Why Are Young Graduates Inexperienced?

In recent years, young graduates cannot find a job. According to Eurostat (2021), 2.815 million young people under 25 are unemployed, and the youth unemployment rate is 15.9% in the EU. One of the reasons for this problem is the lack of experience of young graduates. According to the CareerBuilder online job search site (2015), employers in the UK believe recent graduates most lack problem-solving skills, creative thinking, and interpersonal skills. During the survey, employers pointed out that young applicants are deficient in soft skills such as written and oral communication, critical thinking and analytical reasoning.

In another research, the National Association of College and Employers (NACE) (2017) reveals that 91% of employers prefer their candidates to have work experience, while 65% prefer relevant work experience. The internship is a recognised and spread method for youngsters to gain professional experience to secure their first step onto the career ladder. However, young graduates do not have enough experience because their internship opportunities are pretty limited, and youngsters cannot do internships in more than one place during their studies. The NACE survey (2017) found that 40% of graduating seniors did not participate in even one internship or co-op experience during their college education.

There is data to complement this information in the Chegg (2020) research which reports that just over half of those who do internships do more than one. According to another research conducted by the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transition (CCWT), the average internship participation rate is only 32%. Youngsters had limited internship opportunities in some majors, e.g., social science and language.

References

CareerBuilder UK. (2015, April 27). Employers: University graduates not prepared to enter the workforce. CareerBuilder. https://hiring.careerbuilder.co.uk/news/university-graduates-not-prepared-to-enter-the-workforce

Chegg. (2020, September 8). Internships by the numbers. Chegg Internships. https://www.internships.com/career-advice/basics/internships-by-the-numbers

Chen, Z. (2019, December). Access and Barriers to internships for college students. CCWT. https://ccwt.wceruw.org/access-and-barriers-to-internships-for-college-students/

Eurostat. (2021, November 3). Euro area unemployment at 7.4%. Eurostat. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/11563355/3-03112021-AP-EN.pdf/8841353c-11f6-7fab-efef-0e768ab13bfd

National Association of College and Employers. (2017, April 5). Employers prefer candidates with work experience. NACE. https://www.naceweb.org/talent-acquisition/candidate-selection/employers-prefer-candidates-with-work-experience/

National Association of College and Employers. (2017, May 1). The positive implications of internships on early career outcomes. NACE. https://www.naceweb.org/job-market/internships/the-positive-implications-of-internships-on-early-career-outcomes/