you can dam well pay the full price up front. Do you expect the taxpayers to subsidize you? What do you think you are, “entitled”? Now, if it comes down to a choice between the State U and the Swiss bank accounts of the 1%, those bank accts win every time.

This change didn’t just happen. It didn’t have to happen. It’s not an “act of god”. It’s our choice. We elected the Ryan-Romney-Rand pols, the voodoo economics proponents, and we’re getting their vision of America. We can throw them out, too.
Warren

Open your own businesses,become entrepreneurs.Do not become Social Workers.They suffer from Freudian Guilt Complexes.Be honest, get rich,put people to work.80% of American Millionaires are self made men.As the first of the “Trickle Down” Presidents JFK said,a rising sea lifts all boats.Bouyant economies do more good then all the Social Workers of the world combined.Honestly earned riches are still extolled by half the world,pay no attention to the Marxist Professors.The business of America is Business and this is a Golden Age.
- JGC
  
  If this is the Golden Age, it’s only because today’s graduates have been caught in the Golden Shower administered by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and all the other high finance folks that helped to bring us the Great Recession.
  - Terry Tree Tree
    
    EXCELLENT RESPONSE to Moda, er Warren.
Warren

Always remember that in America you are innocent until proven.Karma is real!!!Many on this blog wanted to hang Mr.Zimmerman and he may well be innocent.You Hangmen know who you are.That is not the American Way
- JGC
  
  And what does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Please respect the topic of the moment, and remember free-for-all-Friday is less than 24 hours away.
Mike Levay

I graduated in 2010

My biggest regret is the attitude of my parents to “find something you love” during college. Their intentions, I’m sure, reflected their own experience, but basically left me with a liberal arts degree that is not helping me find a well-paying, stable job.

Could there be more direction from our nation’s leaders on what kind of talent the nation and the nation’s employers are looking for?
- JGC
  
  Hi Mike,
  
  I really hope things work out for you. I have two kids and numerous nieces and nephews who are in the same situation (or soon to be).
  
  If you can get some sort of foreign experience, that would be helpful in our global world. And foreign doesn’t have to be too far away, with Canada and Mexico right at your doorstep. With your liberal arts degree, you can summon your creativity. Stay well connected with your friends and college professors and alumni association. Don’t be afraid to try. Get out of your comfort zone.
  
  It is important where you find yourself physically located when in your 20s. Life is serendipity, and you never can plan how this will connect with that. For myself, as I look back on my life that did not have a scheme, my older brother joined the Peace Corps after graduating from university, and upon return from Africa was funneled back through Washington,D.C. like many Corps volunteers. He got a part-time job at a sandwich shop, and from there a full time job as a private high school teacher and yet again from there, a computer programming job at the NIH. He invited me to come live at his apartment and help out at the lab (for free). I did this every summer during my college years. When I graduated, I went to live in D.C., and because I enjoyed being there, several of my college friends also came down to share an apartment with me, and soon we were making new friendships, important career connections, and some of us going on to study for master’s degrees and PhD’s. Some of us met our future spouses here. It is really important to be in a place where you are able to try and succeed (and sometimes fail) with the support of your friends and family. And where you can expand your possibilities, without having to hire a moving van.
  
  Sometimes I reflect upon, gee, if my brother had not panicked about life and joined the Peace Corps after his university years, would (for example) my friend L. have found herself in D.C. ten years later, eventually getting an MBA degree and meeting her now-husband, then starting their family? And of course the answer is “no”, because this is the randomness of life. She may have been just as happy or just as miserable anywhere else she decided to start her life after college. But just to let you know, where you find yourself after schooling is very important as to how your life choices proceed. Don’t spend it in your parent’s basement!
  
  As for direction from our nation’s leaders, at the moment they are not even able to lead themselves in a united direction to help the country overall. So don’t look to them. Consider advice from people you know and trust.
  
