It is understandable that many of today's college graduates view themselves as the generation that opportunity forgot.         This fall, I interviewed 85 recent graduates of various colleges to discuss their success in finding a job. Of those I interviewed ----many from famous schools ---- only five are in the career fields they prepared for; the rest are unemployed or in jobs that are temporary. Graduates with once-marketable degrees in accounting and computer science, for example, now compete with applicants who have five years of experience and will accept the same entry-level salary.          Mainly because there too many applicants for too few jobs, employees are ignoring resumes   that once commanded interviews. But in my work as a management consultant, I find that many executives also feel that recent graduates have contributed to a problem: that young people have been so pampered   by their parents and are so untested academically that they bring little value to today's demanding workplace.         Some of the least judgmental, most supportive managers I know are criticizing recent graduates for poor quality in their written and oral reports, and for difficulty in drawing essential facts from masses of data. Earlier generations faced this criticism as well, but employees flooded with resumes have now become far more selective than their predecessors  .           Among all the cruel talks about unemployment, little is said about the impact on the nation's future of a generation convinced that the workplace has little use for it. This generation must regain its confidence if they are to remain the birthplace of ideas, products and services that shape world.          The quickest way to rebuild that confidence is to form partnerships between recent graduates and the companies that will employ them.          Corporations, in turn, should consider investing in training and developing a generation they will eventually need. High-potential graduates for whom there isn't an immediate opening could be hired, not as unpaid interns  but as salaried trainees given three to six months to prove their value in a series of assignments. Those who don't seize the opportunity can quickly be dismissed. Trainees should be given guidance to help them avoid the small missteps that can damage a career before it starts. What should corporations do to help graduates in their careers?
Dismiss them if they find graduates incompetent. Hire them as unpaid or low-paid interns. Invest in training and develop their potential. Persuade the older generation to tolerate their missteps.