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The college commencement speeches are mostly over. The diplomas arehanded out. The parties are winding down. The deadline for repayingstudent loans looms. Newly minted college graduates are looking foremployment, pounding their keyboards and working their mobilephones. Although the job market is slowly mending, it remains grimfor young college graduates. The unemployment rate for graduatesaged 21 to 24 averaged 9.4 percent over the past year (ending inMarch 2012), while the underemployment rate was a steep 19.1percent, according to calculations by the Economic PolicyInstitute. Unexploited young talent is disturbing enough. Yet employersconsistently say they can t find qualified workers for openpositions. Take ManpowerGroup s ( MAN ) seventh annual Talent Shortage Survey. The employment behemoth surveyed more than 1,300 employers, and 49percent of them said they were experiencing difficulty filling jobswithin their organizations. At the same time, many collegegraduates aren t finding the kind of work that builds a career.For example, only two in 10 surveyed college graduates saw theirfirst job as setting them on a career path, according to Chasing the American Dream: Recent College Graduates and the GreatRecession . The report from the John J. Heldrich Center for WorkforceDevelopment at Rutgers University notes that nearly two-thirds ofthe graduates said their jobs were weakly related at best to theirfield of study in college. The experience of stumbling about for jobs and a career path isfamiliar to anyone who graduated during the recessions of themid- 70s, early 80s, and even the beginning of the 90s. Yetsince the 1970s, access to information has exploded. Want toresearch the job market in the 1960s? Google it. Eager to find acommunity that shares your enthusiasm for indie rock? Spend time on Facebook ( FB ) . According to the McKinsey Global Institute, for less than $600you can buy a disk drive with the capacity to store the world smusic. Surely, it should be slam-dunk easy to match potentialemployees with potential employers considering the expansion of theInternet, powerful search engines, vast social media networks, andBig Data. Apparently not. We find that in the U.S., informationabout work and jobs is relatively hard to come by for someoneseeking employment, says James Manyika, director of the McKinseyGlobal Institute. Adds Adam Cobb, professor of management at theWharton School of the University of Pennsylvania: The best way toget a job now is the same as in the 70s and the 80s word ofmouth. A major impact of technology seems somewhat perverse. The barriersto applying for a job have fallen sharply. Once a r sum iscreated, job seekers can submit hundreds of applications onlinewith zero or minimal extra cost. Companies have responded withcrude filtering devices to cut through their overcrowded in-boxes.Taken altogether, it s a frustrating, toxic mix for both sides ofthe online employment equation. Says Wharton s Cobb: What all ofthe technological advancements have not done is to overcome theprimary barrier to getting a job which, from the employer sstandpoint, is being able to answer, What type of worker will theapplicant be? Many colleges and universities are trying to build better careercenters, with mixed success. Graduating students seem to havelittle idea what kind of jobs are expanding and where the careeropportunities lie. Employers are struggling to grasp thequalification of applicants. Training standards and educationbenchmarks vary greatly throughout the country. A medical researchcompany in the Twin Cities might have a nuanced sense of theabilities of a graduate from Saint Paul College, a community andtechnical college in St. Paul, Minn. What about an applicant fromGlendale Community College in Glendale, Ariz., or Northeast StateCommunity College in Blountsville, Tenn.? When looking at someonefrom an elite school with a 4.0, employers know what they regetting, says McKinsey s Manyika. It s not the case with manycommunity colleges, for example. For the most part, technological advancements don t help peopleget a foot in the door. What does matter is a recommendation andpersonal assessment. A large body of academic research shows thathalf or more of all jobs come through informalchannels connections to friends, families, andcolleagues according to Limited Network Connections and the Distribution of Wages by Kenneth J. Arrow of Stanford University and Ron Borzekowski ofthe Federal Reserve Board. Character is a big deal, says ArtRolnick, co-director for the Human Capital Research Collaborativeat the University of Minnesota. Character references are alwaysbig, and the Internet doesn t change that. Yet much more can be done to improve the flow of informationbetween hirers and hirees. The folks at the McKinsey GlobalInstitute, ACT, the Iowa-based educational nonprofit, and othersare calling for much more. On the one hand, how about creating anational database from welders to medical technicians to softwareprogrammers showing which jobs are in demand locally andnationally. On the other hand, marry that initiative with nationalstandards for certifying the skills of college graduates forpotential employees. Digital technology is transforming many aspects of our society andeconomy. Websites such as Monster.com ( MWW ) and LinkedIn ( LNKD ) are focusing on the jobs and networks. Advances in informationtechnology have made it much easier for job applicants to researchcompanies, track trends, and glean insights. Still, the promise ofinformation technology for playing matchmaker between employers andemployees has been just that a tantalizing promise. Public andprivate investments in better job information and standardizedcredentials could go a long way toward narrowing the job gap. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Spray Booth Parts , Sander Dust Collection Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Down Draft Spray Booth.
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