‘Unprepared and entitled’: College grads unpopular with hiring managers

[Nittering Nabob]

The last sentence of the attached article was interesting.

Pennsylvania State University was the only one to respond and Senior Director Bob Orndorff of Career Services told us that they “are experiencing major budget cuts.”

‘Unprepared and entitled’: College grads unpopular with hiring managers, survey finds | The College Fix

Hiring expert offers several suggestions to The College Fix for recent grads on how to land a job.

www.thecollegefix.com

 

[Bison13]

Not really surprised considering I’ve seen those same kids in the education system prior to college. Not only are the kids entitled, but so are their parents.

I’ve sat in interviews where the interviewee brought their parents to the interview. Well, I think it’s perfectly acceptable for you to potentially have your parents drive you to the interview, they should stay in the car until the whole process is over. And the two examples I’ve had though one did bring their parent in and they sat outside in the waiting room, but in another one, the parent asked to be in the actual interview with their child. And then when that parent was not allowed in, and their child was not hired, they demanded to speak with us.

 

[LionJim]

Not really surprised considering I’ve seen those same kids in the education system prior to college. Not only are the kids entitled, but so are their parents.

I’ve sat in interviews where the interviewee brought their parents to the interview. Well, I think it’s perfectly acceptable for you to potentially have your parents drive you to the interview, they should stay in the car until the whole process is over. And the two examples I’ve had though one did bring their parent in and they sat outside in the waiting room, but in another one, the parent asked to be in the actual interview with their child. And then when that parent was not allowed in, and their child was not hired, they demanded to speak with us.

A big issue: “You can’t tell them anything.” This isn’t a new thing, I was like this. But this can be crippling.

 

[razpsu]

That is funny. If we hire someone over 18 as an employee and they are having an issue or they don’t work out their parents may call here and there. I tell them I cannot discuss the employee situation with them since the employee is an adult. Also, the feedback part is so true. If you give them feedback they are in shock if it isn’t rainbows and candy.

 

[TheBigUglies]

He's not wrong there have been budget cuts. Some colleges at PSU prepare you better then others. Every student is different, there are students that work hard and create opportunities for themselves which are most likely the 1 out of the 4 but there are other students that just want to AI their way thru school. A former student, who is now in a position to hire, once told me you can tell which candidates cheated their way thru college and which ones worked hard to get thru college.

I think it is absurd that a parent would go to an interview with their kid. I guess there are those helicopters. Also, the shock from negative feedback seems to be coming from the everyone gets a medal generation.

Sometimes the best candidates are those that have been involved in high school or college sports(Club or Varsity). Most know how to work as a team and how to handle adversity and adapt.

 

[JohnJumba]

He's not wrong there have been budget cuts. Some colleges at PSU prepare you better then others. Every student is different, there are students that work hard and create opportunities for themselves which are most likely the 1 out of the 4 but there are other students that just want to AI their way thru school. A former student, who is now in a position to hire, once told me you can tell which candidates cheated their way thru college and which ones worked hard to get thru college.

I think it is absurd that a parent would go to an interview with their kid. I guess there are those helicopters. Also, the shock from negative feedback seems to be coming from the everyone gets a medal generation.

Sometimes the best candidates are those that have been involved in high school or college sports(Club or Varsity). Most know how to work as a team and how to handle adversity and adapt.

The problem is that most interviewers don't know how to ask objective job related questions.

Instead they ask crap like where do you see yourself 5 years from now and other worthless garbage like that.

 

[OaktonDave]

He's not wrong there have been budget cuts. Some colleges at PSU prepare you better then others. Every student is different, there are students that work hard and create opportunities for themselves which are most likely the 1 out of the 4 but there are other students that just want to AI their way thru school. A former student, who is now in a position to hire, once told me you can tell which candidates cheated their way thru college and which ones worked hard to get thru college.

I think it is absurd that a parent would go to an interview with their kid. I guess there are those helicopters. Also, the shock from negative feedback seems to be coming from the everyone gets a medal generation.

Sometimes the best candidates are those that have been involved in high school or college sports(Club or Varsity). Most know how to work as a team and how to handle adversity and adapt.

There are also schools that have a culture of preparing students for life after college. I saw this when my son was taking college visits; some schools spoke extensively of how their programs prepared the students for future careers while others barely mentioned it, if at all.

I agree with your last paragraph but would expend it beyond sports to include other activities that involve group effort and responsibility. My on played baseball, but he was also involved in an intense music program and had a part time job. I think all three were valuable in teaching the skills/traits that you describe.

