COVER STORY:

Degrees of happiness: For today’s college graduates entering the workforce, it’s about much more than money

Shutterstock.com

UNLV’s fall semester starts Aug. 29, representing the investment of nearly 30,000 degree-seekers in their future.

For many of today’s college students, chasing financial success is less important than preparing for a fulfilling career, gaining exposure to new ideas and developing critical thinking skills, according to a new Barnes & Noble College study titled “Value of College.”

Those findings should serve as a wake-up call for Las Vegas companies. They stand in stark contrast to traditional motivations for obtaining a college degree, such as increased earning potential and access to influential alumni.

“Today’s students are more interested in fulfillment and connections than generations of the past,” said Lisa Malat, vice president and chief marketing officer at Barnes & Noble College, which operates 751 campus bookstores nationwide. “These students are also very cost-conscious.”

The study also shows a disconnect in career preparation. While many colleges and universities emphasize services such as resume writing and interviewing skills, 30 percent of students said they were unaware or did not take advantage of the support offered.

“Schools need to be more proactive in reaching out to their students in this area,” Malat said. “We see this as an opportunity for colleges and universities to help drive even greater success for their students.”

Money Will Always Matter

Employers need to know what prospective employees want and need — and that those things aren’t always the same.

“For starters, anyone believing fulfillment doesn’t represent earning a good wage is sadly mistaken,” said Patrick Casale, managing partner of Las Vegas-based benefits consulting firm the MultiCare Group. “During the previous generations, the costs of living were far easier to attain compared with today’s environment. When you consider the cost of health care alone in America, you’re looking into the barrel of a gun. You need to estimate that the cost for premiums and expenses will exceed 25 percent of the average income.”

Money has remained a significant factor in career choice, Casale said, adding that saving money should be a consideration when opportunities are presented in high school, such as college-accredited courses offered for free to students who excel.

“These classes usually transfer credit-hours toward a degree and reduce the net cost,” Casale said.

Some students have part-time or full-time jobs to offset the price of seeking better ones. “Most students at UNLV, now and in the past, work as they go to school,” economics professor Bernard Malamud said. “They are responsible, mature individuals with realistic views of their opportunities.”

Malamud said some of UNLV’s top graduates in economics have been gravitating toward jobs in which their analytical skills are challenged and appreciated.

“This does not so much reflect a change in student attitudes, I believe, but in the Las Vegas workplace, where such skills are now more sought after than in the past,” Malamud said.

Whatever their skills and pedigrees, those entering the professional workforce should be prepared to make compromises in their early careers. “New ideas, being creative and developing critical thinking skills are important,” said John Napolitano, chairman and CEO of U.S. Wealth Management in Massachusetts, though he added that new employees often must “crawl through the mud and do jobs (they) really don’t like” to get to the careers they went to college for in the first place. “Sometimes finding what will become your fulfilling career is a process of discovery and elimination. ... (But) if you never love what you do, you’ll rarely find financial success.”

Either/Or?

Time-worn tropes would have us believe that “fulfilling” and “financially rewarding” aren’t a package deal, but companies have gotten the message that strong culture — the daily experience of a job and its impact on the community or even the world — is a powerful draw, especially for those candidates with a lot of high-paying options.

“Financial success and a fulfilling career can be achieved simultaneously; they are not mutually exclusive,” said Bridget Richards, principal broker of the Investment Services Division of Perry Guest Cos. in Las Vegas. “The highlight reel of my career has featured both of these conditions at once. In fact, I love helping people start and build businesses (with that balance).”

Richards said she got “most fired up when discovering a friend’s, colleague’s or family member’s secret idea or dream. I think in terms of what miracles it would take to bring that dream into a reality, where it could be monetized to provide for the inventor. ... Excitement is contagious, and if you are enjoying a pursuit, it’s likely it can lead to financial success.”

Kirk Jacobson, founder and managing partner of Las Vegas accounting firm JW Advisors, has found “a robust culture and intellectual environment are critical in recruiting and retaining the best talent. The best new professionals are not necessarily looking for the ‘resume building’ of working for the large international firms. Young professionals are much more open-minded in pursuing employment that matches their fundamental desire for a work-life balance, continuous learning, etc.”

Jacobson’s experience suggests that firms are striving to adapt their culture to attract and retain the new generation, rather than the new generation changing their expectations to match an employer’s culture.

“The reality of business today is that the retirement of the baby boomers is creating a shortage of skilled workers,” he said. “Combined with the vast amount of information available to the workforce with respect to compensation, it has put the employee in the more powerful position and companies are scrambling to adapt. There is very little loyalty in the workforce today, and the new generation is quick to look elsewhere if they are not happy.

“Like most things in life, communication is probably the single most important factor,” Jacobson said. “The new generation of workers desire a more open and communicative culture. They want to know what’s going on in the company. Young workers want constructive feedback and, perhaps even more importantly, positive feedback.”

Management, therefore, needs to know more about employees, and to take an interest in their personal lives rather than just their work lives. But on the other side, employees should understand that rich experience can be gained even if jobs don’t live up to the ideals they had in mind as hopeful college seniors.

“Personal strength is sometimes forged through facing challenges to one’s idealism,” Richards said, “and oftentimes, workplace dissatisfaction is a powerful catalyst for change to a more suitable and ideal field.”

Share