Settling for a subpar job right out of college can hurt your career for years

    Two-thirds of underemployed college graduates will remain underemployed throughout their careers, according to The Permanent Detour: Underemployment’s Long-term Effects on the Careers of College Graduates, a new report from Strada Institute for the Future of Work and Burning Glass Technologies. While scary, the illumination of this risk shows that underemployment can be preventable.

    In Settling for a subpar job right out of college can hurt your career for years, Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz of the Chicago Tribune, highlights strategies to help bridge college-to-career and mitigate the risks of underemployment including  enhancing career exploration, experiential learning, alumni mentoring, and employer engagement.  In fact, Micro-Internships in particular were highlighted by several colleges and universities as an effective way to leverage these strategies and improve outcomes for recent graduates and employers.

    “[Micro-Internships] also help students figure out what they like to do, reducing the risk that they will become job hoppers after graduation.” Continue to the full article.

    One of the most effective ways to execute all of these strategies is to provide more opportunities for college students to demonstrate their skills to employers in a practical setting. Learn more from our recent blog post, Strategies to Overcome Underemployment of College Graduates.