On Giving New Graduates Opportunities
“The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.” – Abraham Lincoln
I’ve been kicking it around in my head. There are programs for students in school (internships and the like) where they can get experience in a field they are working towards and maybe (just maybe) get hired where they are interning. Such things are common in the goverment, PR agency’s and even Law, MBA schools.
But let’s be serious. Many of us arn’t always that sharp and we leave college, fresh with degree in hand … and are screwed. Turns out, after you leave college you are a “professional.” yet the catch 22, because you have no practicle exprience few want to hire you.
What is needed, what this page advocates is the “newly graduated.” Paid internship program. And that’s the rub actually. PAID internship. While in collage you were free labor, paid for by govt or private loans. As a graduate you are really a salaried person.
It’s wrong.
Anyway the idea was to get a fund, a 501(c)3 not for profit who’s only purpose was to accept donations to pay the newly graduated so the companies wouldn’t have to. Several methods could be worked out.
1. Pay actual intership rates, in, while the Not for profit paid the Intern a base salary.
2. to be eligable for greater than normal rates (upcomming) the intern would be evaluated by the employeer and must achive a steady “satisfoctory rating overall job and personality performance.”
Gathering funding may (well) would be difficult, but there are Gov’t grant programs as well as private funding (and being a 501(c)3 would be tax deductable.
But i hesitate, for there is the hardest and most difficulty burden. Not new applicants. Grad schools gradute enough people every damn semester. The problem would be convincing companies to hire these young gradutaes or revamp there Intership programs.
What would be needed at a minimum.
- Business Development Associates. – To seek out standard internships and to convince companies to hire these recent gradutes. This would involve working also with universitiy graduate programs.
- HR/ Staffing professionals – To screen and match these young graduates and career changers with companies.
- Communication specalist. – To help promote this radical idea. To get people to contribute to it and to even add more exposure to the program.
I’m willing to give it a try. What about you?
OceansOfThought @ October 14, 2008
This is actually very common practice in the engineering world. Many engineering schools, particularly those in urban centers like my beloved Marquette in Milwaukee, have long-standing co-operative education programs in place.
Our program was set up to change a 4-year college experience into a 5-year experience, by alternating school and work terms begining in a student’s junior year. This gave students an opportunity to have real full-time work experience for a minimum of 3 semesters (possibly 4, depending on the starting term).
Applying for these co-op jobs was much like applying for a “real” job after graduation, there were resume forms to fill out, inquirey letters to send, and on-campus live interviews to further convince your future employer. The program has a long history, and a lot of employers fish in this new talent pool on a regular basis, all positions were paid, and many students were offered full-time employment following a sucessful co-op.
The students benefit by obtaining real work experience, in my case it was surveying and construction inspection, and by applying lessons learned to their school work during the classroom semesters. The employers benefit by hiring these (comparatively) cheap workers that are not only computer savvy and quick to learn, but that may prove to be worthwhile investments in future permanent employment. If for some reason the employers think they’ve made a bad choice, the risk of keeping someone for a year’s worth of work is minimal, there are no obligations to extend permanent job offers at the conclusion of the final co-op term. The schools benefit from organizing the co-op placement because such a healthy program actually attracts students.
In my opinion there are few, if any, downfalls to the system. It’s true that some people don’t like their co-op jobs, but I hardly think that’s different than permanent employment in general. And yes, it took me an extra year to graduate, and the tuition the last year was higher than the others. But I didn’t have to pay tuition the terms I worked, and I had to do a little coordination to ensure my scholarship moneys would apply correctly to my school terms. I have never regretted that choice; the investement in optimizing my employment candidacy was well worth the wait.