International College Grads

        As I, along with the rest of the graduating class of 2015 find ourselves finishing out our senior year of college, many of us struggle with making plans for after graduation. Although we are not faced with the economic hardships the country had back in 2008, the employment horizon still looks bleak.

 Recent college grads are still forced to take jobs that they are overqualified for, delaying the use of their hard-earned degree, not to mention delaying their ability to repay their student debt. Because of this seemingly hopeless prognosis, I set out to see how other countries train, integrate and utilize their college grads and how their economy benefits from college graduates.

I focused my attention on a small country, about the size of New Jersey that takes a radically different approach with its youth and more importantly, the large amounts of young people entering the work force. Despite the fact that they have only been a state since 1948, Israel has made significant technological, medical and agricultural contributions and their youth have majorly contributed to those advancements. Their achievement lies in cultivating the young adults in Israel and train them before they transition into the workforce.  

Israel’s technological and business contributions have been astounding. Aside from large inventions such as the Intel Core i7, USB flash drives and even the optical heartbeat monitor, Israel has over 4,000 start up companies and more are on the horizon. 

How do they do it?

Israel ranks first in five of the six categories due to their emphasis on 
advancing defense mechanisms, information and agricultural technologies and medical research. 

Because serving in the Israeli Defense Forces is mandatory for all young citizens before going to college, the Army gives them valuable experience that allows them to later apply that to starting their own businesses. Some even take time after serving to see the world, giving them cultural knowledge and exposure, compared to the study abroad experience many American college students have.  By launching their careers later than those in the U.S, they enter the work force with knowledge and experience from working in the IDF. Throughout their time in the IDF, they become specialized in a certain area, making them able to progress through the ranks before finishing their service. They leave the army with a marketable and desired skill set, which opens many doors in the future. 

Israel is also an agricultural genius. Their geographic location, arid climate and overall agricultural opportunities are fairly slim, yet the small country has developed technologies that make their land the most fruitful and fortified in the region. The country is essentially a desert, yet its almost 8 million inhabitants never go a day without water. Having to create something out of nothing to ensure survival makes their business perspective unlike any other. Israel has even been able to spread these agricultural technologies with other lands facing the same challenges, teaching the Palestinians, Jordanians and Indians how to revolutionize farming with these technologies. Students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, among others work in laboratories everyday to maximize the efficiency of existing technologies while researching and creating new ones. The young adults are able to take their experiences and participate in innovations that increase the quality of life of Israelis and others around the world.  

It seems that this small country cultivates their youth, molding them through the army and beyond, to truly contribute to society throughout their adult lives. By taking time to serve in the military, perhaps travel the world and later attend college, they tailor their studies and graduate with a more mature mindset as they set out for the professional world. After gaining their skill sets they are able to contribute greatly to the country’s overall economy and society. This strategy serves as an example on how teaching our recent high school graduates how to swim before jumping in the ocean can be an extremely valuable return on investment. As my classmates and I go on to continue our studies or try to find a job, I hope we keep in mind other country’s tactics and be able to learn from them. 






By: Melanie Charyton 

http://newshour-tc.pbs.org/newshour/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Grad_hire_me-1024x637.jpg
http://blog.ourcrowd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/OurCrowd-_-Funding-2.0-Why-Israel.jpg
http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/revolutionising-indian-farming-with-israeli-technology-agriculture-feature-with-images-114030200232_1.html