Our economy has changed the way many of us live, think and also our ability to find jobs. Are college students being encouraged to prepare for life after schooling while they are still in college?

What life and financial lessons do you think are important?

 

I truly think that there needs to be a "life skills" class taught for those coming out of college. Focus on the fact that the economy is sagging right now and jobs are hard to find. Help them to understand that they may not get their dream job right out of the chute. Give them skills for budgeting money, and also teach the principal that it is not necessarily how much you make but how you spend it. Give them a dose of Dave Ramsey, urge them NOT to rely heavily on credit cards or credit period. Free is the person who had few bills. Choices can be made if you owe no one or owe very little.

Most college do have an office (forgot the name) dedicated to helping student find jobs. Some business colleges actually advertise the percentage of student who get hired right after graduation as a recruitment tool. Part of the draw is graduation to 1st job success ratio.

Some students are geared to land a job/career when they first step on campus and stay focused. Some students go to the other extreme and are there to party. Sadly many students don't look into this type of resource until the last semester.

My college used to call back past graduates to talk to current students about the job market in their particular field. I was and English - Print Journalism major and we had a young lady (age 22) who was the editor of a small town paper. It all sounded glamorous (as a first time job) UNTIL I (being a non-traditional older student) asked the one question everyone else avoided asking. "What was your salary?" It worked out to be something like $7.50 an hour back in 1994. You could hear the collective gasp followed by stunned silence. After all ... we all had dreams of writing for the New York Times or Vanity Fair.

My degree program had internship requirements and I did two of them. One at the regional New York State Attorney Generals office and the other was at the local Public Television station which ended up being was my first job out of college.

The one thing students should be open too is that they MAY NOT land a job in their exact field of study. You have to be willing to write a resume that shows the connection between your degree and the job being offered. For example, my degree in Print Journalism worked well in my library jobs.

The only other thing is that whatever jobs you land, use them ALL as a learning experience. You'd be surprised how useful my internship for the AG's Office has been.

A lot of colleges have career fairs offered on a regular basis.  Sometimes the fairs are for student work-study programs or just companies looking for part-time seasonal help, but many are geared toward seniors specifically for entry-level jobs.  Even though they are geared toward seniors, anyone can go. 

As for a life-skills course, the school I went to and the school I'm at have it as part of the required freshman curriculum.  It's a 1-credit course, kind of like an extended orientation, but it's required completion by the end of your freshman  year.  They cover everything from healthy food options to budgeting and balancing a check book to the importance of starting a retirement plan and paying back your student loans as soon as you get your first job.

there was a class taught here by the co-op  it was tittle so you got the degree now what ... I thought it was one of the better classes  ... 

life has changed you have to change too .