Jennifer is a native of Wilmington, Ohio, and attended Kentucky Christian University. She completed her master’s work at the University of Saint Francis. 

“I love what I do,” says Jennifer. “I get to interact with you people everyday.” 

So, what is the mission of the Graduate Retention Program? Jennifer says it is to keep young people in our region. 

How do we accomplish this mission? Through involvement. 

Leading up to the recession, Millennials had high hopes. As they entered the workforce, they made ripples that created interesting perceptions about their generation, some of which are probably true, many of which are not.

Then the recession hit. Deemed one of the worst financial crises since the Great Depression, young adults have been hit the hardest by the recession. 18- to 25-year-olds have the highest rate of unemployment. A third are underemployed. Many moved back home with their parents. Research indicates that a large number of them are delaying adulthood activities like buying a house, getting married, and starting a family.

What may be the most unfortunate side effect of the recession for Millennials is the amount of time it may take many of them to recover financially from it. Lower starting salaries can often take decades to overcome, and for those Millennials taking any job they can get, their careers may never fully recover.

Even those Millennials who were lucky enough to get jobs at the beginning of the recession aren’t making much more money now than when they started. The financial impact of this may be felt for many years to come as Millennials work to pay off debt with little left over to save for retirement.

One of the biggest problems for Millennials in this economy is they are no longer competing against other young adults for entry-level positions. They are competing against professionals with far more experience who are willing to take any position just to keep food on the table.

For a young person straight out of college with very little experience, the prospects may seem very grim, and for those who bypass college altogether, well, the question is, what prospects?

Eventually, baby boomers will retire, even if they don’t want to. If no plan is place to get young adults into a company and get them trained, the problems of the recession may grow even bigger.