I'm hesitant to generalize about any generation as exceptions are too easy to find. I had a roommate 30+ years ago who constantly complained about the guy who owned the business where he worked - he was dumb, he was obsessive, he wasn't a good boss, etc. When he got fired for poor performance and failure to respond to corrective feedback, all he could do was whine about how damaging it was to his self-esteem. As a roommate, he was entitled and lazy. I say this because while one wouldn't normally associate that kind of mindset with someone born in the early to mid-60's, there he was. It may be more common these days and enabling parents more obvious, but it's not a new problem.

 

[Steve JG]

Not really surprised considering I’ve seen those same kids in the education system prior to college. Not only are the kids entitled, but so are their parents.

I’ve sat in interviews where the interviewee brought their parents to the interview. Well, I think it’s perfectly acceptable for you to potentially have your parents drive you to the interview, they should stay in the car until the whole process is over. And the two examples I’ve had though one did bring their parent in and they sat outside in the waiting room, but in another one, the parent asked to be in the actual interview with their child. And then when that parent was not allowed in, and their child was not hired, they demanded to speak with us.

its not just colleges that do poor job preparing their grads for real world. Medical schools do a very poor job preparing their students for the work world and imparting in them the idea that they are going to do a job, a very demanding job. Our interns come in dramatically under prepared for the "work world" aspect of doctoring. That they have all day shift, 5 or 6 days a week and during that shift have number of recurring responsibilities and tasks that have to be completed n timely fashion. I get all old man on my soap box about it, way back when I was an intern....... And I am very often the first person ever in their education and training who tells them they got something wrong. The smart and ambitious trainees are very appreciative of that, knowing I am much more helpful focusing on what they getting wrong than what they getting correct. The dumb, lazy and entitled trainees get every resentful about it and never really develop fully

 

[Big_O]

Don’t ask my millennial daughter about Gen Z employees. She has a lot of issues with them when it comes to work ethics and entitlement. My daughter is not your typical millennial as she and her millennial sister have great work ethics, which hopefully was instilled by me as I worked around 60 hours a week my entire career and had no time to be a slacker. At least they don’t have to work about every third weekend like I did during my career. I told them you work hard and you will have a leg up on most of your peers. Both daughters quickly rose up the ranks in their organizations.

Most of my peers worked just as hard as I did, so I can’t complain. You just did it. This likely is because we all had WWII generation parents who went through more than we did over the years including living through the great depression.

 

[Big_O]

its not just colleges that do poor job preparing their grads for real world. Medical schools do a very poor job preparing their students for the work world and imparting in them the idea that they are going to do a job, a very demanding job. Our interns come in dramatically under prepared for the "work world" aspect of doctoring. That they have all day shift, 5 or 6 days a week and during that shift have number of recurring responsibilities and tasks that have to be completed n timely fashion. I get all old man on my soap box about it, way back when I was an intern....... And I am very often the first person ever in their education and training who tells them they got something wrong. The smart and ambitious trainees are very appreciative of that, knowing I am much more helpful focusing on what they getting wrong than what they getting correct. The dumb, lazy and entitled trainees get every resentful about it and never really develop fully

Don’t get me started on that. It is pretty bad when it comes to their wealth of knowledge about medicine and taking care of patients. Some of the questions I was asked by medical students and residents near the end of my career just were stupefying at times and I would think to myself how could they not know that basic knowledge. Just like when a resident near the end of their first year asked me what a fecal impaction was when I showed her on an x-ray as being the likely cause of the patient’s abdominal pain. But the newly minted physicians seem to really know loads about social justice, just not that much about medicine.

 

[HarrisburgDave]

I am as old and as big of a fart as there is on this board. Still, I do not find the young people today much different than we were back in the 60s and 70s. There is the fact that I worked in engineering and construction most of my life, and I guess the kids attracted to careers in those professions tend to be more serious and hard working. Now, get off my lawn.

 

[LionJim]

I am as old and as big of a fart as there is on this board. Still, I do not find the young people today much different than we were back in the 60s and 70s. There is the fact that I worked in engineering and construction most of my life, and I guess the kids attracted to careers in those professions tend to be more serious and hard working. Now, get off my lawn.

Same with me. I watched my students grow through their years. I had to point out that they weren’t working hard enough but they caught on, bought into my program.

 

[DaytonRickster]

The last sentence of the attached article was interesting.

Pennsylvania State University was the only one to respond and Senior Director Bob Orndorff of Career Services told us that they “are experiencing major budget cuts.”

