This trend already started in the early 1990s. I graduated back then into a recession with a degree in physics. At the time, the degree was perceived as too "theoretical." I was unemployed for many months. I just chose to do an internship and went to graduate school.
To make a long story short, I am now successfully employed with the choice of many projects. Technical recruiters contact me regularly because they need my skills for a job. There is an extreme shortage of engineers but in special niches and geographic regions.
The best way to approach college is to start out with a job search. If one is 18, then he or she should browse job search engines to get an idea of what career is desired. Then the skills for those careers should be used to setup courses and a major/minor.
Another strategy is to diversify skills into multiple disciplines. I now have multiple graduate degrees. I have skills in mechanical engineering, software, quality assurance, and healthcare regulations. I have chosen healthcare. These skills keep me in very, very high demand. Recruiters contact me many times despite the tough job market.
So the key is to diversify and choose a multi-disciplinary approach. The Baby Boomers are retiring, and there is a shortage of healthcare workers, information technology, medical billing, etc. So healthcare is one option, but there are others. For example, an unemployed MBA could find many opportunities if he or she got a certificate in web design (about 12-15 credits) or database programming/data mining. An unemployed psychology major could probably get a job easy if he or she went back to college and earned a degree in counseling, social work, or management information systems and chose business analysis. An unemployed English major could takes courses in computer science and get a job easily as a technical writer for software companies.
The key is the multi-disciplinary approach in fields of demand in the appropriate region of the country. There is a shortage of software engineers in Texas and Silicon Valley. The northeast and midwest have many healthcare jobs at places like pharmacy, medical devices, medical billing, etc.
Go to
http://www.dice.com or indeed.com and use search terms below:
* healthcare
* medical billing
* firmware
* software
* C++
* linux
* HL7
* test plan
* technical writer
* UML
* requirements
* FDA
* ISO
* systems engineer
* analyst
* tester
* QA
* architect
* java
* .Net
* SQL
* biomedical
* web design
* data mining
* business intelligence
* PMP
There is a way for young college graduates to "hack" the unemployment problem and fight back. The clues are above. It's true that there are many unemployed college graduates, but there are some who have managed to succeed despite the odds.
http://www.statesman.com/business/technology/austin-battles-shortage-in-high-end-software-engineering-2024970.html?viewAsSinglePage=truehttp://medical-careers-review.toptenreviews.com/the-rising-health-care-needs-of-aging-baby-boomers.html