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Americans Lose Faith That Hard Work Leads to Economic Gains, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds

(www.wsj.com)
191 points impish9208 | 2 comments | 02 Sep 25 15:07 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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TuringNYC ◴[02 Sep 25 15:28 UTC] No.45104348[source]▶
I live in a community full of high-achieving GenZ who did 4-7 AP courses, studied their butts off for the SAT, got into good universities....only to not find any jobs when they graduate with STEM degrees. A dozen neighbors' kids have been asking me for zero-salary jobs just to get experience.
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koakuma-chan[dead post] ◴[02 Sep 25 15:33 UTC] No.45104430[source]▶
[flagged]
WalterBright ◴[02 Sep 25 15:54 UTC] No.45104761[source]▶
For those who have no experience, one can gain experience while in college:

1. contribute to a significant open source project

2. write some significant work of software

3. design and build your own computer

4. build a robot something

5. work as an intern in industry

6. do work as a research assistant

When I was at Caltech, students did (entirely on their own):

1. built a gas powered helicopter from scratch

2. built a tracked robot with an arm and a manipulator

3. built an electronic synthesizer

4. built a functioning railroad that ran through the dorm

5. many built a single board computer for their own use

6. designed and built the campus radio station

7. one fellow designed, built, and sold custom speakers in the student workshop. After graduating, he turned it into a real business and made a fortune

and so on. In other words, turn yourself into someone useful to a company.

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koakuma-chan ◴[02 Sep 25 16:02 UTC] No.45104877[source]▶
You gotta realize that "experience" refers to "professional" or "commercial" experience, i.e. you gain experience by having the status of an employee at a company and having relevant job title.
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WalterBright ◴[02 Sep 25 16:59 UTC] No.45105792[source]▶
No, I don't gotta realize that. I'd be impressed by a resume with such accomplishments.
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mathiaspoint ◴[02 Sep 25 17:01 UTC] No.45105814[source]▶
I think you're right that it did used to work that way but now all the juniors are competing with people like me who have done all of that and also have five years of professional experience at large companies.
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WalterBright ◴[02 Sep 25 17:08 UTC] No.45105935[source]▶
I don't know you, so I will speculate that something else is going on. There are a lot of ways to not get hired.

For example, one guy I interviewed spent all his time asking about what benefits he was going to get. He had no interest whatsoever in what he'd be doing, and what the company was doing. No hire.

Unfortunately, such is commonplace. This gives the savvy interviewee an advantage - approach the interview from the employer's point of view. Save your questions about how much vacation you'll get until after the employer has decided to hire you.

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1. koakuma-chan ◴[02 Sep 25 17:27 UTC] No.45106234[source]▶
Oh you're a recruiter? I am curious about something, I hope you can share what you think: is it a red flag when the candidate doesn't ask questions during interview? I often don't have questions because I have a good enough idea of the company and of what I will be doing already, so I don't ask that kind of questions, and I also don't ask about benefits because I don't really care. Is this seen as bad?
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2. WalterBright ◴[03 Sep 25 00:44 UTC] No.45110998[source]▶
I'm not a recruiter, but I'm friends with one.

Showing interest in the company is very helpful. Asking questions like how does the company make money, what is their criteria for a successful employee, what does the division you're applying for contribute to the success of the company, what kind of person are they looking for, and so on.