College Graduates: How Companies Benefit from Hiring Them
For a college graduate, the corporate world of professional
business attire, morning meetings, black coffee,
cubicles, and paid vacation..."Wait, you mean
they'll pay me to go on vacation?" is unfamiliar
territory. Most college graduates are accustomed
to working in the all too unavoidable world of retail
or food service where they have either folded enough
Gap shirts that they are convinced they have arthritis
in their fingers, or waited enough tables at Denny's
to be able to recite the entire menu from memory.
Even for the select few of college graduates who
had a summer internship with a law firm, accounting
firm, or the like, are still not prepared for what's
to come when they leave campus for the "real
world."
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Often, most college graduates preview what the corporate
world has to offer through the lens of Hollywood. Movies
such as "Wall Street" and "Office Space" offer
very different interpretations of what the business
world is and what the fresh-faced grad can expect their
first day of work. Inexperienced, many new graduates
resort to relying upon their crisp, just off the printer,
diploma as means to gather enough confidence to make
it to the office their first morning of work without
hyperventilating, yet they still slip a little brown
bag into their new briefcase, just in case. No matter
how much education a new graduate thinks they may have,
four years of higher education cannot prepare them
for the corporate world. Then again, it's not surprising;
many college graduates are accustomed to the infamous
college lifestyle of sleeping in late, staying out
until 2 a.m. on a Wednesday, subsisting on pizza and
every caffeinated beverage known to man so they can
catch a late-night study session and still make the
80's Night Party at the neighboring frat house.
However, companies have a lot to gain by hiring college
graduates, even if during the first few days they may
be ready to run at any second back to college, convinced
their not prepared and maybe they had it wrong meeting
a timely graduation. They may even have fleeting thoughts
throughout the first day of work that those 5th year
seniors they made fun of for staying behind may have
been on to something. Nevertheless, companies, though
often times not aware of it, have an enormous amount
of talent on their hands when they bring new college
graduates into their culture.
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Once a college graduates initial fear of the real
world passes, which often leaves when they receive
their first paycheck, they offer companies a youthful
perspective, that brings with it energy, creativity,
passion, and motivation. Companies benefit in many
respects when they add college graduates onto their
team. In particular, college hires treat their first
real job differently than other senior members of the
workforce because they have passion. That is not to
say that other professionals several years into their
career do not have passion for their career, not at
all. However, college hires have a distinct passion
that can only come with your first real job.
Often they give everything they have to their career,
especially in the first year because they want to succeed.
Why would they spend four years of their life dedicating
themselves to their academics and the occasional theme
party only to graduate and fail in their new career?
College hires may initially be overwhelmed by their
new circumstances, but once they make the transition
from college student to young professional, the prospect
of staying late at the office working in a career they
adore and getting paid well for it becomes appealing.
Sure, at times they may yearn for their carefree college
days, but who doesn't? Ultimately, the evolution from
college to career may be difficult at first, but it
is well worth it for those new graduates eager to show
the world what they have to offer, besides knowing
how to fold a Gap Polo with one hand. |
