What to do about Underemployment

It is an uphill battle for any kid to finish college. It is a lot of work, and it is a marathon of a project. I am not a believer that everyone should go to college- I know plenty of trades people, for instance, who make an excellent living in jobs that are challenging and interesting- and that is a great avenue. But for those who choose to go to college, you would hope that the job they get at the “end of the rainbow” is something that would allow them to leverage their skills to the extent of their abilities.

Unfortunately for many, this is not the case. The world is filled with underemployed college graduates. I recall some years ago when my two eldest sons were working in a call center- both armed only with high school diplomas. They were very surprised that many of their coworkers had undergraduate degrees- and some had masters’. It was a wake up call for them to see that the expensive investment in time and money hadn’t yet paid off for these individuals.

Underemployment is not inevitable. There is an organization that I am very proud to be affiliated with called CareerSpring, which has been built to change that. CareerSpring is a networking and job placement platform for first generation College students and graduates.

CareerSpring has built a state-of-the-art online Platform and a Network of of professionals, employers, educators, and community organizations to provide first generation students with career information, career advice, and job placement services. The vision is that every first generation student in the United States will find meaningful employment that maximizes their potential, provides dignity of work, and enriches the labor market.

I have been an active member of D&I initiatives at a number of large companies, and it seems that there is always a challenge on moving the needle — to materially impact the diversity of the candidates and personnel that has been hired. I am excited about the impact that CareerSpring will have to change this, and I am even more excited about getting the right information into the hands of terrific young people so they can better navigate the job market. For those of us who have extensive professional networks to now have a mechanism to open those up and share them with some extremely hard working and able job candidates, is a win/win for everyone involved, and for society at large!