Thinking About Working: Issue 4
Written by Noah Leavitt, Director of the Career and Community Engagement Center
Trick or Treat? Job market edition
Mid-October points us toward Halloween, the mysterious-spooky-fun holiday of tricks and treats. This seasonal theme inspires a question about the ever-evolving economy and in particular the situation for students looking for summer internships and full-time work: is the job market going to be filled with tricks or treats for students?
Like so many questions at Whitman, this one is not so straightforward. At this moment, my colleagues and I in the Career and Community Engagement Center are reading the headlines and noticing both kinds of signals:
Tricks:
By now many of us are familiar with the increased exit steps that millions of job-holders have taken over the past year or so, creating openings in the workforce. “In a none-too-subtle attempt to convey the ongoing scale of this situation, one recent headline shouted, “Forget ‘quiet quitting’ — many workers are still outright quitting their jobs as quickly as possible.“
One of the most eye-catching new developments in this broad social change is the sharp increase of high-level professionals exiting. Previously, this had been noticed among entry level and other newer professionals. However, last week George Anders commented that “impatience is rising especially quickly among high-level bosses.” Will CEOs be the next to head out the door?
This new sector of the workforce changing their roles has brought the job market to a level that one recent Forbes columnist said, “is more than active; it’s hyperactive – at an unprecedented level…“ (“How To Figure Out What’s Really Going On In The Job Market”)
This new volatility has caught some off guard, causing them to fear second-level effects of this chaos, including its potential impact on some college graduates. Pair this situation with the skills and experiences that new employees may–or may not–have that will allow them to enter this fast-flowing river. Some commentators are worrying about college graduates’ readiness for the economy. In Inside Higher Ed last week Brandon Busteed fretted that only a limited number of students are having valuable professionally relevant experiences because of the proliferation of unpaid internships or internships that do not carry academic credit that limits broad access to one of the most valuable ways to get in front of employers.
Treats:
Last week Newsday said that recruiters are calling the job market “crazy” due to the number of unfilled positions in myriad professional sectors. (While primarily describing the metro New York area, similar sentiments have been reported in nearly every urban area this season.)
Applying this to Whitties, research last week from our insightful colleagues at the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) notes that employers are predicting more than a 30% hiring increase for this year’s seniors, which we loved hearing. Black Engineer magazine also reports new NACE findings that employers are also expanding their hiring season in an effort to attract talent as early as possible.
NACE also notes that in these ongoing turbulent times students are prioritizing job security when they think about employment options. In addition, “the ability to develop job-specific and soft skills, friendly coworkers, and a good benefits package” are also on top of the list. (In the CCEC it caught our attention that NACE noted that “for liberal arts and STEM graduates, job security edges out other attributes in terms of importance, while business and public service majors both prioritize skills development…”)
One particularly important fact about an enduring strong labor market is that it is especially valuable for most communities of color who depend on earnings more than do white people, as discussed by economist Christian Weller in this recent Forbes article.
Finally, last week, Vox announced, “Gen Z college grads are optimistic about their job prospects. They should be because “jobs—even tech jobs—are plentiful.“ Here is the key section of this story: “Students who’ve had their college experience marred by a deadly pandemic have a different set of values from those that have come before them. They need their jobs to embrace diversity and a good work-life balance. And new grads are also unafraid to ask for what they want.”
Don’t be afraid to knock on our door:
So far the treats seem to be more plentiful, pointing to an auspicious moment for Whitties looking to enter the world of work this summer. If students have questions about how their curiosity and world-changing optimism along with the powerful set of intellectual habits and disciplinary expertise they have gained at Whitman can be brought to their job searches they can contact one of us in the CCEC. We’re here for you, on Halloween and every other day this semester, too!