????入門級人才的就業前景究竟是好是壞？各種相互矛盾、讓人喜憂參半的市場信號正在沖擊著2014屆畢業生及其父母緊張不安的神經，這一點毋庸置疑。

????一方面，就業市場似乎正在改善：全美大學與雇主協會(NACE)報告說，企業界今年計劃招募的應屆畢業生數量較去年增加8.6%，薪資水平也略有增長，平均年薪為45,473美元，較2013年將上漲1.2%。

????與此同時，更令人擔憂的研究顯示，拜經濟衰退的余波所賜，許多美國大學畢業生在就業市場屢屢碰壁，以至于失去了求職的勇氣。大約有十分之一的畢業生已經徹底告別勞動力市場。這些二十來歲的年輕人現在既不找工作，也沒有繼續留校深造。這個嚴峻的觀點依據的是美國勞工統計局(Bureau of Labor Statistics)的數據。這些數據顯示，20至24歲年輕人的勞動參與率經濟衰退前將將超過78%，如今下降到了70%左右。

????如果數據真實，它足以引發恐慌。但果真如此嗎？目前有很大一部分勞動力是由自由職業者和合同工組成。根據美國審計署（General Accounting Office)估計，這類勞動力涵蓋所有年齡段，大約有4,200萬。美國勞工部預測稱，這個群體在未來5年將增至6,500萬人。但一般情況下，聯邦就業數據要么完全忽略這群影子勞動力大軍，要么錯誤地把他們歸類為失業組別，因為他們沒有傳統的全職工作。

????大量的合同工都是20多歲或30歲出頭的年輕人。這當然是一個線索，我們可以據此追蹤那些被認為已經退出勞動力市場的千禧一代。但更微妙之處在于，對于那些正在為全職管理層工作尋找入門級熟練工的雇主來說，它也是一個挑戰。現在，招募20多歲的年輕人不僅僅意味著與其他傳統雇主競爭。它也意味著對抗深受許多千禧一代推崇的更加靈活有趣的工作方式。

????我們不妨以萊博智科技公司(Lionbridge Technologies)為例。這家總部位于馬薩諸塞州沃爾瑟姆的公司的工作是在自由職業的工程師、翻譯和其他技術合同工與戴爾(Dell)、輝瑞制藥(Pfizer),微軟(Microsoft)和通用汽車(General Motors)這類需要人手從事專業化短期項目的大客戶之間建立聯系。在10萬名與萊博智科技簽約的合同工中，有超過一半(53%)是千禧一代，其中九成以上擁有學士或碩士學位。

????萊博智科技CEO羅里?考恩透露稱，公司旗下的大多數自由職業者，特別是工程師和其他技術工人，每周工作30或40個小時，但他們經常為多個雇主承擔項目。他認為，這種工作方式的挑戰和多樣性對20多歲的年輕人很有吸引力。也許是因為目睹過父母接二連三失去飯碗的經歷，這些年輕人往往難以接受在一家公司從事全職工作的提議。

????“最大的吸引力似乎是流動性，”考恩指出。“這代人已經習慣了隨時隨地使用筆記本電腦完成一切事情，那么為什么不把工作也放在筆記本電腦上呢？”一位攜帶筆記本電腦的合同工，“可以花費半年時間在科羅拉多州滑雪，”而不用擔心傳統雇主給休假日設置的種種限制。他補充說：“所有任務都是以項目為基礎，只要你在截止日期前完成工作，你可以設置自己的時間表。”

????當然，萊博智科技并不是唯一一家為自由職業者和雇主的短期工作牽線搭橋的公司。比如，外包服務商Elance.com表示，谷歌(Google)和ESPN體育頻道等大客戶時常挖掘其網站巨大的自由職業者人才庫。Freelance.com聲稱，它的數據庫儲備了超過200萬名合同工。

????此外，考恩指出，云計算的出現使得這些服務比過去更有效率，以至于“工作的性質正在發生變化，”他說。“比起父母那一代，20多歲的年輕人希望從事更有靈活性的工作。作為‘共享經濟’的一個自然延伸，他們也希望在同一時間使用自己的技能為多個雇主服務。”

