Mark Twain though that to succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence. Unfortunately, for American college grads entering the work world, an abundance of those traits may not be enough to ensure professional success.
Accenture polled two different groups to contrast expectations and realities of the working world. The results are hardly a surprise to anyone who has already been working for a while. Those who have not graduated college, on the other hand, may be a bit shocked:
As fascinating as this infographic is, the findings are based on a rather small pool of subjects. Accenture surveyed 1,001 students graduating from college in 2015, and 1,002 participants who graduated college in 2013 or 2014. Yet, even this mere slice of the overall population probably reflects larger trends that current and future graduates should pay very close attention to. The fact that 64% of the recent grads polled are working in their chosen field should be encouraging, especially to those of us who weren’t quite as fortunate back when we entered the workforce!
You can learn more about the expectations and experiences of recent US college grads by downloading the Accenture Strategy 2015 U.S. College Graduate Employment Study.
Mike Bergin