freelancer

Since colleges were invented, they've been widely viewed as a reliable route to a good job. But a new study shows the current generation of college students think their education should be put to different uses, such as entrepreneurship or freelance work.

The study of Millennials -- people born roughly between 1980 and 2000 -- from freelance portal Elance shows the vast majority aren't thinking about landing a job, at least not in the traditional sense. Over 80 percent stated they hope to work independently or freelance.

If employers can interest them in coming on board, they should be prepared to chat with them on videoconferencing or via instant message. Over half said they consider telecommuting a critical factor in their job decisions. Less than 13 percent expressed interest in warming a chair in an office on a full-time basis.

Call it the Zuckerberg effect, after Facebook's founder: Having seen many of today's hot new companies get started in dorm rooms, hordes of college students are now thinking about how they can leave campus with a budding company already launched that they can manage from a laptop at their nearby coffeeshop. Instead of ironing their dress shirts and preparing to interview with major corporations, they're thinking more along the lines of creating a big company of their own.

Also, online collaboration tools and high-speed Internet access make it possible to do ever more complex jobs from home, while still functioning as part of a team that might be located across town or around the globe. Perhaps previous generations would have been more into freelancing if they could have tossed project documents into DropBox for easy sharing with coworkers.

It's not just young workers' desires to earn without a boss hovering over them that is driving this trend. The fact is, many major companies increased their use of freelancers as they downsized over the past few years. Many of those big-company managers found that system worked just fine, and the outlook is that the percentage of jobs such as writing, graphic design, and software programming that will be done by independent contractors will continue to rise over the next decade.

More than 80 percent of large corporations plan to increase their use of freelancers by 2020, data from Intuit recently showed. So new grads may be following their own muse, but their preference for freelancing also reflects the realities of the current job market.

Will you look for a job, or freelance work? State your preference and why in the comments.

 

Photo: Flickr Creative Commons - UTC Library