Academic Writing: College Graduate Labor Woes

(This essay was written as a critique during my freshman year of college for my Critical Reading and Writing course)

Throughout the essay “Job Outlook for 2014 Grads Puzzling,” author Hadley Malcolm (2014) offers compelling insight regarding a nation-wide epidemic in the form of post-college graduation employment. Malcolm pleads the people of the United States to care more deeply about the “depressing economic cycle” (p. 433) that many individuals are experiencing and effectively illustrates the magnitude of the crisis. The author is very effective in expressing the extent of the issue by utilizing the experiences of a variety of college graduates who have had difficulty finding a career. Along with personal stories, Malcolm provides various statistical references to better showcase the magnitude of the situation at hand. Like many other college students, there is a possibility that I will be yet another victim of the seemingly endless post-graduation cycle that Malcolm describes in her writing. The essay has allowed me to resonate with the students and has made me look towards the future to plan how I can prevent or ease the struggles of finding a job following graduation. The employment crisis is becoming an increasingly apparent issue within our society, and I agree that it will only continue to persist if effective measures are not put in place to prevent it from growing.

Malcolm (2014) uniquely opens the essay by placing the reader in the role of a member of the graduating class of 2014 who is receiving a rejection letter from an employer. As the essay progresses, the author describes the confusion that many college students are experiencing while searching for a job. Malcolm suggests that there are currently a wide variety of employment opportunities for students to take advantage of and that unemployment rates are currently declining. Despite the job market growing, the author conveys that many students are still struggling to secure a career in their selected degree field. Furthermore, the author references statistics provided by the Bureau of Labor which displays the significance of the issue that is affecting a vast amount of college graduates. Throughout the body of the essay, Malcolm showcases the extent of the job crisis by describing 2 different students’ struggle with finding a job. The author displays how not being able to utilize their degree forces students to take lower-level jobs they normally would not and even move back home with their parents while searching for proper employment. Malcolm also explores the consequences of a delayed start in a career field and how detrimental it can be for graduates. The author conveys this notion by showcasing how entering the labor force during a recession similar to the employment crisis can affect an individual’s earnings for “10-15 years” (p. 435).

Malcolm (2014) is very effective in persuading the reader to deeply care about the post-graduation job crisis. The structure of the essay is well organized in the sense that components of information are split into two distinct categories. The introductory paragraphs showcase the extent of the issue through the usage of employment statistics, and the personal accounts from graduates within the body paragraphs helps the audience develop a sense of empathy. The former of the two is less effective in making the audience attentive to the issue, as the statistics in the introductory paragraph does not directly correlate with the topic. The provided data seem to reference the issue of unemployment rather than the inability for graduates to secure a job. Malcolm does very little to display the correlation between the separate epidemics, making the author’s opening case seem slightly invalid. She almost seems to contradict her own assertions by stating that employers “added the most jobs in more than two years” (p. 433) and conveying that unemployment saw a marginal percentage drop as well. These statements convey that college students are not properly taking advantage of employment opportunities as opposed to suggesting that they suffer from the inability to secure a job. Aside from the confusing opening statistics, the author’s thoughts are clear and concise, making the essay accessible to all readers. The purpose of the essay is to make people aware of the epidemic at hand, and the writing seems to be directed at individuals currently enrolled in college or parents planning futures for their children. Unemployment amongst graduates is extremely significant in the United States today, with millions of students enrolling in universities across the nation. As previously stated, the utilization of experiences from college graduates being plagued with difficulties in finding a job, and the consequences of not securing one, help the audience feel connected with the struggling individuals. These excerpts allow the reader to place themselves in the shoes of a students, and it is through these sympathetic passages that Malcolm’s writing truly begins to find its voice.

