I ran across a video, while I was waiting for stuff to finish at work, and sometimes, I just watch random crap on YouTube, because why the heck not? Anyhow, it was a video, complaining that young people can’t get jobs.

You can, but you have to understand what employers are looking for and sadly, most young people these days, they simply don’t. In fact, they have spent their entire educational career shooting themselves in the foot. I’m going to explain it and I’m going to speak very slowly because after talking to a lot of these people, it’s obvious that I have to.

Here’s the video in question if anyone is interested, but as I often do, it’s just a springboard into something I wanted to talk about, so it’s really not required.

The question that really made me start this was “how can it be an entry level job if you have to have 3 years of experience?” Good question. Glad you asked. Here’s the reality. There are a lot of things that employers need to see that have nothing at all to do with your degree. These are entry level jobs in your field, but they expect, rightfully so, that you will bring them a proven track record of employment success that has nothing at all to do with your degree.

They want to see that you’re reliable. They want to see that you can show up on time, work hard, and be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. They want to see that you’re not going to quit the second things don’t go your way, which is a massive problem these days. It’s why they want to see that you have had a job and kept that job for a while, because that’s often more important than that piece of paper you got from your university.

The video even said “what are you supposed to do, work while you’re in school?” Damn straight! I did. Hell, I had 2 jobs while I was in school because I was paying my own way. I worked more than full time and I went to school more than full time. Welcome to the real world. I started “working”, mowing lawns and doing yard work when I was about 14 and by the time I was 16, I had a regular job. I proved myself. By the time I was 18, I had companies who wanted me to move into management because I had proven that I was responsible.

Almost nobody does that these days. They walk out of school with a degree in one hand and absolutely nothing of value in the other. They’ve also put themselves into serious debt and can’t take the minimum-wage jobs that they should have been working all along because they can’t afford it. Sorry, employers don’t care about your degree, other than the fact that you managed to get one. That only proves you’ve been exposed to the relevant material. It doesn’t prove you’re a decent employee. So now, with all of these bills hanging over their heads, they aren’t able to take the jobs that will take them, the jobs that just need warm bodies and couldn’t care less about experience. No, they have to have the well-paying jobs that, sorry to say, they just aren’t qualified for! Your degree means nothing. You being able to prove you’re a capable, intelligent, dedicated worker does.

I do a ton of hiring, in fact, I am often the final decision maker for my employees. It’s great that you have a degree and all, but I can’t even be sure you’ll show up on time. Your degree doesn’t tell me anything about your level of responsibility, especially given the modern hyper-permissive environment of most universities. Did you make it to class on time every single day? Your degree doesn’t tell me that. When I was going, if you were 5 minutes late, you got marked absent and more than a couple absences for the entire semester and you got dropped from the class. That’s not how it works today. That’s why I’m not impressed with that piece of paper. Come back when you have something that proves I can count on you to do the right thing. Prove to me that you’re not going to call in sick regularly so you can go to the beach. How do I know you’re not going to show up drunk or insult our clients? That means a whole lot more to me, in an “entry level” position than any piece of paper that you have.

The fact is, these kids have screwed themselves over, them and their helicopter parents who didn’t teach them to work hard or be responsible. So much of this is bad parenting. When I turned 16, my parents said “go get a job”. It wasn’t a choice to just sit on the couch and play video games. I had to go and work and my choices in degrees was based around the career path that I wanted to follow. It was all about being financially successful. Nobody cared if what I wanted to do made me happy. Could I support myself and be a successful member of society?

Today, kids aren’t like that unless their parents really push them to. My kids are responsible. My oldest daughter has a degree that is in demand and a job that pays very, very well and at 27, she owns her own home. She has a mortgage in her name. We didn’t help her, she didn’t ask us to pay the down payment, she didn’t even tell us she was going to buy a house until she was already in the process. She did all that on her own. Most people today aren’t capable. That’s the problem. They have not been properly prepared for the real world.

So if you want to know why you’re having problems, that’s why. You didn’t do what you should have done. Your parents didn’t properly prepare you. Now, with all the bills that you personally took on of your own free will, you have to go back and work an actual entry level job, one that pays minimum wage, so you can get the experience that you should have been getting all along, while you were getting drunk and laid in school, you should have been working your ass off.

There’s nobody to blame but yourself and your parents. Maybe start there. Go get to work.