  Good luck!
Cracked_mask

I graduated in 2010 as a Physical Therapist Assistant from a community college. I currently earn more than my boyfriend, who has been a public high school teacher for six years. I have more job offers every week than I ever believed possible. I am extremely lucky!!!
- Gregg
  
  Don’t sell yourself short. Luck is the convergence of preparation and opportunity.
Kitty67

First of all, I would like to express to you my sincere appreciation for the wonderful service that has been offered me by Dr. Gboco. Your products are beautiful and of the highest quality, which means a lot when one is investing one’s heart, as well as a substantial amount of money. Additionally, Dr.Gboco. gbocotemple@yahoo.com has always been exceptionally kind and helpful whenever I have called with personal/product concerns; he has never failed to return a call or answer a question, no matter how trivial, because he seemed to recognize that the answers were important to me. I am also deeply appreciative of the time that you, Dr.gboco, have taken regarding my two ordered dual castings. I have tremendous faith in spellwork, and I am gratified to have your support in this self-empowering endeavor. KITTY
Rusalka

The statistic Van Horn mentions about only half of graduates employeed full time is more relevant than individual success stories that are being broadcast on this show. I think the focus on positive outcomes is poor reporting that doesnt reflect the deep structural problems facing this age group, which the job market and educational institutions struggle to cope. In regards to the person mentioning JFK and the “rising tide lifes all boats”…yes, it does, WHEN the playing field is equal, and corrupt officials, old fat cats and middle aged over paid workers are not taking unequal pieces of the pie. I graduated college in 2010 and relocated cities and am looking for a job for two months now. I am discouraged by few call backs, despite constantly “perfecting” resume and relevant experience to my field. I am not sure if the problem is so much related to the economy as a resurrection of the 1950s organization man idea and close minded thinking. Businesses sitting on money, and not wanting to train anyone.
I like Tom Ashbrook and On Point, and I think relevant issues are raised in this program, but not from a realistic angle.
Peter

Interesting posts. I am a college professor who struggled post college and my recommendation to high school students (not current/recent college grads, sorry) is to a) strongly consider 2 years at a community college and transfer to 4 year public, b) get the socialization (independence) of a 4 year, c) pursue a volunteer/low cost out of country language acquisition experience during a summer in college or immediately post-college, and pick a major and preferably minor in an area that possesses growth such as general business and renewable energy, or general business and some science degree (read: be interdisciplinary). Combining business, science, and a second language will provide you with control in a chaotic environment in which you will still have 10 or so jobs in your lifetime.

ONPOINT

TODAY

South Texas, The Border And Immigration Reform

Jun 19, 2013

87 Comments

As the Senate debate over immigration heats up, we go to South Texas, the new front line in the battle over illegal border crossings.

Sir Ken Robinson On Discovering Your Passions

Jun 19, 2013

40 Comments

Sir Ken Robinson, who gave the most watched TED Talk ever, tells us how to find what really makes us tick, and get the most out of life and work.

RECENT

SHOWS

The Astronaut Wives Club

Jun 18, 2013

6 Comments

In the days of the Space Race, they became overnight celebrities as their husbands shot for the Moon. The Astronaut Wives Club.

Solving The Organ Donor Shortage

Jun 18, 2013

48 Comments

Are lab grown blood vessels, hearts and lungs the answer to the nation’s organ donor shortage? We’ll look at the brave new science.

On Point Blog

Questions on Civil Rights Champion Medgar Evers?

Wednesday, Jun 5, 2013

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers. We’ll be talking about his life and legacy. What are your questions about Evers, about civil rights now?

More »
1 Comment

What’s Your Question For Mark Bittman?

Tuesday, Jun 4, 2013

We’ve got a terrific On Point Live event coming up this Thursday evening. Tom will be interviewing food author and columnist Mark Bittman at the Paramount Theater in Boston.

More »
4 Comments

Tick Tock: The Secrets To Your Relationship To Time

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Claudia Hammond, author of “Time Warped: Unlocking The Mysteries Of Time Perception,” told us new memories make you feel like there’s more time, whereas routine makes it seem like the weeks and years zip by.

More »
1 Comment