Many college students are lining up internships for the summer months or the coming semester. Some college graduates are also getting internships to further their professional experience after college and possibly get their foot in the door in careers and fields they have recently narrowed to match their interests and abilities.
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It’s a harsh reality: average workers will have a much harder time in today’s economic climate. The competition is heating up and those who are exceptional will have traction, gratification and fulfillment in the workforce.
Average workers don’t put in the extra that sets them apart from other members of the team, whereas exceptional workers draw energy from harnessing  their unique abilities. It may sound like becoming an exceptional worker will be much more depleting than putting in average effort, but, in fact, it’s the opposite. People who feel “very successful” and “completely successful” at work are twice as likely to say they are happy than those who only feel “somewhat successful,” with their level of income making no difference in their levels of happiness, according to Arthur Brooks in the article “America and the Value of ‘Earned Success.'”1 Exceptional people are driven to become exceptional for its intrinsic value (in happiness and fulfillment), not extrinsic value (in dollars and status).
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The world of work is ever- changing. However, new graduates will experience a heightened level of change over the span of their careers, as technology becomes more integrated and new software, tools, and gadgets make their work more efficient and far reaching.  Add to that the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit of today’s young people who will be launching many of the new businesses which will fuel our economic growth over the next several decades in areas that don’t yet exist, and it could be hard to predict what the workforce will look like in 20, or even 10, years.
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This Saturday, my oldest nephew, Carson, graduates from college. Twenty-eight years ago to the day, I graduated from the same university. As I think about the last twenty-eight years, I realize how many things have changed and how many ways life has improved, despite our challenges.
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In past cycles of the U.S. economy, a college degree — or even a high school diploma — could be enough for a job seeker to land a well-paying position that afforded them staples of an American lifestyle, such as home and car ownership, leaving home as a teen or young adult, and starting a family. In the new economy, with high unemployment rates for teens and adults, neither a college degree or high school diploma comes with a job guarantee, and many young adults are reacting by living with their parents longer, delaying marriage and child birth and indefinitely postponing large purchases. 1
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Thirty years ago this summer, I was finishing my first unpaid internship in Washington, D.C with Common Cause, a lobbying  group run at the time by Archibald Cox, John Gardner of Stanford, and, at times, Ralph Nader. The next year, the report, A NATION AT RISK1, was issued as I began my internship in New York City at the Academy for Educational Development. During both summers, I waited on tables at night to be able to work for no pay at my valuable internships. This report was commissioned by the then President Ronald Reagan. I distinctly remember one of the most defining lines of that document:  The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.
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Recessions, ebb and flow. Between 1948 and 2011, there have been 10 recessions, according the National Bureau of Economic Research1. That means there are many people in the U.S. who have been in all 10 recessions and made their  way out. The BLS describes a recession as: “A general slowdown in economic activity, a downturn in the business cycle, a reduction in the amount of goods and services produced and sold.”
We are entering the months of graduation, inspiring speeches and anxious and excited graduates. With college debt exceeding a trillion dollars last month, the cost of college outpacing credit card debt, and the unemployment rate among graduates at a sixty year high, many Americans are asking what this means in the short run and the long run for these students and for our economy. What we should also be asking is:  a) what responsibility do colleges have in doing a better job of delivering graduates who are both knowledgeable and capable in the professional world; and, b) what responsibility do those graduates have to get a clue before they start college about what the real world expects and demands of graduates? Let’s look at both of these areas.
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Graduates in 2012 will be entering an economy with more debt and less job opportunities than they would have 20 or even 10 years ago. The last recession of this proportion was actually in 1984, the year I graduated from college.
But the surprise isn’t only on the new graduates. Employers are gaining new hires who have spent some of their most formidable years in a bad economy and who have responded with either apathy or a zeal to overcome obstacles in the professional world. For both kinds of young adults, and those in between, they will be up against some challenges that, although sometimes grim, are the reality of our current economy. Instead of  being the apathetic new hire or job seeker, I encourage you to take on the following challenges with the mindset that you will keep moving forward until you can overcome.
The next wave of college graduates will be stepping into the world of work over the coming weeks. Some already have jobs, some are job hunting, and some have pushed aside the thought of a career until after finals week. No matter where you stand on the job front, you can all benefit by updating your vocabulary with a few words that can help you push through difficult times on the job hunt, on the job, or in all aspects of life. These words to live by are: