It’s turning out that Generation Y has a great work ethic and brings quite a bit to the table. Bruce Tulgan of RainmakerThinking identified these five characteristics:

• High expectations of self: They aim to work faster and better than other workers
• High expectations of employers: They want fair and direct managers who are highly engaged in their professional development
• Ongoing learning: They seek out creative challenges and view colleagues as vast resources from whom to gain knowledge
• Immediate responsibility: They want to make an important impact on Day 1
• Goal-oriented: They want small goals with tight deadlines so they can build up ownership of tasks

Another characteristic of Gen Yers: they don’t expect to stay in a career for very long–at least they didn’t. The recession has taken its toll on this group.

Priority Shift: Job Security Topping the List

Generation Y first started entering the workplace when things were great. There were plenty of jobs; the world was their oyster. The jump in unemployment over the past year or so has changed their tune. The KPMG survey found that, of the more than 350 students polled, 75 percent said that job security was their top priority when searching for a job–trumping pay and benefits. Not only that, but a full 69 percent of those surveyed said that are more likely to go into graduate school to avoid the harsh hiring conditions.

For a group formerly so concerned about a flexible work environment, balancing work and life (with scales tipping towards the latter), and what an employer can do for them rather than the other way around, this is a notable jump. Whether this priority change will hold remains to be seen, but the general consensus is that when the job market improves, Gen Yers will be up to their old tricks again.

Retargeting Career Retraining

One of the most popular sectors to retrain into is IT. No one can deny the ubiquity of computers in today’s world, and there’s definitely a fair amount of maintenance that goes into keeping them all running. The trouble is, the downturn has left a lot of extremely qualified IT professionals out of work, and they are often the pick of the resume litter.

This isn’t the only sector suffering from a shortage of positions and a glut of highly experienced applicants. In response, many career colleges are trying to target high-demand industries. This might seem like an obvious solution–and it is–it’s the effect that implementing it has on the colleges.

Career and for-profit colleges have a lot riding on reputation, and that reputation is pretty highly dependent on the hiring rates for graduates. You can see where things get a little complicated here. If students aren’t getting jobs, the job placement rates go down, and the school loses some face. Targeting the jobs that are opening up could mean limiting available programs and admitting fewer students.

Where Are the Jobs? Do Your Homework

When you’re looking into career retraining, you should develop a little list of potential careers and weigh that against the demand for the position. Check schools for program availability, and ask about job placement rates.

Prospective Grad Students and Career Changers: Fear Not, Change Is on the Way!

1. Make a List. Chances are you’ve got a few loose ends to tie up, applications to get in the mail, and financial obligations to consider. Take some time, and make a list. Be realistic; be honest. Going back to school, even for a short time, can be quite a financial bear. If you need to start saving now–or, more importantly, stop spending so much–figure out a reasonable amount that you can squirrel away. If you need to take the GRE, start studying. If you need letters of recommendation, start shooting off emails. The decision may have been difficult, but going through with it can be excruciating if you aren’t prepared.
2. Make Peace. Wherever you’re moving from, it’s fair to assume that you aren’t happy there–or you wouldn’t be dreaming of a better, different tomorrow. Sorry to bring this up, but you’re going to be there for a while longer yet. If you keep hating it, you’re only going to drive yourself insane, sop make peace with your current situation. Accept that you’re going to have to live with it for a while longer, but keep in mind, too, that it’s temporary. You’re on your way; don’t mess that up by melting down.
3. Begin the Countdown. If you know when the change is coming, start a countdown! First, putting the date on the calendar will be nothing short of encouraging (while you’re there, write down some of those deadlines, too). Once you start crossing days off that calendar, it’ll be easier to keep truckin’. Every single day that goes by, you’re closer to your goal. Tacking up little reminders is a good idea, too. You’d be surprised how much better your day is when you start it off by thinking about how close you’re getting to the big change.
4. Get to Work. You’ve got your list; you’ve got your deadlines. Start crossing off your to-dos. Rewrite that resume; prep that CV–whatever needs to get done, start doing it. Nothing makes the time go by like working towards a dream.

Career Change: Getting the Education You Need

Perhaps you’re still struggling with the decision to hightail it out your current situation. By taking an online course or two in the subject, you can gauge your interest in whatever subject or career you’re thinking about going into. These classes cater to the working individual. Flexible schedules and a work-at-you-own-pace attitude come along with many of these programs. A little time taking a class now could save you a future stuck in a different rut–or you might decide you love it and be that much closer to finishing up your career training.

Let’s take a look at another career that suffers from a different sort of typecasting: nursing. You’ve probably already got an image of a women dressed in white with a red cross on her hat. The six percent of nurses who are men suffer from this hefty gender stereotyping. Now, it’s obvious in this case that being a nurse doesn’t influence one’s gender–why should we assume that being a professor influences someone’s political orientation? More women decide to become nurses because it is traditionally more of woman’s career path. This is not to say that tradition is correct, just that it exists.

