Will the retiring baby boomers mean a better job market for recent college grads?

I don't think you have any chance at all.

I would rather hire someone in their 40s-50s than the recent grads I've seen.

I agree with need citation

Retiring baby boomers won't necessarily translate into an easier time for you because there is a a large pool of applicants right now floating around. These applicants do not disappear after a year of failure: they keep trying until they get a job or they go back to school. Because of this it will probably be another 1-2 years or so before the job market really opens up again, assuming the economic recovery is already underway.

class of 2011 wrote:

So for my fellow graduates and anyone else who's knowledgeable, my question is this: Will the retiring baby boomers leave a significant amount of open job slots for new grads?

Baby Boomers aren't retiring right now. They lost a ton of money in the past 2 years and saw their housing equity cut in half. If they haven't already lost their jobs, they will be staying on a few more until their nest egg improves.

The fact that you have applied to 500 places makes me think that you might be having a tough time because you aren't putting enough time into each application. Are you writing cover letters that pertain to the specific job that you are applying for, or are you sending out a generic letter? If the latter, your application is probably finding its way to the trash after a quick glance.

If you are just sending out a generic application to every job posting, my advice would be to pick a few employers that you really want to work for (and that are realistic for your level of education and experience) and put more time into the cover letter. Show that you have done your research on the company. Tell them not just why you want to do the general job that you are applying for, but why you want to work for their company specifically. If you can, find the name of the person who will be reading the letter and address it to them personally rather than doing the "to whom it may concern," or something along those lines.

Of course, you might be doing these things already, but if not, give it a try.

Yes but it will take many years.

You should consider going to grad school.

Long term we might enter into a period of stagflation

It depends. About half of them are basically generic letters with only a few minor changes from one letter to the next, while the other half are pretty specific to the organization I'm looking to work for. Even if you count only the company-specific cover letters, there would probably be enough words in them to fill a full-length novel (no joke; I have about 250 of those letters, and they're each about two-thirds of a page long.) But hey, that's what you do if you have nothing else to do all summer besides eating, sleeping, and running.

Of course not; I was wondering whether they would retire by the time I graduate.

Things have gotten so bad that I'm seriously considering becoming a pro runner instead of sending a couple hundred more resumes to potential employers. And that statement isn't coming from a sub 4 miler, it's coming from a guy who can't break the 15 minute barrier in the 5K.

I hate to say this but I have too...

The economy is getting ready for another step down. Many Baby Boomers about to retire will lose a large chunk of their retirement, or find that it won't be enough with their longer life expectancy, depletion/bankruptcy of Social Security funds, and inflation.

What this means is many Baby Boomers will be seeking jobs themselves, and with their work ethic they will be hired because they know how to work, whilst college grads are relatively inexperienced.

Baby Boomers will also be settled, have everything they already need in a place to live, paid off homes, and a car, whilst recent grads will have only maybe 1 of these things at best. So the Baby Boomers can work for less, and they know it, and employers know it.

If you are young, you need to start working now and saving up what you can and getting out of debt. That means any job, no matter how low paying it is. Yes, to minimum wage, yes to Military. Yes to anything that brings any money right now.

In a couple of months to about a year, the economy will hit its second leg down, and you will see unemployment north of 20 percent by then. Thankfully, this will probably be the last downleg before the economy picks up again, but to get through it you're gonna have to do EVERYTHING and work hard, and for many that still won't be enough.

The economy is still working all of these bad loans out, its got a ways to go, but we're probably a third to half way through it. This is just like the Depression, except we've learned serious lessons since then and it will probably only be half as long. The depression lasted 12 years, this one will last 6. It started in 2007 when home prices collapsed, it should be over with by 2012-2013.

You need to work now because there is maybe a year left to make money and save it up, after that you will have to wait it out until the economy picks up again, and likely it will be a slow pick up. Many people are going to come out of this recession/depression in severe debt with no assets. You do not want to be one of those people, because if you're 25 now, it will take a long time to recover as the economy does from 2013-2020.

Hate to say it wrote:

If you are young, you need to start working now and saving up what you can and getting out of debt. That means any job, no matter how low paying it is. Yes, to minimum wage, yes to Military. Yes to anything that brings any money right now.

If I can somehow find a minimum wage job, how will this affect my ability to get an entry-level engineering job once the recession is over? I don't mind working at McDonald's or even at a slaughterhouse for the time being, but will future employers be reluctant to hire someone who hasn't done any engineering-related activities for so long?

I would rather hire someone in their 40s-50s than the recent grads I've seen.

Sounds good to me. Those 40-50 year olds will take the spot of the baby boomers, so the 30 year olds can take the spot of the 40-50 year olds. The trickle down effect should continue, leaving a large amount of entry-level spots available.