‘Unprepared and entitled’: College grads unpopular with hiring managers, survey finds | The College Fix

Hiring expert offers several suggestions to The College Fix for recent grads on how to land a job.

www.thecollegefix.com

Major budget cuts shouldn't mean you can't better prepare your students for a changing job market. After all, students are their business. Maybe not.

 

[DaytonRickster]

Not really surprised considering I’ve seen those same kids in the education system prior to college. Not only are the kids entitled, but so are their parents.

I’ve sat in interviews where the interviewee brought their parents to the interview. Well, I think it’s perfectly acceptable for you to potentially have your parents drive you to the interview, they should stay in the car until the whole process is over. And the two examples I’ve had though one did bring their parent in and they sat outside in the waiting room, but in another one, the parent asked to be in the actual interview with their child. And then when that parent was not allowed in, and their child was not hired, they demanded to speak with us.

Crazytown.

 

[Bison13]

He's not wrong there have been budget cuts. Some colleges at PSU prepare you better then others. Every student is different, there are students that work hard and create opportunities for themselves which are most likely the 1 out of the 4 but there are other students that just want to AI their way thru school. A former student, who is now in a position to hire, once told me you can tell which candidates cheated their way thru college and which ones worked hard to get thru college.

I think it is absurd that a parent would go to an interview with their kid. I guess there are those helicopters. Also, the shock from negative feedback seems to be coming from the everyone gets a medal generation.

Sometimes the best candidates are those that have been involved in high school or college sports(Club or Varsity). Most know how to work as a team and how to handle adversity and adapt.

Completely agree about the athlete or kid who played in the blue band or something like that. Reading resumes those are the first ones I look for. Unfortunately, those in HR don’t agree with me even when I tell them that these are the kind of people willing to take on extra duties after school,Coaching and otherwise.
We had an English position opening a few years back and a couple of the possible candidates were a kid who just graduated from Salisbury and played on the football team and the other was a girl who graduated from Harvard with some ridiculously high GPA. They were two of the five that we picked the interview and his interview was not the top one, but it wasn’t bad. Young guy lots of energy and fit multiple needs at the school where he would be an assistant football coach and then in the spring, he was going to help out with a couple after school clubs to mentor kids. The girl from Harvard was very well spoken, but you could tell it was a clown show. She came in jeans and a T-shirt and talked about how much she enjoyed English literature. The only positive I saw from her was that she wanted to be one of the sponsors for the travel club and taking trips out of the country. The other candidates were all fine. I probably would’ve ranked the young man who played football second and the girl from Harvard fifth just on her appearance alone. Unfortunately those above me wanted to have somebody from Harvard on staff so they hired her and thought how great she would be with the AP courses. Within three years she had a mental breakdown used up all of her sick leave and couldn’t find another job so she was forced to keep teaching, even though she obviously couldn’t handle it. Admin loved her though so she’s still there.

 

[Connorpozlee]

That is funny. If we hire someone over 18 as an employee and they are having an issue or they don’t work out their parents may call here and there. I tell them I cannot discuss the employee situation with them since the employee is an adult. Also, the feedback part is so true. If you give them feedback they are in shock if it isn’t rainbows and candy.

My daughter had trouble getting her last few paychecks from a small restaurant she worked at that closed down. I kept telling her to email the owner but that I wasn’t going to be involved because it wasn’t my money. If she wanted it enough, she would have to take the initiative. It killed me not to get involved, but I knew it was a great learning opportunity. She texted her at least once a week for a year or so. Finally a deposit showed up in her bank account (with interest) with an apology and explanation through text. Good life lesson.

 

[Connorpozlee]

its not just colleges that do poor job preparing their grads for real world. Medical schools do a very poor job preparing their students for the work world and imparting in them the idea that they are going to do a job, a very demanding job. Our interns come in dramatically under prepared for the "work world" aspect of doctoring. That they have all day shift, 5 or 6 days a week and during that shift have number of recurring responsibilities and tasks that have to be completed n timely fashion. I get all old man on my soap box about it, way back when I was an intern....... And I am very often the first person ever in their education and training who tells them they got something wrong. The smart and ambitious trainees are very appreciative of that, knowing I am much more helpful focusing on what they getting wrong than what they getting correct. The dumb, lazy and entitled trainees get every resentful about it and never really develop fully

Oddly enough, I just spoke to my daughter (just started her 4th year of medical school) the other day who was complaining that her supervisors are not pushing her/them enough.

 

[Steve JG]

Oddly enough, I just spoke to my daughter (just started her 4th year of medical school) the other day who was complaining that her supervisors are not pushing her/them enough.

tell a student they are wrong catch a mistreatment complaint.......