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Make College Pay Off - Troy Media

3 months ago

By Bob Weinstein, Editor-in-Chief, Troy Media

NEW YORK, June 10, 2010/ Troy Media/ — Businesses are hiring more graduates, and they’re paying higher salaries than they were last year. Yet competition for the best and brightest grads has never been fiercer, according to career coach Nicholas Aretakis, author of No More Ramen: The 20-Something’s Real World Survival Guide.

“It’s partly due to baby boomers’ retiring in record numbers,” says Aretakis. “In the 1980s, businesses looked at coursework, grades and personal references,” says Aretakis. “The new trend is organizations are scrutinizing college graduates more closely than they have in the past. In the 1990s, they looked at computer literacy and practical work experience. In the 2000s, employers seek all that, plus your ability to take advantage of the newest Internet and networking tools.”

Get priorities straight: College is hard work

While the college experience can be a great deal of fun, first and foremost consider it serious work. From the outset the important goal is to make it pay off in terms of preparing for the workplace and mastering skills that lead to an enjoyable and rewarding life.

Aretakis offers the following four tips to help get the most out of college:

1. Formulate career goals early. Research prospective fields and industries of interest. Thanks to the Internet, gathering information is fast, easy and fun. Find out about different careers’ growth, advancement and salary prospects. Most important, find out what it takes to be successful. Rather than consider the short-term benefits of a high salary, think about a job’s long-term reward prospects. Money, while certainly an important factor in choosing a job, should be a secondary consideration behind passion, fascination and challenge.

If unsure about a career path after graduation, take a liberal arts curriculum or a general major where you’re taking courses that will prepare you for many careers. That would include courses in English literature, history, writing and speaking.

2. Avoid the post-grad debt trap. Learn to manage debt. According to US Census Bureau statistics, approximately 46.7 per cent of women and 53.7 per cent of men ages 18 to 24 move back home with their parents after graduating from college. This is due partly to the fact that young adults leave school with debt and lack basic money literacy skills.

For the most part, colleges and universities fall short in helping students manage their finances and avoid debt. The result is that young adults are falling further behind in amassed debt when they graduate (the average debt that four-year graduates in the US face exceeds $20,000).

During college years, Aretakis suggests creating a monthly budget and sticking to it. After graduation, work at being fiscally prudent – rent rather than buy; drive a used car; keep luxury spending to a minimum; stick to a monthly budget; avoid credit card debt; and try to save a little every month.

3. Develop good work habits. Some of the most valuable skills needed when you hit the job market are skills that can be mastered in college. These include clear, coherent writing and speaking skills and disciplined study habits. Master them and you’ll have little problem meeting deadlines; paying attention to details; being reliable and accountable; and managing time well.

4. Accumulate work experience. Experience in your field ought to complement formal course studies. Aggressively seek internships in your chosen field. One internship is a must; two or three are even better. More and more employers are insisting upon internship experience.

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