How to NOT be Unemployed at Graduation

3/5/2012

“Upping Your Professional Cred” is a blog series about why students should participate in work based learning (WBL) like internships and Co-Ops. This series explores the benefits and advantages to those students who participate in WBL, from the perspective of the student. For more information and to learn how you can get involved, please visit: http://get.syr.edu/ and follow us on Twitter @GETsyr

How to NOT be Unemployed at Graduation

Sam Disston

With the unemployment rate in the US at 9.1% it’s increasingly difficult to find a job, let alone a good job, but there is overwhelming evidence that participating in work-based-learning (WBL) will dramatically increase your odds of finding fulltime employment. You may study an industry’s recruiting cycles, design a perfect resume and apply to every job that their career services team has listed, but the fact remains the best way to increase the odds of finding full-time employment and finding it fast: work-based-learning in the form of internships or Cooperative Education (Co-Op).

Various studies show that a student who has internship or work based learning experience is far more likely to be employed upon graduation and if not, to find work more quickly after graduation. The best situation to be in for a soon-to-graduate student is to have a full-time job lined up before graduation; it’s the goal that every student should strive for. One study found that participating in WBL can quadruple your chances of receiving a full time offer before you graduate. Another study shows that 52% of those with WBL experience will have fulltime employment awaiting them after graduation, compared to only 26% of those without WBL experience. A third study found that students who are unemployed upon graduation are half as likely to have had WBL experience.

Even if you don’t have a job lined up prior to graduation; there is strong evidence that your WBL experience will still help you. Those with WBL experience are likely to find a job twice as fast as those without; an average of just 2 months as compared to 4 months after graduation. By 3 months after graduation, 84% of those with WBL experience are employed whereas that number drops to only 40% of those without that experience.

The first day of senior year represents T-minus eight months until graduation. As with a space shuttle launch, the countdown cannot be started late without delaying the launch. By the time senior year starts, it is usually too late to find WBL experience, barring certain rare circumstances. Conversely, preparation for launch (graduation in this analogy) cannot be started early enough. The summers between sophomore-junior and between junior-senior years are opportune times to find WBL and will pay large dividends when the countdown of senior year begins.

Fortunately, there are WBL opportunities right here at Syracuse University. The Global Enterprise Technology (GET) program here at the iSchool is designed to allow you to apply the theory you learn in class in a ‘real-world’ environment. Through either the GET Immersion Experience at a global company or an academic internship right here on campus with JPMorgan, GET @ SU provides the opportunity to get involved with work based learning so that you can be employed upon graduation.