33 Scary facts every parent, school leaver and graduate must know (and to find their first job!)
Every year, thousands of school leavers (and their families) will make two important decisions that will significantly impact their life and future.
What course should I take after leaving school?
What job should I do upon graduation?
Unfortunately, research is revealing a lot of scary facts that every parent, school leaver and graduate must know in order to find their first job.
It’s not my intention to put fear into people with these telling facts. Rather, for many of us especially parents of teenage children and young people, it’s for us to be aware that the world is rapidly changing and will continue to change.
In an environment where employers are demanding more flexibility, adaptability, short-term contracts, and project-based work, we must be able to set the right foundations for our young people to successfully navigate their future and careers.
The head-in-the-sand approach will not help, especially when it comes to jobs or career choices.
(1) 31.7% of all employment is now part-time, which is the highest percentage ever recorded. (Centre for Future Work, 2018) This percentage will be increasing as organizations are transitioning out full-time on-going workers.
(2) One-third of jobs created in Australia over the past 25 years have been less secure, temporary, part-time or self-employment. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2017)
(3) Seven in ten young people saw insufficient job availability as a barrier for them to enter the full-time workforce where 31.5% of them will be unemployed or underemployed. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2018)
(4) 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that don’t yet exist. (World Economic Forum, 2016)
(5) 70% of young people are currently learning skills that will be redundant by 2030. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2019)
(6) 70% of young people will be getting their first job in roles that will either look very different or be completely lost in the next 10 to 15 years due to automation. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2017)
(7) Nearly 60% of Australian students (and 70% in vocational education training) are currently studying or training for jobs where at least two-thirds of jobs will be automated. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2017)
(8) There are 40% more people going to universities now than in 2008. (Grattan, 2018)
(9) Currently, only 19% of a person’s learning and training occurs after the age of 21. But by 2040, this number is predicted to more than double to 41%. Most of this extra learning will on-the-job training and short flexible courses (Google Australia, 2019)
(10) The number of workers in jobs requiring average to above-average education, training and experience has increased from 49 million in 1980 to 83 million in 2015, or by 68%. (Pew Research, 2016)
(11) Many students’ career aspirations were not aligned with their educational plan. They are either over-qualified (45% of students intending to complete a bachelor level degree only needed a certificate) or under-qualified (33% of students intending to pursue a vocational job needed a bachelor’s degree). (Joyce Review, 2019)
(12) Courses that teach enterprise skills can increase the speed of attaining full-time work by 17 months. Enterprise skills are defined as transferable skills that include problem-solving, communication, teamwork, and creativity. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2018)
(13) By choosing employment with a strong future focus like being a ‘carer’ (i.e., nursing, social workers), ‘technologist’ (i.e., software engineers, web administrator, ICT business analysts), or an ‘informer’ (i.e., teachers, policy analysts, event organizers), a young person can speed up their transition to full-time employment by five (5) months. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2018)
(14) Degree holders in most STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) are less likely to be under-employed. They can easily escape the under-employment trap than those majoring in other disciplines. (Burning Glass, 2018)
(15) Almost half (46%) of Gen Z respondents expressed concern about having a large student loan balance when they finish studying. This is an increase of 5% from 2012. (TD Ameritrade, 2013
(16) One in four lacked the necessary interview and job application skills to be able to attain full-time work. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2018)
(17) On average, job-seekers now spend 3 hours and 16 minutes searching for jobs each day. That’s 44% longer than during the 2008 recession! (TalentWorks, 2019)
(18) Securing a job, especially a full-time job will only get harder. Basically, a job seeker must apply to 150 to 250 jobs in order to be confident of getting a job offer. Even if graduates are fully qualified, it can take 90+ days to get a job in the U.S. (TalentWorks, 2019)
(19) 61% of all full-time ‘entry-level’ jobs require 3+ years of related work experience in the U.S. Employers are constantly driving up the experience inflation where the amount of related work experience required to get an ‘entry-level’ job is increasing by 2.8% every year. (TalentWork, 2018)
(20) A student with 2,000 hours of relevant paid employment was found to make the transition to full-time work 5 months faster than a student without relevant experience. A student with 5,000 hours of relevant paid employment was found to accelerate the transition by 12 months. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2018)
(21) Internship experience increases the interview rate by 14%. (Labor Economics, 2016) More than 62% of the Class of 2017 reported doing an internship at some point during their college years, compared to about 50% in 2008 and 17% in 1992. (Time, July 2018)
(22) Three in four young people do not believe that they possess the relevant vocational and practical work experience to gain full-time work. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2018)
(23) Half lacked the technical skills needed to gain full-time work. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2018)
(24) Only 21% of Americans use all of their education (specific to college major) at work, while only 53% use half or less of their formal education. (edX, 2018)
(25) On average, the transition from full-time education to full-time work took 2.6 years. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2018)
(26) From 1991 to 2015, jobs that require high skill (i.e., professionals) and high touch (i.e., community and personal services) have grown significantly. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2017)
(27) 85% of all job vacancies are filled via networking. (Lou Adler, 2016) This means that only 15% of jobs are advertised through various mediums like online recruitment sites and print.
(28) Job seeking college graduates who were initially under-employed were five times more likely to remain so after five years than those who were not under-employed for their first job. As a result, more than 40% of graduates are forced to take jobs that don’t require a degree. (Burning Glass, 2018)
(29) 32% of people have considered making a career change at some point within the past year and 29% have completely changed fields since starting their first job post-college. (edX, 2018)
(30) One in five students is more likely to drop out of university than complete their course. (Grattan, 2018)
(31) About one in ten bachelor-degree students change course from one field of study to another from year to year. (Grattan, 2018)
(32) Young people are showing signs that they are not coping with modern-day living and are experiencing mental health conditions at an ever-increasing rate. In 2019, 47% of 18 to 24-year-olds and 45.1% of 35 to 49-year-olds in Australia reported having a mental health condition. (Roy Morgan, 2019)
(33) A young person who is happy with and has a positive mindset about their career prospects begins working full-time hours two months faster than a young person who is not happy or positive with their career prospects. Mindset and wellbeing can greatly impact on the opportunities that a young person perceives that are available to them. (Foundation for Young Australians, 2018)