Survey: Why Millennials have trouble finding jobs

"Part of the reason why students are struggling to find jobs is because they fail to develop their careers while in college. Students should strive to market themselves online through social networks, and actively network offline, in order to secure internships and jobs," said Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding, Gen Y expert and bestselling author of Me 2.0

"College students are missing out on a very valuable resource by not leveraging LinkedIn. Internship opportunities, and the ability to network alumni or gain incredible insight into a company, are all there, waiting for students to take advantage," said Dean Tsouvalas, Editor-in-Chief, StudentAdvisor.com.

Other interesting findings include:

• Only one-third of students have a LinkedIn presence
• 93% don't understand 'personal branding' - like professional socnet profiles, business cards or professional blogs
• While 70% say they have a mentor, 37% say that mentor is a parent and 28% say it's a professor
• Less than one-third take advantage of career services at their college/university

Also, only about 20% belong to professional organizations which can help with networking and job searches or have taken classes to help with their social media skills.

And, from a social media standpoint, it is clear according to the study that students understand social media as a personal tool, not a professional one. So, while their personal profiles on Facebook and Twitter might be filled with college happenings, they're not taking advantage of professional social media sites like LinkedIn - and for prospective employers looking for new workers that can be a turn off.

Tags: job marketing, Millennial Branding, millennial employment, millennials, StudentAdvisor