????如果官方就業數據開始把這個國家的自由職業者和合同工考慮在內，許多（如果不是大多數）被認為已經退出勞動力市場的千禧一代很有可能就會奇跡般地重新出現在統計數據之中。與此同時，那些試圖招募稀缺的工程和技術人才的公司將面臨一個問題：你能否為每一份工作注入足夠的靈活性和多樣性，從而讓它變得比自由職業更加誘人？（財富中文網）

????譯者：葉寒

????No question about it, the graduating class of 2014 -- and their nervous parents -- are getting bombarded with mixed signals about the market for entry-level talent.

????On the one hand, hiring seems to be picking up: The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reports that companies plan to bring on 8.6% more new grads than last year, and at slightly higher salaries, averaging $45,473 (up 1.2% from 2013).

????At the same time, though, more worrisome studies say that, in the aftermath of the recession, about 1 in 10 American college graduates in their twenties have become so discouraged trying to find work that they've left the workforce altogether, and are neither job hunting nor in school. That grim view is based on Bureau of Labor Statistics figures showing labor force participation among 20-to-24-year-olds at about 70%, down from just over 78% before the downturn.

????That would be cause for alarm, if it were true. But is it? A big chunk of the workforce these days is made up of freelancers and contract workers, estimated by the General Accounting Office to number about 42 million people of all ages. The U.S. Department of Labor projects that will grow to 65 million in the next five years. Yet federal employment statistics usually either overlook this shadow army of workers completely or mistakenly classify them as unemployed because they don't hold traditional full-time jobs.

????Plenty of contract workers are in their 20s or early 30s. That's a clue as to the whereabouts of many of the Millennials thought to have dropped out of the workforce, of course. But it's also, more subtly, a challenge to employers looking for skilled entry-level workers for full-time management-track jobs. Now, recruiting twenty-somethings doesn't just mean competing with other traditional employers. It also means competing against what many Millennials see as a more flexible, more interesting way to work.

????Consider, for example, Lionbridge Technologies. The firm, headquartered in Waltham, Mass., connects freelance engineers, translators, and other skilled contractors with big clients like Dell, Pfizer (PFE), Microsoft (MSFT), and General Motors (GM) who need to staff specialized, short-term projects. More than half (53%) of Lionbridge's 100,000 contractors are Millennials. Over 90% of them hold bachelor's or master's degrees.

????Most of Lionbridge's freelancers, especially its engineers and other tech workers, work 30 or 40 hours a week, but often do tasks for several employers at once, says CEO Rory Cowan. He thinks the challenge and variety appeal to people in their twenties who, perhaps having seen their parents laid off two or three times, tend to balk at the idea of a full-time job at one company.

????"The biggest attraction seems to be mobility," Cowan notes. "This generation is used to doing everything on laptops from anywhere, so why not work on a laptop too?" A laptop-toting contract worker, he adds, "can spend half the year in Colorado skiing" without worrying about the limits traditional employers put on vacation days: "All the assignments are project-based, so as long as you meet your deadlines, you can make your own schedule."

????Of course, Lionbridge isn't the only company matching up freelancers with employers for short-term gigs. Elance.com, for one, says big outfits like Google (GOOG) and ESPN regularly tap its huge pool of freelancers, and Freelance.com claims over 2 million contractors in its database.

????Moreover, Cowan points out that the advent of cloud computing has made these services even more efficient than in the past, so that "the nature of work is changing," he says. "People in their twenties expect more flexibility than their parents' generation did. They also see using their skills with more than one employer at a time as a natural extension of the 'sharing economy.'"

????If the official employment figures ever start taking the nation's freelancers and contract workers into account, it's likely that many (if not most) of the Millennials who have supposedly dropped out of the workforce will magically reappear in the statistics. Meanwhile, for companies trying to recruit scarce talent in engineering and tech, one question: Can you build enough flexibility and variety into each job to make it more enticing than freelancing?