• A millennial who went to college in his 30s when his career stalled say

    From Biden Economy@21:1/5 to All on Thu May 9 23:34:51 2024
    XPost: talk.politics.guns, or.politics, talk.politics.misc
    XPost: or.general

    A millennial quit his job in 2015 to pursue a college degree because his
    career growth had stalled.

    But he's struggled to land a job since graduation and is stuck with
    student debt.

    He's among the rising share of US men who've at least temporarily dropped
    out of the labor force.

    In 2015, at age 34, Dan Colflesh decided to quit his job in the customer service industry and pursue a college degree.

    "I worked my way up in a few companies, but I always hit a roadblock in promotions because I didn't have a college education," he told Business
    Insider via email.

    By 2021, he earned an associate degree in physics from a community college
    in Massachusetts and a Bachelor's in political science from the University
    of Massachusetts Amherst. But the additional education hasn't helped him
    much in the job market and saddled him with student loans, he said.

    "No one will hire me," he said. "My Bachelor's degree is pretty much worthless."

    Colflesh said he's been looking for work over the last few years and
    applied to more than 100 jobs. But he said there have been stretches where
    he's felt "defeated," during which he paused his search for a few months
    at a time. What's more, he said an injury delayed his search for a couple
    of additional months.

    While the US male unemployment rate is low when compared to past decades, Colflesh is among the men who have struggled to find work — or have
    stopped looking altogether. In 1950, about 97% of American men between the
    ages of 25 and 54 had a job or were actively looking for work, according
    to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of January, that figure had fallen
    to about 89%.

    Among the several explanations for this trend is that, in recent decades,
    it's become more difficult to land a high-paying job without a college
    degree — a development that's contributed to some men leaving the labor
    force. These challenges persist today for men, who now account for less
    than half of college enrollees, even as more companies have started hiring candidates without a degree.

    Some men aged 25 and older aren't in the labor force because they're
    pursuing a Bachelor's or advanced degree. But as Colfesh can attest to,
    having a degree doesn't guarantee success in the job market.

    Over the past year in particular, it's become more difficult for some
    Americans to find high-paying jobs. A recent Vanguard report found that
    the hiring rate has held steady over the past year for workers who earn
    less than $55,000 a year, but has fallen for workers in the top third of earners, who make over $96,000, to its lowest level since 2014.

    Today, Colflesh is still focused on finding a job. He shared the
    application strategies he's tried, why he thinks his job hunt has been so challenging, and what he plans to do moving forward.

    Experience requirements and employment gaps could be working against him Colflesh said he thinks one of the reasons his employment search has been difficult is that the job landscape has changed in recent years.

    "Once you could have a Bachelor's degree in just about anything and get
    some kind of good-paying job," he said. "Now you have to have an insane
    amount of experience," he said.

    He said this made it challenging to land a job with his political science degree, but that he didn't want to take out more student debt to pursue graduate school. So he decided to plow ahead on his job hunt, expanding
    his search and tweaking his application strategies.

    He tried tailoring his resumes and cover letters for each employer and
    applied to some jobs that didn't require a degree, but he said he still
    had little luck. For example, he said he applied to be a cashier at two
    liquor stores with employee recommendations — but couldn't get an
    interview.

    "I keep hearing employers talk about no one wanting to work and I
    desperately want to work, and I can't get someone to ever sit down and
    talk to me," he said.

    Physical limitations would make it difficult for him to do blue-collar
    work, he said. He's also autistic, which he thinks could be contributing
    to his challenges in the job market.

    "I'm always going to seem off to most non-autistics," he said. "The
    general lack of acceptance of autistic people makes social networking challenging and that impacts job opportunities."

    Colflesh has a few other theories for why his job search has been
    difficult. He thinks he might be being too honest on his resumes — he's
    seen research that a lot of people stretch the truth. He also thinks he
    lives in an area where "who you know matters," and that not growing up in
    the community has disadvantaged him. Additionally, some employment gaps on
    his résumé might not be doing him any favors, he said.

    Lastly, he said growing up in the Appalachian region of the US, an area
    that has struggled economically in recent decades, has been an additional obstacle.

    "I would say that the No. 1 predictor of financial success is the zipcode
    you grow up in," he said. Some research suggests there could be some truth
    to this.

    Colflesh said that he, his fiancé, and his daughter live with his future mother-in-law in Massachusetts and that his fiancé and her mother have
    been paying the bills.

    His student loans provided him with about $5,000 each semester for living expenses, which he said he used to help his family. He also received some income from a "big crypto investment."

    Looking forward, Colflesh said he recently had a second interview for a
    job. He's also considering going back to the type of work he did before
    going to college.

    "I'll keep looking no matter how bleak it gets because I have to," he
    said.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/millennial-went-college-30s-career- 180301986.html

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Sam@21:1/5 to All on Thu May 9 16:49:39 2024
    XPost: talk.politics.guns, or.politics, talk.politics.misc
    XPost: or.general

    On Thu, 9 May 2024 23:34:51 -0000 (UTC), Biden Economy <biden@jobs.none>
    wrote:

    Bachelor's in political science

    He's also autistic,

    No wonder he can't find a job. Why didn't he get a STEM degree? I'm sure
    he borrowed a lot of money from the Federal Government and he has
    defaulted.

    Stupid is, stupid does.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)