Nowadays in developed countries, finding a job has become tougher for young people. Although full of hope and energy, the young, fresh out of college, might not have the right skills that the employers want. The McKinsey Center for Government reported that only two-fifths of the employers are confident that they would find enough qualified graduates for their entry level positions. Therefore, the real shortage might be the skills, rather than jobs. Mona Mourshed of McKinsey said that in order to better prepare young people for workplace, the old notion of education happens first and employment later needs to be ditched. Acquiring work experience while acquiring knowledge is indispensable. Affordable online resources are available for not only the young people to prepare themselves for work, but also the mid-career workers to advance their skills. Technology can be used as one's tool to get up to speed with the advancing job market.
Link: http://www.economist.com/news/international/21594350-how-cut-youth-unemployment-fast-changing-jobs-market-all-hands-deck
2 comments:
It’s kind of sad to read this article and learn that post-grads are lacking in concrete, usable skill sets these days. It is possible that this is becoming an ‘epidemic’ of sorts because young people are not choosing an area of expertise and really working hard to perfect it. Many people fear that a large portion of our generation is ‘lazy’ and working as hard as our parents and grandparents will hinder the U.S.’ potential future growth.
I am grateful that Ohio Wesleyan and many other institutions are encouraging young college students to apply for internships and get "real" work experiences as early as sophomore years. This will better prepare younger generation in terms of experiences and skills that current employers desire. Sadly, although the field of jobs is changing dramatically at a very fast pace, becoming more technological, many institutions, such as Ohio Wesleyan itself, are not changing as much in terms of its curriculum and fields of studies. Unless current institutions advances to provide young students with the skills that current job market requires, or more after-college preparatory institutions (online or offline) are established, how can we prepare ourselves to meet the needs of current job market?
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