The majority of appeals used throughout the essay is pathos, which makes the audience feel an emotional connection to the subject itself through stories from actual graduates. As an individual currently majoring in communications, it is easy to picture myself in the role of Rebecca Mersiowsky, who holds the same degree as the one I am pursuing. Mersiowsky describes her experience with not being able to secure a job in Malcolm’s (2014) writing as “scary,” and feels as if she is being “set back” (p. 434) while other members of her graduating class excel in their career fields. Her insight regarding the employment crisis allowed me to envision a future where I was in a similar situation. The thought of this is very frightening and makes myself, and likely many others, care more deeply about the issue. Another pivotal motive appeal emerges in the form of logos through the usage of various statistical references. The data excerpts are scattered throughout the essay; however, the strongest case of logos appears in the second paragraph of the writing. Malcolm utilizes statistics provided by the Bureau of Labor and suggests that the unemployment rate for individuals under 25 was “twice the national average” (p. 433), which displays the magnitude of the situation to the audience. The remaining pieces of data do not seem to directly correlate with the topic of the essay and do very little to strengthen Malcolm’s arguments. The final appeal that is noticeably absent throughout the essay is ethos, but this does not negatively affect the writing in any way. The topic itself does not extend to any ethical conversations, which therefore means an argument concerning ethics would be invalid if included.

Throughout her essay, Malcolm (2014) does very little to demonstrate methods to help combat the graduation crisis that is currently plaguing the United States. I believe a way to help lower the number of jobless-graduates would be for students to resist the temptation to select a degree field solely due to its current popularity in the employment industry. In “Why Focusing Too Narrowly in College Could Backfire,” author Peter Cappelli (2014) suggests that in order lower the number unemployed graduates, college students must stop concentrating on narrow-tracked degree fields, such as casino management and pharmaceutical marketing, that are currently popular in the job market. Cappelli suggests that “nobody can predict where the jobs will be,” and furthers the consequences of selecting a popular career by stating that selecting the “wrong path could make things worse, not better” (p. 436). This idea illustrates that employment opportunities that are popular today are not guaranteed to maintain the same level of prominence when individuals graduate four years from now.

Along with narrowly focused degrees, I believe choosing degrees because of passion is detrimental to the success of college students. In “Do What You Love? #@&** That,” author Jeff Haden (2014) indicates that students should focus on practical career paths rather than degrees fueled solely by vigor and states that “preexisting passion is rarely valuable” (p. 463). Haden’s writing displays that while enjoying a job one is tasked with is pivotal to an individual’s happiness, it ultimately is second to the financial stability of a person. The author blatantly suggests that passion does not equate to profitability. In “Why Pursuing Your Passion Can Backfire,” author Marty Nemko (2014, July) continues to illustrate this idea by delivering specific examples of individuals who pursued their career because of passion for the field. Nemko describes Taylor Bartolucci’s experience of following her aspirations of being an actor, even though her pay does not “amount to minimum wage” (p. 47). Bartolucci’s lower income only furthers the idea that generally, passion is not always profitable.

Malcolm also fails to explore reasons that students may struggle while searching for employment opportunities. One of the most prominent causes is due to a lack of preparation in their designated degree field. According to the article “Get Down with the Grads,” author Alex Moore (2017, August) suggests that a recent survey of 2017 college graduates proves that students feel unprepared for their new-found careers by stating that “84 percent of this year’s graduates expect their first employer to provide formal training” (p. 14). Moore displays that a majority of graduates do not feel confident that the abilities they have developed over their years of schooling will be sufficient enough to secure or maintain a job; making it difficult for employers to hire the former students when compared to more qualified and experienced candidates. One way that students can prove themselves to employers is through prior internships. In the article “Score a Great Summer Internship,” author Kaitlin Mulhere (2017 January) suggests that internships are, “practically a prerequisite for getting hired after graduation” (p. 34). Mulhere displays how they can aid in the success of students by referencing a study conducted by The Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University which found that 63% of college graduates who completed a paid internship, “received a job offer within six months of graduation” (p. 34).

In closing, Hadley Malcolm’s (2014) essay “Job Outlook for 2014 Grads Puzzling” is very effective in demonstrating the magnitude of the employment epidemic that is plaguing the United States. Through the usage of personal stories from college graduates, Malcolm presents a vivid picture for the audience to envision a future where they are involved in a similar situation, which allows an emotional connection to form. The author makes the target audience care about more deeply about the crisis at hand and motivates the reader to prevent the issue from growing. The problem itself dwindles down to one thing: the individual. Changes made by one student or parent ultimately shapes the future of the job market as we know it. Every individual throughout this great nation has the power to make change and should exercise this ability to deter the growth of the employment crisis.