In a tough economic landscape, Breaking Point Flix takes an honest (& kind of funny) look at the question, “Why should I hire you?” as it relates to twenty-somethings.
When I first saw this video, I identified not as a woman, but as a recent college graduate who, upon graduation, was immediately faced with the stark realization that getting a job would be nothing but easy. After being in academia for 17 years, the prospect of leaving and entering the ranks as a feeder fish wasn’t glamorous, but it was a reality I was ready to face. What I wasn’t ready to face was the fact that there were approximately (and at least) 200% more people looking for jobs than there were people looking for people who were looking for jobs.
Breaking Point Flix’s film evoked two emotions in me. And quite honestly, I didn’t know which one to give into first.
I wanted to cry because I get it.
I am this girl – this twenty-something “let me play the starving artist” girl who had this idea of what her life would look like by this point – and it just doesn’t look like that. I get it. I watched her plop into a twin sized bed in her childhood bedroom and exhale with a hesitant frustration and wonder, “Am I doing this right?”
I wanted to laugh because I get it.
Because I, too, wonder where Lena Dunham decided it would be a good idea to speak for me from the perch of her high horse. I get it. Because, like this girl, I feel like this quasi-adult hybrid who demands independence and respect… but then asks her mom if she could get applesauce when she goes grocery shopping because we just ran out. It’s just funny. (It has to be funny, right?)
And it’s tough. In a way. Because you just have to keep trying. Because our generation – this millennial generation, whether you’re male or female – is stuck in a struggle unique to our dates of birth. There are more job-seekers than job-offerers. There is more debt than get-out-of-debt-means. There is more competition than there are prizes. But you can’t give up.
There is hope. Struggle, although ours is new and tired and one-of-a-kind, is not unique to us or this generation we claim. Struggle spans generational lines and all the baggage that you bring when you cross them.
Don’t give this up. Just watch this video and laugh. (It’s okay if you cry a tiny bit, too.)