Can you get an internship or non-oaying volunteer position?

class of 2011 wrote:

If I can somehow find a minimum wage job, how will this affect my ability to get an entry-level engineering job once the recession is over? I don't mind working at McDonald's or even at a slaughterhouse for the time being, but will future employers be reluctant to hire someone who hasn't done any engineering-related activities for so long?

Go for it, but find a way to do things that you can tell a prospective employer about later. Work at a restaurant and find ways to improve efficiency. If all you can say is "I worked at a diner for a year," that won't get you very far. If you can say "I worked at a diner for a year and in that time, I realized that they were doing X, Y, and Z inefficiently. I worked with the manager to put some new systems in place and as a result of my ideas ticket times improved by 30%," then at least you have something to bring away from it.

taper madness wrote:

Can you get an internship or non-oaying volunteer position?

I can't get either a paid or unpaid internship, and the only volunteer positions I can get are ones that have absolutely nothing to do with my major.

keep trying - you're the kind of guy that people are looking for, you just need some honing. the 500 apps is probably not so good, agree that maybe you aren't targeting like you should. it is tough for a guy your age to have much of a network - if you can, go to your family's holiday get together and let aunt bunny and uncle fred know that you are looking. you never know who uncle fred knows. make up some business cards, get a free email account with some combination of your name and not ... rainbowdude@, superrunner@ ... etc. pay your alumni dues, get in the alumni group at your college - attend alumn events, etc.

what engineering field? what area of the country?

keep at it, things will change, eventually - it just may take a while.

How about talking with your academic advisor, professors, others involved in your engineering/science extra-cirric's? The best way to get a job is through the people you know. 500 letters sound like a troll, but good luck.

mother clucker wrote:

it is tough for a guy your age to have much of a network - if you can, go to your family's holiday get together and let aunt bunny and uncle fred know that you are looking. you never know who uncle fred knows. make up some business cards, get a free email account with some combination of your name and not ... rainbowdude@, superrunner@ ... etc. pay your alumni dues, get in the alumni group at your college - attend alumn events, etc.

what engineering field? what area of the country?

keep at it, things will change, eventually - it just may take a while.

How about talking with your academic advisor, professors, others involved in your engineering/science extra-cirric's? The best way to get a job is through the people you know.

I'm getting a B.S. in civil engineering in California, but about a hundred of those resumes and cover letters were sent to out-of-state employers.

I've already told friends and relatives that I'm looking for an internship or job, but they haven't been of any help. I came from a poor immigrant working class family*** who sold almost all of their possessions to come here, so I don't know anyone who has connections in the engineering industry. My parents and other relatives only work in jobs that pay slightly more than minimum wage. I'll be the first generation in my family to graduate college, and the only reason why I could attend it in the first place is because of academic scholarships and government-provided financial aid.

I've already talked to advisors, professors, and classmates, but the only responses I got were ones that said "I don't have anything available for you now, but we do want you to find a job so that you can donate to our school later." The few classmates I know who have jobs or internships are those whose parents are in a high-ranking position at an engineering company. It used to be a lot different, but right now, they won't let outsiders get jobs unless you have blood or marriage connections. I swear, it's like the f*cking mafia or something.

***Before any anti-immigrant sentiment pops up, I'll say that my family came here legally. All of us will probably become U.S. citizens before my graduation.

This might sound like a joke, but it's not. Find a girlfriend with a parent in the industry then. Use that. Or make some friends. Find the place where they like to hang out(most cities have bas where folk from certain companies or industries tend to converge). Then make some friends with them. Leverage that. It sounds bad, but in this world, you have to use people.

In regards to taking a minimum wage job, do it.

It looks better to be doing some work than none, and you can just explain that away to providing yourself a source of income while searching for related jobs. Most employers will understand that you hit the job market at a hard time. So long as you don't just sit there for 2 or 3 years it should be fine.

Civil engineering has never been the greatest even in good times.

There are jobs now for mechanical and electrical with some experience.

Many engineering jobs are filled by chinese, pakis and indians all of whom came for grad studies and stayed.

US engineering grads can't compete with them and usually end up going for the 'talk' jobs, engineering reps and the like.

Hate to say it wrote:What this means is many Baby Boomers will be seeking jobs themselves, and with their work ethic they will be hired because they know how to work, whilst college grads are relatively inexperienced.

Good stuff. Yea, the boomers may keep working longer than expected, but the work ethic argument is bogus. People forget the THEY were slammed by their parents for being lazy hippies with no work ethic in the 60's and 70's .

The bottom line here is that generational favoritism is par for the course.

Apply to the jobs you've got a shot at and keep going. Instead of letting your age be used against you impress someone! I guarantee you that if you come across as a "go getter" and older boss will take that as you being an exception to the rule... even if you aren't. Take advantage of the bias.

Once you're in, spend long hours at work and use the fact that they have a family against them. It's not fair, but the job market sucks.

What would you rather do? Starve or pay your bills.

Now get to it.