Breaking the cycle of underemployment: A guide for students and graduates
Key takeaways
- Underemployment happens when someone is working too few hours or in a job where they are overqualified.
- If you’re still in school, prepare for employment by speaking with guidance counselors, taking advantage of school career services and going for internships, as a few ideas.
- After you’re out of school, you can utilize strategies like joining a professional organization, networking, getting certifications or volunteering in your industry.
Underemployment refers to a person working fewer hours than they want or at a job for which they are overqualified. There’s no one way to measure overqualification; workers may be too skilled for their current position or perhaps have more education than the job demands.
Underemployment is pervasive. Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that 32.9 percent of all college graduates are currently underemployed, while 40.5 percent of recent graduates (graduates under the age of 28) are underemployed. Often, underemployment means underpayment, making it harder to build wealth and pay off student loans. While underemployment is common, it’s also possible to take actions to improve your work situation.
Strategies for current students to prepare for employment
Some degrees offer better odds of avoiding underemployment. For example, those who have STEM degrees tend to have higher salaries and lower unemployment rates. But whatever your degree, there are plenty of on-campus and online resources to bring more skills to your portfolio and help you avoid underemployment after you graduate:
- Speak with guidance counselors: Your guidance counselor can provide a list of electives to help you gain some experience in one or more of your desired skills. They may even be able to help you identify a career path for life after graduation and suggest resources that could help you prepare.
- Apply for internships: Internships are a tried-and-true way to gain ideal skills for employment. Before you accept an internship, make sure that you have the opportunity to earn the skills you want and that you can afford it. While internships can improve your future employment opportunities, many are also unpaid.
- Do independent research: Your on-campus library offers access to a wide variety of physical and digital materials that help you develop new skill sets. Students at certain colleges may be eligible for a free or discounted subscription to a variety of online learning sites, such as LinkedIn Learning, Coursera or Udemy.
- Curate your online presence: Before you start applying for jobs, take some time to carefully craft your online presence. Build and maintain a LinkedIn profile to show off any work you’re doing or share musings related to business or your industry, and set any personal social media accounts to private so potential employers cannot see them. You can use privacy tools to see what visitors will see when they come to your page to gauge what’s available to the public eye.
- Take advantage of on-campus career services: Many colleges and universities offer one-on-one career counseling sessions to help students strengthen their resumes and practice job interview skills.
- Check out student organizations and clubs: Some industry organizations allow students to join using limited or student discount memberships. This may help you start networking before you graduate and grant you access to career resources in your field. Some colleges also have clubs devoted to certain majors and career fields.
Strategies for graduates and workers to beat unemployment
Sometimes underemployment can be voluntary — for instance, you may choose to take part-time work to have more time for family or other personal matters — but it’s often involuntary for both experienced and new workers. If you’re looking to move out of underemployment, start here:
- Up your networking game. Without school, you might not have the same resources available to you. However, you can keep in touch with old professors with ties in the same business sector as the one you’re trying to break into. Remember to regularly post on LinkedIn or similar sites to show that you’re still active. Look for relevant connections there to see if your goals align with the needs of potential employers.
- Refresh your credentials. If you graduated a while ago, consider volunteering to stay current in your industry. If you’re one to two years out from graduation, you might also still qualify for internships. Find the ones that give you the most potential job growth, and keep in touch with direct supervisors. They can serve as references later on.
- Get certified. Use sites like LinkedIn, Coursera, Udemy and others to continue your education after college. Most courses are self-directed and allow you to get a certification after you’ve completed the course. Put these certifications on your resume to boost your expertise.
- Look at recent job postings. Are there specific skills or types of software that employers are looking for proficiency in? If so, working to develop these skills on your own can pay off when you want to change positions– your abilities will match what is in demand.
- Join a professional organization. Though these typically require membership dues, they can open the doors to fresh networking opportunities, continuing education courses, and connections with job leads in your field.
- Look into side hustles: You can also look into doing freelance, speaking, tutoring or consulting side hustles in your industry to add skills and experience to your resume.
Bottom line
While underemployment is more of an issue in some industries than others, many people encounter a period of underemployment at some point during their careers. Proactively making efforts to keep your skills up-to-date and your contacts current can help you to stay connected and remain an in-demand employee both when you’re fresh on the job market and throughout your working years. Also, check out advice from six Bankrate financial journalists about increasing your earnings.