According to the study done by Neil Gross at the University of British Columbia, nine percent of professors consider themselves to be conservatives–and that doesn’t include those who feel that they’re slightly conservative, a group that falls under “moderate” in the study. Much like it isn’t a question of why so many nurses are women but why so many women become nurses, we have to ask: why do so many liberals become professors?

Dissecting the Liberal Leanings of Academia

The matter is, of course, more complex than people with a leftist leaning being told that they should be professors. According to the New York Times‘ article on the study:

The characteristics that define one’s political orientation are also at the fore of certain jobs, the sociologists reported. Nearly half of the political lopsidedness in academia can be traced to four characteristics that liberals in general, and professors in particular, share: advanced degrees; a nonconservative religious theology (which includes liberal Protestants and Jews, and the nonreligious); an expressed tolerance for controversial ideas; and a disparity between education and income.

I can definitely see the correlation between becoming a professor and being tolerant to controversial ideas. I’ve heard more than a few professors talk about the difficulty of grading papers fairly when faced with everything from bigotry to all-out anti-intellectualism. This isn’t the most interesting of the findings, though. That honor belongs to “a disparity between education and income” and exactly what that implies.

The phrase “return on investment” (ROI) comes to mind. It seems that, at least monetarily, up-and-coming professors are more willing to accept the low ROI of their chosen career path. We can assume, then, that there’s some less-than-quantitative reason that brings professors to the business of education. Years ago, when I first expressed my intent to become a professor, I was told by an acquaintance that it was because I was egocentric. Her belief was that professors simply like to hear themselves talk and force students to believe in the same things that they do. I, being at the time a card-carrying socialist and very concerned about altruistic behavior, took offense to this.

Today, I’m not quite as altruistic, and I’m definitely not a socialist. Whenever I feel myself thinking more along those lines of making a difference in society, though, the dreams of professorship come flooding back. I’d be willing to bet that it’s just this sort of thinking, this sense of sociological imagination, that brings more liberals to the field. It’s not that we’re drawn in by the idea of a bastion for lefties and pinkos, but rather that the idea of making a difference in someone else’s life, not in a company’s profit margin, is what brings more liberals to higher education. Although, it would be nice to have a few hundred students hanging on my every word because they’ll fail if they don’t.

I did have a few professors who were, technically speaking, lecturers. This meant that they had two-year contracts. These professors certainly seemed like the real deal. There was no one pulling the strings behind the scenes; they were in charge, if only for a few semesters. These lecturers were mostly PhD candidates, earning their livings teaching while finishing up their degrees. A year or two after I graduated, I met an interesting fellow who works as a finance lecturer…and a bicycle mechanic. Don’t get me wrong here, he loves bicycles. It’s just that he loves being a college professor more, but he can’t make a living from doing it.

More Part-Time Professors Than Ever Before

With budget cuts hitting colleges hard all over the country, part-time professors are becoming commonplace. In fact only 27 percent of professors working today are full-time tenured or tenure-track instructors. Compared to 1960’s 75 percent full-time tenured or tenure-track professors, this is pretty shocking.

Now, my friend the bicycle mechanic and finance lecturer is highly qualified, much like most of the other part-timers, so you don’t need to worry about the quality of education you’re getting. These adjunct professors can sometimes be fantastic professors, actually. An example from Samantha Stainburn’s New York Times’ article on the subject:

If you take a strict anti-adjunct stance, you may miss out on some star instructors — Barack Obama taught a seminar on racism and the law at the University of Chicago Law School as an adjunct. Professoring part-time is a hobby for overachieving architects, graphic designers, lawyers and entrepreneurs, all of whom can share insights from real-world experiences that full-time academics haven’t had.

The problem, apart from making it difficult for anyone who wants to make a living as a professor, is for students looking for a mentor. With professors that aren’t full-time, chances are that they won’t be around to see you walk across the graduation stage, let alone help you get there. Talk this advice from Ms. Stainburn:

Ask admissions officers point-blank: what percentage of classes and discussion sections are taught by part-timers and graduate assistants, and are they required to hold office hours?

The Call to Universities

I want to hear about what unions and universities can do to better support and prepare our workers–not just for the jobs of today, but for the jobs five years from now and 10 years from now and 50 years from now.

This came from remarks made by President Obama yesterday in Washington, D.C. Recently, Obama’s also started a push for science and math education. Does he have something in mind for these future jobs? Science and math are pretty much always safe bets in terms of futuristic careers. What, though, are the jobs for five years from now? Ten?

