Challenges Facing Graduates in a Volatile Global - Essay Example

? Challenges Facing Graduates in a Volatile Global Task: Challenges Facing Graduates in a Volatile Global There are numerous challenges affecting graduates in the job market such as getting internships and gaining employment. For instance, there is global recession that has compelled organizations to cut back the rising cost of the economy through massive lay-offs. This factor deters many graduates from securing internship and job opportunities (Sturges 2000). There are issues such as lack of suitable skill required in the job market by employers and over qualification on other job areas (Queck 2011). Therefore, this paper is going to discuss the meaning a career and boundaryless career, the major challenges affecting graduates and their mechanisms of avoiding the setbacks. Additionally, it will also analyze the effects of volatile economy upon the graduates in their search for internships and jobs. Therefore, we define career as a form of profession that is taken by a person for certain duration with the purpose of personal development. On other hand, a boundaryless career entails those careers of changing companies, locations, jobs, specializations or industries. In other words, boundaryless careers have no bounds and it grants an individual the opportunity of movement. In addition, a person is able to define himself in accordance with his job rather than the company. This enables a person to guide their careers by adapting to the changing surroundings (Arthur 1997). Alternatively, several main contents of theoretical perspective influence graduates in boundaryless careers. For example, many graduates do want to follow the conventional paths of career development set by society. Another perspective is the link between careers and career success where a person thinks of his job in a wider aspect rather than an independent domain form their families. Furthermore, with a new economy there is a high integration of graduates in boundaryless careers as opposed to traditional careers. Similarly, the techniques of success evaluation have become complicated than the older days because of workforce and demographic changes. In my arguments, I maintain that information that supports the theory of the boundaryless career that the perspective of society needs reformation concerning boundaryless careers as opposed to the traditional careers (Gonzalez 2008). Furthermore, opinion the persons who go against the society in terms of career development should not be ignored. This is backed by the career theory, which tries to comprehend the phenomena of careers and analyses aspects of careers beyond the usual confines of the society. However, I am against the argument that graduates should be offered employment they want and not the conventional grounds of traditional employment. This is because a number of factors have influenced the current graduates. For instance, demographic and workforce factors, changes in the organization structure and new trends in the job market. It is such attitudes of job discrimination that has prevented many graduates from securing jobs hence increasing the rate of unemployment. It is therefore, imperative to note that a theory such career theory backs boundaryless careers as it seeks to analyze the broader spectrum of career development (Lent & Brown 2005). Furthermore, this theory tries to break the traditional limitations of how society views careers. This theory incorporates among other issues career counseling that aims to understand the employee on how he finds the job and the challenges of doing the job (Shaikh 2011). This theory further aims to understand the networks of career development used by employees in boundaryless careers utilize to communicate. However, there critics of the career theory argue that it supports only pluralism instead of unity, which is unproductive for the worker and the organization. There are numerous challenges facing graduates in terms of securing internships and obtaining gainful employment. For example, there is the obstacle of confronting a competitive market. The economy consists of skilled extremely skilled graduates who are scrambling for the limited job opportunities. Another challenge is over qualification of the graduates which results to demand for higher salaries and other job related benefits. This has made it hard for employers to absorb such persons in their companies because of demand of higher pay. Furthermore, there is the problem of economic recession (International Organization for Migration 2008). This global problem resulted to massive sacking of employees by their employers in order to reduce costs of living. As a result, this has continually affected graduates coming out of school seeking employment or internships. Finally, there is the setback of poor education system that produces the graduates. This has forced many employers to retrain the graduates, which can be expensive thus many managers refrain from taking graduates. Currently the standing statistics of graduates without employment is alarming. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployed graduates stand at 2-2.3% as from 2007 to present. Similarly, the number of internships for graduates is falling low due to the aforementioned factors. For instance, the number of internship programs offered to graduates has dropped from 3% to 4.8% from the year 2008 to 2011 IBP (USA, USA international business publication, 2007). However, as graduates, there a number of ways to overcome these setbacks. One can decide to establish a small medium enterprise (SME) as a way of being productive by applying the skills learned in college. Additionally, graduates can form networking groups that help in securing internships for one another. This also applies volunteering for community jobs to avoid idleness caused by unemployment. Alternatively, the main characteristics of volatile economy are unregulated economy and vulnerability of unproductive structures, which do not promise long-term employment for graduates due to the fluctuations. In summary, we can note a number of significant issues concerning graduates and boundaryless careers. We can begin by maintaining that a career is any profession that a person takes for the purpose of personal development. Similarly, boundaryless career is any profession as the one mentioned above but it involves switching jobs or organizations. This new career in the modern age is supported by the career theory that attempts to comprehend the career phenomena and other various aspects of career progress (US international publication 2007). In addition, there are also setbacks that affect graduates in terms of gaining employment and internship such as poor educational systems and overcrowding in the job market. it is therefore upon the government and other concerned stakeholders and to reduce the increasing statistics of jobless graduates. However, it is also productive for graduates to take initiatives such as self-employment and volunteering to keep themselves busy. Bibliography Sturges, J Who’s in charge? Graduates’ attitudes to and experiences of career management and their Relationship with organizational commitment, european journal of work and organizational psychology, 2000, 9 (3), 351–370. Arthur, M, The boundaryless career: a new perspective for organizational inquiry, Journal of Organizational Behavior (1986-1998); Jul 1994; 15, 4. Gonzalez, G 2008, faces human capital challenges of the 21st century: education and labor market initiatives in Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, Rand Corporation, Rand Corporation, Santa Monica. Lent, R and Brown, S 2005, Career development and counseling: putting theory and research to work, John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey. Sturges, J Who’s in charge? Graduates’ attitudes to and experiences of career management and their Relationship with organizational commitment, european journal of work and organizational psychology, 2000, 9 (3), 351–370. International Organization for Migration 2008, World migration 2008: managing labour mobility in the evolving global economy, Hammers Press, Geneva. IBP USA, USA international business publication, 2007, Indonesia Diplomatic Handbook, Int'l Business Publications, Washington. US international publication 2007, Us Indonesia Diplomatic and Political Cooperation Handbook, Int'l Business Publications, Washington. Queck, J 2011, the challenges faced by fresh graduates, Jonathan Queck, viewed 29 October 2011, . Shaikh, P 2011, challenges faced by graduates in the UK, Career Advice, viewed 29 October 2011, Read More