American college grads: Homebodies with worthless degrees

time ^ | October 15, 2009 | Justin Fox

[george76]

I had a somewhat disturbing conversation yesterday with Steve Fussell, the senior VP of human resources at pharmaceutical maker Abbott. His basic message, which I may pursue in a column down the road, was that Abbott is going to be hiring tons of people for high-paying jobs over the next decade, but not many of them will be Americans because we study the wrong things in college and we're not willing to work overseas.

The key quotes:

1) "I hate to say we don't have the world's best universities. We may have the best minds, the best liberal arts education. The problem is it doesn't match the work anymore." (That is to say, not enough students are getting science and math degrees.)

2) "I don't have these graduates in Europe and Asia telling us they want to live with mom and dad or they don't want to relocate to Asia."

[Perdogg]

I am glad I have an EE degree and have my PE.

[BunnySlippers]

I met two lovely young 20-somethings in a dining group I belong to. Both ready to get their MBAs. Didn’t have the heart to tell them that their degrees were close to worthless.

[C19fan]

Souns like a self-serving statement. Multinationals like to hire foreigneers because they are cheap labor.

[Gaffer]

The same, but had I to do over again, I’d have started a business and cheated my ass off in taxes.

[Truth29]

But too many of the will be reliable, dependent, Democrat voters. Obama will be pleased and the education grants will flow to make more of the same.

[Perdogg]

did you get their digits?

[JimSEA]

This isn't new. Twenty plus years ago, it was very difficult to find metallurgical or chemical engineers unless you considered foreign nationals schooled in the USA. It was even more difficult to find American graduates who would relocate to mining towns.

[Blue Jays]

To play the devil's advocate:
The only way I would expatriate from my beloved United States to work overseas is with a robust employment contract.
Employers can be equally quirky and flaky, so it's a two-way street.

[AndyJackson]

What do they pay a mid-career biomed technician? What do they pay a mid-career PhD biochemist with a solid track record of pharmaceutical development? What do they pay the MBA's/JDs in their finance, marketing and government relations departments?

I think they will discover that they have incentivized their own personnel problems.

[dawn53]

I met two lovely young 20-somethings in a dining group I belong to. Both ready to get their MBAs. Didn’t have the heart to tell them that their degrees were close to worthless.

Our son has a bachelor's in info systems, is about to earn his MBA and has a great job, now and will get a raise and continue in that job when he completes this degree. Of his graduating class of MBAs, most are already employed, or have jobs lined up (and unemployment in our area is around 12 percent in our area.)

[ASOC]

Maybe this guy should know that a lot of Americans - after spending a ton of dough and in some cases busting butt for 4 years to get a degree - have no inclination to live in a polluted, crime ridden $hithole so the multinational can have a wider profit margin.

That said, I'm still looking for jobs in Singapore.

FWIW, I have worked in Korea and Russia - you see a lot of Alaskans and folks from Down Under working OS. Don't know why, you just do.

[SteamShovel]

I am glad I have an EE degree and have my PE.

Ditto but for an ME degree.

[M Kehoe]

Life is easy and hard at the same time. Hard, if you can't find someone to employ you, and easy if you can sell a product or service to a customer.

No matter what age, sex, color, etc..

5.56mm

[RnMomof7]

What he is REALLY saying is they work 60 hours a week for 1/2 of what Americans want..

If our universities are so bad, why is our local University’s medical. dental and engineering schools filled with Muslims, Indians, Chinese etc??

[BunnySlippers]

Congrats and good luck to your sons.

In the stock market, my field, I do see a big preference for advanced degrees. But I don’t see a big difference in pay for those who got the degrees and those who advanced through the ranks.

Having said that, employers also gauge people who have advanced degrees as being individuals who can stick to a plan and complete it.

[Nepeta]

There are plenty of high-skilled, scientific/technically degreed Americans.

The problem with them is that they have illusions about being middle class or that they are no longer 25 years old. Corporations talk about “entry-level” positions requiring at least 5 years of solid experience and pay not much more than unskilled labor.

I would never encourage a young person to go into a scientific field unless they were curious and had a fallback plan for making a living.

[gogogodzilla]

I had this exact discussion with my coworkers 2 weeks ago.

The is no longer the societal stigma attached to adult children, who can afford to live on their own, still living with their parents.

And I think that changed within the last 10 years or so.

[centurion316]

However, our university system produces the finest commie loons in the world.

[mysterio]

worthless degrees

Disagree. I wouldn't give back a second of my education, and am considering going back and getting a bit more.