Career Training for the Future

While there are a great number of interesting predictions about career trends in 2010, it’s pretty hard to tell where the various markets will head. With almost constant news of health care reform headed our way, jobs in that sector will probably keep growing. Computers show no sign of becoming any less entwined in our contemporary lives, which means that IT and other computer science careers are probably going to stay in relatively high demand.

It’s very important to take the latest trends into consideration when you’re checking out your educational and career transitioning opportunities, but perhaps even more important is your own happiness. What do you want out of your career? What are the deal-breakers? Write up a list of things you want and things you couldn’t stand. Take career assessment tests, and find out where you stand. Then compare what you’ve found to industry trends. You’ll be happy that your did.

For example, a man who graduated in December 1982 when unemployment was at 10.8% made, on average, 23% less his first year out of college and 6.6% less 18 years out than one who graduated in May 1981 when the unemployment rate was 7.5%. For a typical worker, that would mean earning $100,000 less over the 18-year period.

The article is filled with other, spooky statistics, but the point is pretty easy to grasp: Unemployment climbs because fewer jobs are available. Layoffs plus fewer jobs available means a glutted job market, which leads to people snapping up jobs wherever they can. As relevant experience can be difficult to come by in tough times, recent graduates are turning towards internships and entry-level positions that are less than desirable.

Over Qualified? No Problem.
My local schoold district saw an incredible jump in the number of substitute teachers this past year. Two years ago, teaching students were being strongly encouraged to pick up sub positions. Schedules were rearranged, extra credit was given–there was a district-wide shortage of substitutes. Schools had to juggle available staff just to get through the day without teacherless classes. Today, on the other hand, there are so many substitute teachers that few are able to make a living on the scant openings. This is good for schools, because they don’t have to put up with some of the terrible subs that were the only option before, but awful for education students trying to make ends meet while gaining experience.

It’s happening across the country and across the board. Recent graduates are getting stuck with sub-entry-level positions, hoping to move up or at least have something to put on a résumé. The positions that were once going to the recent graduates are now being filled by candidates with years of experience.

But What About My Student-Loan Debt?
The default rate on student loans is skyrocketing because of this situation. There are more students with more debt coming out of our universities than ever before, and they can’t get jobs that pay enough to pay off their debt. When the economy was doing well, the student-loan debt issue was bad enough. Today, we’re left wondering what will come of it all. The Gen-Xers may be just finishing paying off their debt, but Generation Y is facing a far greater challenge.

Steps are being taken by the new administration to change the face of financial aid, but how many classes are going to fall through the gap before these new plans take effect?

The Past
This was a hotter topic in 2006 and 2007, before the economy began hogging the news. The question became: has anything actually gotten better or have we shifted focus from what’s being taught to whether or not the schools will have the money to stay open?    

The Present 
The results are mixed. Apparently, our youngsters are doing better on a few tests than they did in 1995, which has improved our ranking internationally. The catch seems to be that, though we’ve improved, we’re still not all that great. This new data has started up the conversation again, which is a good thing. (I don’t know about you, but I’m finding the economy rather depressing.) Opinions are flying, and that helps get things done, typically. It seems that we’re still bringing up the old monkey-debate questions. This seems telling.  

Why are we still behind in science? Because we’re still fighting over what to teach.  

Why are we still behind in math? That’s a bit more complex. There’s the cultural side of things (i.e., only geeks are good at math). There’s our cultural stance on the gender side of things (i.e., girls can’t be good at math). The results are in: being a math wiz is good for your career and your happiness therein. It seems like more people are paying attention to this trend, but only time will tell whether we, as a country, are shooting ourselves in the math-education foot. 

The Future  
Things are looking up. Obama has already taken a firm stance on math and science education. With outsourcing becoming more of an issue in the recent economic downturn, I’m going to predict that many companies will, once they’re able, make the excellent PR move of bringing jobs back to the US. A lot of the jobs we’ve sent overseas require advanced math skills.  Whatever happens, picking up the slack and teaching our children that math and science are important (not just nerdy) can only lead to a brighter future.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Play with the Widget
I could go on describing this salary tool, but the best way to become acquainted with it is to try it out yourself.  It’s available here.  Play with this widget and try different combinations of degrees and fields.  Share it with your friends and family members as well.  If you have a brother who’s thinking about becoming a physical therapist or a sister who wants to become a gourmet chef, you can tell them what to expect with regards to salary.

Online Degrees Combine the Best of Both Worlds
If you want to combine formal education with a fair amount of self-learning, online degrees offer the best of both worlds.  You benefit from specialized instruction, but online programs leave ample room to stray beyond the confines of the standardized curricula.  You can work at your own pace, enjoy unprecedented freedom, and pursue an incredibly broad range of courses as you work towards your degree.  By the time you graduate, you’ll have both the experience and the degree.