The biggest takeaway from my perspective on the McGraw-Hill Workforce Readiness Survey is that students’ claimed a lack of readiness for careers (only 21% of all students and 40% of seniors feel prepared for a career), and this remains in line with the surveys from prior years.
As a result, there is a strong desire by students to:
The impact is not just on students, but employers also feel the pain. Surveys of employers have shown perceived job readiness of recent grads to be as low as 15%. Furthermore, with the significant attrition or “job-hopping” of Career Launchers, it is more difficult for employers to commit to the training, on-boarding, and mentoring that is vital to positive career development. As a result, there is clearly a desire by all stakeholders (employers, students, and universities) to improve this.
While I am clearly biased, I am confident that Parker Dewey provides the ideal solution. Through our platform, a student can gain these experiences, explore career options to identify his or her passion, build a professional network, and demonstrate skills.
The impact goes beyond the students, as employers see significant benefits. When hiring a Career Launcher who has completed projects through Parker Dewey (for their company or others), there is an increased level of confidence not just in the skills and fit of the student, but also in the student’s passion for that role - we help eliminate the "grass is greener" issue that drives so much turnover. Furthermore, employers are able to address other corporate goals around diversity, community support, and university engagement. No longer do employers need to rely on GPA, school brand, unproven algorithms, and flawed assessments (all of which are known to be poor predictors of career success), but rather can identify and evaluate candidates irrespective of their backgrounds.
There is a real problem around college-to-career transition, and the costs and impact are significant to students, companies, universities, and society. However, I do think this is a very solvable situation and the solution is at our fingertips. It is not through complicated algorithms, proprietary technology, or even charitable contributions, but rather through addressing the needs of the stakeholders in a way that does not create more work, add expenses, or limit flexibility. After working closely with our great university and corporate partners, we are confident we have this solution.