For Ball State students graduating in May, the chance of working in a job they are overqualified for is nearly half.
According to a national study by the Center for College Affordability & Productivity, 48 percent of those who have graduated recently are working in jobs below their education level.
With in-state students paying almost $17,000 for tuition and fees at Ball State for the 2012-13 academic year, finding a future job that matches with their education level can be difficult.
Michael Fisch, who graduated from Ball State with a telecommunications degree in December, currently works at Applebee’s.
“The job search is utterly dreadful,” he said. “I haven’t really found anything. I didn’t go to school for serving.”
Despite the findings of the study, students at Ball State fare better than that, said Joan Todd, Ball State executive director of public relations.
About 60 percent of Ball State 2008-2009 alumni were employed full time and of those, about 60 percent found employment before or within three months of graduation, she said in an email. An even higher percentage of alumni, 79 percent, held employment within their major or a related area.
In today’s economy, many more college graduates in general are working in jobs that 20 years ago were done by high school graduates, said Michael Hicks, director of center for business and economic research and associate professor of economics.
“The demands of many jobs that used to be for high school students now really require college level skills,” he said. “We are at a low point in the business cycle, so many college graduates are finding it difficult to get employment, so they are settling for other jobs.”
The education requirements of occupations held by college graduates show many don’t even require their employees to have a bachelor’s degree. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 51.9 percent require a bachelor’s or higher, 37 percent require high school or less and 11.1 percent more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor’s.
For students who are still in school, the Career Center assists with the job search in many ways. One-on-one advising, résumé reviews, practice interviews and job fairs are just a few of the services provided, said Joseph Goodwin, assistant director at the Career Center.
With the many students who are finding themselves underemployed, the Career Center advises students to begin the job search early.
“Students need to start looking for employment long before graduation and start in September if you are graduating in May,” Goodwin said. “They also need to assess what it is they have to offer an employer and be prepared to actively promote that and describe that and sell themselves.”
With the statistic of nearly half of recent graduates working in a job that requires less skills than they went to school for, the importance of a bachelor’s degree is now a debated topic.
“There’s a lot more to a college education than learning technical skills for a job,” Goodwin said. “Employers want to see job seekers who have a well-rounded background in leadership skills, teamwork skills and knowledge of diversity issues while pursuing a college education.”
One Ball State grad disagrees.
“I feel like the bachelor’s degree is often times just the new high school diploma,” said Peter Wood, who graduated in summer 2011 with a telecommunications degree and minors in creative writing and Latin. “It’s the minimum to demonstrate that you can work, but it doesn’t make you competitive because everyone has one.”
Wood has been working at the Plainfield, Ind. Target since he graduated.
“I’ve kept my eyes open, but a lot of it is there isn’t anything here,” he said. “I can’t afford to go live where I would be more likely to get work unless I had something waiting for me.”
With 37 percent of recent college graduates in occupations requiring no more than a high-school diploma, students can help themselves stay out of the underemployed group by combining their interests with their degree, whether that is through more than one major or minors.
Universities can also help students with their future career path by being more honest.
“Schools that are smaller that are offering majors that are low cost ought to be more honest with students about what the occupational options are for them when they get out,” Hicks said.
Currently underemployed and overqualified for his job, Fisch offers his own advice to students who are job searching.
“Make sure you have a degree that you can actually use for where you are living,” he said. “If you don’t want to move, find something you can do where you live or you will probably have to move somewhere.”
For those who aren’t looking for a job yet but are still in school, Wood said to use the time left at Ball State wisely so students don’t end up working in a job they are overqualified for.
“Just build up experience, build up things you can show, build your connections with people, take opportunities to meet people and have internships,” he said.
Before graduation, students should know what they want to do with their career choice and what could happen in the particular career they choose to avoid being overqualified and underemployed for a job.
“I think it’s immature of college students to complain about their employability,” Hicks said. “It shouldn’t be a mystery. Everyone should know precisely what they are and are not going to be able to do with their college degree by the time they are old enough to be in college.”
