For the first time in their lives, they are forced to independently contend with the challenges of finding an apartment, getting a job, surviving the workplace, picking a car, navigating healthcare, understanding 401(k)s, and so much more.
New York, NY (PRWEB) May 21, 2008
As the economy flounders and the job market tightens up, Class of 2008 graduates face a host of new challenges during their transition to the real world. A new guidebook -- available as a free downloadable e-book for budget-conscious graduates -- offers help at just the right time. Packed with indispensable tips, candid advice, and humorous dispatches from early adulthood, The Gradspot.com Guide to Life After College has everything you need to know but didn't learn in college.
According to The National Association of Colleges and Employers' recent Job Outlook 2008 Spring Update, employers lowered their projected levels of college graduate hires by half this year. The Baltimore Examiner reports that "more than two-thirds of graduating college students in the United States expressed concern about the economic downtown hurting job prospects," and The Miami Herald says, "Graduating seniors expressed apprehension, if not outright dread, at having to find a job that pays enough to at least cover student loan debts, if not the expenses of striking out on their own." This is not a good time to be a college graduate with a tight budget and exorbitant living expenses. "Young people end up on a tightrope between paydays and too often credit cards are their only safety net," reports The Seattle Times. Now, as college graduates leave the support structures of school life and enter the real world, they are faced with difficult new issues and no roadmaps.
Soon after graduating, Stuart Schultz came to realize that there were no resources to help soon-to-be and recent graduates through this daunting transition, so he and Chris Schonberger penned THE GRADSPOT.COM GUIDE TO LIFE AFTER COLLEGE (May 15, 2008; $14.95) to share their experiences and provide recent graduates with trustworthy, thoroughly researched tips from Gradspot.com's team of writers, as well as topic experts in a variety of fields. Motivated by a desire to demystify the transition for future classes, they have infused the book with humor and offered it in free electronic format to ensure that it reaches budget-conscious grads.
"Over the course of their multi-year transition to the real world, college graduates begin to lose the safety net of parents and school," explains Gradspot.com founder Stuart Schultz. "For the first time in their lives, they are forced to independently contend with the challenges of finding an apartment, getting a job, surviving the workplace, picking a car, navigating healthcare, understanding 401(k)s, and so much more."
In the current climate of economic uncertainty, THE GRADSPOT.COM GUIDE TO LIFE AFTER COLLEGE provides indispensable information for recent graduates taking their first steps into the real world, including advice on beginning to manage personal finance. For example, Schultz and Schonberger suggest confronting student debt soon after graduation with the help of four distinct solutions, using automatic bill pay through your bank's online account to avoid late fees and to help create a snapshot of your monthly bills, and always paying off credit card bills in full rather than wasting money on the uncompetitive interest rates charged by credit card companies.
Compiled from the research and writings of over forty contributors, THE GRADSPOT.COM GUIDE TO LIFE AFTER COLLEGE is an invaluable resource not only for recent college graduates, but also for parents looking for ways to help their children become independent. Just a few of the issues the guide tackles are: the challenges of signing a lease, navigating office politics, buying a used car, beginning to save and invest, selecting a doctor, planning a post-college trip, and finding a job. THE GRADSPOT.COM GUIDE TO LIFE AFTER COLLEGE is available in paperback for purchase at Amazon.com and Gradspot.com, and as a free downloadable e-book exclusively at Gradspot.com/book.
About the authors:
Stuart A. Schultz, Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Prior to founding Gradspot LLC, Mr. Schultz was employed by Allen & Company LLC, a boutique merchant bank where his clients included InterActiveCorp, E.W. Scripps, News Corp, Fortune 500 companies, and where he was involved in the sale of CollegeHumor.com to IAC. Mr. Schultz has also worked at Lehman Brothers in the Technology Mergers & Acquisitions group. A graduate of Emory University with a BBA from the Goizueta Business School and a double major in Film Studies, he lives in New York City
Chris Schonberger, Editor-in-Chief
As Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Schonberger manages all content on the site and oversees a team of writers to produce daily blogs and articles. Prior to arriving at Gradspot LLC, Mr. Schonberger worked at Entertainment Weekly, National Public Radio and with budget-travel guide publisher Let's Go as an editor and researcher-writer. A graduate of Harvard University with a BA in English Literature and Language, he lives in New York City.
The Gradspot.com Guide to Life After College • Chris Schonberger & Stuart Schultz
Pub date: May 15, 2008 • Price: $14.95 Trade Paperback / free e-book
ISBN: 1-438-20417-5 • EAN-13: 978-1-438-20417-8
Size/Trim: 6" x 9"• Pages: 220
http://www.gradspot.com
Contact:
Sarah Reidy
sarah.reidy @ gmail.com
404-849-1562
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