41. Employers advertise unpaid ‘volunteer’ jobs
Employers are known to advertise unpaid ‘volunteer’ job when it should be a full-time paid position. Students must be careful and be aware of such advertisements to obtain free labor.
Sport has a long history of using volunteers to fill key gaps in the organisation and running of sporting events – Olympic Games, etc. These volunteers are often used to guide athletes and sports fans around stadiums. Sport promoters also leverage the glamour of being behind the scenes of an international sporting tournament to drive volunteer numbers.
Internships and placements are fast becoming an integral part of university study where students undertake unpaid jobs as part of their degree under the regulation by or supervision of an academic supervisor. Unpaid internships do give students the opportunity to kick off their careers working in an industry they are passionate about.
42. Perfectionism is killing our young people
Young people are increasingly having unrealistic educational and professional expectations. When there is no alignment with their reality, they will be crushed!
Education systems encourage competition among students to move up the social and economic ladder. This artificially increases the students’ drive to perfect their grade point averages and compare them to their peers.
The drive to be perfect in body, mind, and career among today’s undergraduate students has significantly increased compared with prior generations. This is taking a significant toll on young people’s mental health. (American Psychological Association, 2018).
43. Increasing mental health challenges
The increase in perfectionism and personal debt and lack of financial literacy are some key factors affecting the psychological health and wellbeing of students and young people. This is where there are higher levels of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts than a decade ago.
The number of students and undergraduates seeking counseling and support has significantly increased. This trend will only get worse as mental health challenges have become more prevalent and complex, especially amongst the younger generation.
Unfortunately, many people think that mental health issues are still taboo subjects to talk about openly.
Instead, young people need to be open and admit that they require help. In return, we need to respond positively to support without judgment and condemnation.
Where appropriate, we must support them in overcoming any mental health challenges that they are experiencing.
It’s ok not to be ok. There is no judgment against these brave young people.
44. Young people need more skills application, not education
When costly post-school and higher education do not adequately secure jobs for our young people upon their graduation, there is a fundamental problem that we need to address from a system perspective.
While we can distinguish between relevant in-demand on-the-job skills application with just-in-case knowledge-driven education, many young people are desperately in need of more targeted in-demand and people-related hands-on skills application to survive and prosper in the future of work.
The bottom line is that if our young people are not self-sufficient and job-ready for the future of work, they will need on-going support from governments, parents, and communities in order to survive. They are not ideal situations given that governments are desperately trying to balance their budgets in the wake of lower tax revenues, depress or stagnant economic growth, and an aging population that requires more public services.
45. Students are being prepared for jobs that no longer exist
Schools, colleges, and universities should be preparing our young people for jobs of tomorrow. But many of them will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that don’t yet exist today.
In fact, many educators are teaching or will be teaching with blinders on as technology and automation are expanding so rapidly that they almost can’t keep up. They desperately want to retool their teaching to match future workforce needs but feel limited by budgets and inadequate access to technology.
Without changes in education policy and funding, the future of work will leave more people behind especially for those from lower social or disadvantaged groups. This will eventually cause the widening of the gap between the haves and haves not.
46. Graduates unprepared as independent workers
Today’s graduates are joining a workforce where the Gig Economy — including consultants, independent contractors, freelancers, side giggers, and on-demand workers — makes up an estimated 30-40% of the U.S. workforce. This figure will only get bigger.
Despite these changes in how we work, universities have yet to integrate the study or practice of the Gig Economy into their curriculum or career services.
Instead, they continue to educate and prepare students to become full-time employees in full-time jobs (i.e., the postindustrial-age workplace!).
That approach does a disservice to students who will graduate ill-equipped and unprepared to succeed as independent workers.
47. Impacted by social media activities
A CareerBuilder survey revealed that seven in ten employers use social networking sites to research job candidates during hiring process. They have rejected applicants who are perceived to contradict their values, reputation, and credibility.
Employers who found content on a social networking site that caused them not to hire a job candidate said these were the primary reasons for their decision:
(1) Job candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs, videos, or information: 40%.
(2) Job candidate posted information about them drinking or using drugs: 36%.
(3) Job candidate had discriminatory comments related to race, gender, religion, etc.: 31%.
(4) Job candidate was linked to criminal behavior: 30%.
(5) Job candidate lied about qualifications: 27%.
(6) Job candidate had poor communication skills: 27%.
(7) Job candidate bad-mouthed their previous employer or fellow employee: 25%.
(8) Job candidate’s screen name was unprofessional: 22%.
(9) Job candidate shared confidential information from previous employers: 20%.
(10) Job candidate lied about an absence: 16%.
(11) Job candidate posted too frequently: 12%.
Young people will need to ask if what they post today on social media is something they will be proud of if they saw it 30 years later. If yes, go for it. If no, then it is not worth posting.