You got your degree. What now?

Most people want to believe that once they graduate they’ll go straight to work.

But does getting a degree really guarantee you a job?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of Feb 2018, people over 25 with degrees had less unemployment than those with no college. The number of people without a degree actually had double the unemployment of those with a degree.

People with degrees are more likely to get the job, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be handed a job right out of college. For the most part, contrary to what you may have learned in movies, employers aren’t lining up at your door or flooding your inbox with job offers right after you graduation. Depending on the major students are going to have to be marketing themselves to multiple employers with resumes and work samples. Part of that is ensuring you graduate with an employable degree. There are students that graduate with a degree that isn’t employable, due to the fast-paced changing job market and the obscurity of the degree. That’s why It’s important for students to graduate with a useable and adaptable degree.

With the growing number of ways to earn a degree as well as the simplified methods, the already large number of people in the job market with college degrees is increasing. According to the US News and World Report, in order to be competitive in today’s job market almost every student needs some kind of internship to get in foot in door with future employers.

What good is it to actually have a degree then, if employers are looking for more?

Having a degree is still important to employers since the numbers show more people with them are employed. This is because having completed a degree not only shows that you have the potential to have certain knowledge and skills, but also commitment. This is because it takes a certain amount of commitment to be able to stick to going to classes and doing the work long enough to earn a degree, especially with the higher degrees. Even with online classes, you have to make time to login and work on things on a somewhat consistent schedule to make the grade.

How can students stand out among others with a degree?

The key to standing out among your peers is demonstrating that knowledge the degree claims you possess. Having a degree, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re smart and experienced. There are those people that manage to slip through the cracks that copy, cheat, and do the bare minimum to get through classes and receive a degree. The way for people to differentiate themselves from them is by showing not only that they have the knowledge, but they’ve applied it through internships, self-projects, and volunteering. Students can sit in a journalism class all semester and they still won’t know how an actual news room works into they’ve experienced one. There’s also students that study to become a doctor, but then the minute they step into the field they find out they can’t handle looking at real injuries or blood. Showing employers that you’ve had experience in the field and can handle yourself makes you less of a risk to hire and gives them the security that you’ve had some kind of experience with the work.

Therefore, it’s important for students to take all the opportunities they can to demonstrate their knowledge in outside projects, internships, volunteering, and whatever other ways they can apply their knowledge in order to make themselves stick out among the growing number of people with degrees. Just because you can get a job with a degree doesn’t mean you’ll be handed one or that it’ll be one you like and feel fulfilled doing. It’s important to show other great factors like good personality and work ethic beyond the degree to get on the path of getting a job you love after you graduate.