When Gina Petersen graduated with her associate's degree from Kirkwood Community College two years ago, she described it as “the greatest accomplishment I've ever accomplished.”
As a returning adult college student, she had struggled to fit her studies part-time, online, while working as a trainer for a technology company. He had gotten that job through connections and hoped that a college degree would be a big help if he ever needed to find a new job in the future.
We tell the story of Petersen's college journey, which took him more than seven years and a couple of false starts to complete, as part of a three-part podcast series we did in 2022 called Second Acts.
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For this week's episode of the EdSurge Podcast, we spoke with Petersen again to see what the title has meant for his professional and personal life.
And we discovered that the credential has not opened as many doors for him as he expected.
A few months after we last spoke with Gina, she was laid off from her training job after 10 years with the company. And at first she quickly found a project manager position through her networks. But he felt the job wasn't a good fit, so he quit after a little more than a year, hoping to quickly find another position.
What he found, however, was a job market that suddenly seemed much more daunting.
“I've sent my resume to, I'd say, 150 different places for 150 different roles, and yet nothing,” he says, even after getting professional help crafting his resume.
Worse, she says, employers have misled her when she gets the initial interest. “Two people reached out for phone interviews and said 'Yes' and confirmed, and then they literally didn't call me,” he says.
Petersen is not alone, according to labor market experts.
Guy Berger, director of economic research at the Burning Glass Institute, notes that because it has become easier to apply for jobs, thanks to one-click applications on company websites and the growth of platforms like Linkedin, those searching employment have more opportunities than ever. But, as a result, they also have to work harder to find the right fit. Whereas it used to be common to apply for 15 jobs, it is now not unusual to have to apply for more than 150, he says.
“Now, you're applying for a lot more things, you're getting more opportunities with the bat, but you're getting a lot more rejections,” Berger says.
This can be demoralizing for job candidates, he adds, but it can also be difficult for employers, who are struggling to sort through a deluge of applicants.
Meanwhile, Berger says the number of jobs for recent graduates has declined in recent years, and simply having a degree does not guarantee a “meal ticket” as in the past.
“College graduates continue to obtain generally higher-paying jobs than people without a college degree, and there is a broader range of opportunities available to them when looking for work,” he says. “But if you look at the boost it provides, it's probably less than in the past.”
Still, Petersen says she's glad she earned her degree, as she learned valuable skills in college that she put to good use in her work. But at this moment he does not plan to pursue further higher education.
Hear more about Petersen's search, trends in hiring, and what colleges can do to respond to this changing landscape on this week's EdSurge podcast.
Watch the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcastsor in the player below.
