The authors of the article, Emily Johnson and Joanna Lahey, focused on how various factors influenced the behavior of potential employers. Factors considered included the applicant’s age, job experience, training and off-the-job activities such as volunteering, hobbies and sporting activities. The authors also explored the effect of long gaps in an applicant’s employment history. Specifically, the study focused on how these factors impacted an employer's willingness to grant interviews.

As part of the study, the researchers submitted different resumes to over 3500 employers from a variety of different fields, then looked at what the resumes that resulted in interview requests had in common. The jobs chosen for the study were all entry-level positions that required up to a year of secondary education as well as experience.

The findings may come as a surprise to many career counselors. Potential employers were largely unimpressed by outside activities. In fact, the resume entry that netted the most job interviews for middle-aged women seeking entry-level jobs was vocational or computer training.

Johnson and Lahey found that "Employers focus almost exclusively on educational background in the entry-level jobs studied. The benefits of adding volunteer experiences, hobbies, or involvement in sports may help in some communities more than others, and while they may not hurt the potential for an interview, these activities do not guarantee an interview for an entry-level job position."

The authors believe the study provides concrete evidence that job seekers can make themselves more attractive to potential employers by seeking computer or other skills training. Their hope is that middle-aged women will be spurred by these findings to seek training in the kinds of skills that are needed in today’s workplace.

"Job seekers may be helped in their decision making processes by knowledge of …the items employers are looking for that could make employees more attractive," they wrote.

*****

The preceding was a guest post for How To Get Out Of Debt by a guest author who recommends that people learn more about monetary economics.

But somehow it has become "politically incorrect" to suggest to college students that they should consider how in the world they plan to pay for the education they are about to receive.

Most young college students assume that they will just run out and get a great job once they graduate and that paying off these loans will be no problem.

But for millions of young Americans, that has turned out to be a very faulty assumption.  In fact, in the current economy millions of recent college graduates are unemployed and "good" jobs are few and very far in between.

And it gets really hard to pay off tens of thousands in student loan debt without a good job.

The New York Times recently profiled Cortney Munna - a recent college graduate who has not been able to get that "good job" and who now finds herself in student loan hell.  She told the New York Times that she would gladly give back her education to get out of all this debt....

"I don’t want to spend the rest of my life slaving away to pay for an education I got for four years and would happily give back."

The truth is that is exactly where hundreds of thousands of young Americans find themselves.

So if you are getting ready to take out huge student loans, you might want to think twice before signing the dotted line.

So just how bad is it out there?

Well, with tuition at some universities now running more than $30,000 a year (before you even add fees and expenses), students are racking up debt at an alarming rate.

The Project on Student Debt estimates that 206,000 students graduated from college with more than $40,000 in student loan debt during 2008.  Using 2008 dollars, that represents a ninefold increase over the number of students graduating with that amount of debt in 1996.

So the truth is that we have a real student loan debt crisis on our hands.

Young people are getting into massive amounts of debt and they are not getting good jobs that allow them to be able to service all of this debt.

And bankruptcy is not an option for these young people either.

In fact, federal bankruptcy law makes it nearly impossible to discharge student loan debts.

So once you are in student loan hell you are basically stuck there for the rest of your life.

So, young person, think really, really hard before you sign that dotted line.

Because once you take that student loan, it is going to follow you for the rest of your life.

So is there any way out?  Well, yes, there is, but it is not always easy.

We are not one of those websites who are going to promise you a "fast" or an "easy" solution.

Yes, you can "consolidate" or "renegotiate" some or all of your debts, but the reality is that sometimes doing that can make your problems even worse in the long run.

So do you want to know the real solution for getting out of debt?

You need to spend less and/or make more money.

It is just that simple.

But very few people have the discipline to spend less money or to find ways to make more money.

Most people are lazy. 

Yes, there are other things you can do to reduce your interest rates and make your payments easier to handle, but if you are not willing to spend less and/or make more money, then in the long run you are not going to make it.

Getting out of debt requires determination.

It requires commitment.

You are going to have to decide that you simply will not give up until it is done.

Are you ready to do that?

If so, then you might be ready for the material on this site.

The truth is that we are here to help you.  Hopefully we can be a resource which will help a lot of people get out of debt.  If we have been helpful to you, then we would love to hear from you.  If you would like to get in touch with us, just fill out the contact form below and an email will be sent to us right away.... 

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