There’s a reason they call Economics “the dismal science.” “Mark,” an anonymous quarter-lifer, reports.
I am 27 years old. I am one of the lucky ones. I made it out of college without debt because my parents planned well enough to cover my undergraduate tuition. This grace is not lost on me and I am grateful. At graduation, I was on top of my own little world. Back then, hard work, talent and planning lead directly to success.
But, I graduated in 2008. A degree in Economics gave me a unique insight to the plight about to fall on myself and those in my age group. My quarter-life crisis is reflected in a tiny paycheck, if I can manage one at all. The culture around me says that at 27, I should be closer to stability, closer to a normal life than at that moment of college graduation. At least, I should be on a career path I want. No such luck.
It took two years beyond graduation to begin to crawl out of the hole I landed in after the crash. I spent most of those two years feeling sorry for myself. Eventually, I decided that I did not want to waste away in my parent’s house with a beer belly and a fading hairline. I tried everything I could think of to find work. I took extra classes to expand my education. I got extra certifications in subjects I had little interest in, but offered a marginally better work opportunity. I pressed staffing agencies to help me snag something, anything, longer than a month. Those efforts amounted to very little.
In all this flailing, I steadied myself with physical exertion, martial arts and fitness. It was a simple world. I worked hard, I adjusted for my mistakes and I improved. The anxiety evaporated with my sweat and a bit of confidence re-emerged. The stress demanded mental engagement that brought my mind out of the empty, drone-like state it succumbed to when I was working another dead end job. But, it was only an escape. It never took long for reality to reassert itself.
The older folks who had been there before, and had wisdom to spare, suddenly were standing beside me at the job fair, more despondent than I was.
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All this instability took a hell of a toll on my psyche. Eventually, I came to a point when the advice of others rang hollow. This was a new world, the old rules and guidelines were irrelevant. The older folks who had been there before, and had wisdom to spare, suddenly were standing beside me at the job fair, more despondent than I was. At that time, I could hardly see another way around the problems I was facing. I wanted to panic. I came very close.
From that bottom, to where I sit now, much has changed but very little has improved. I am in a new city that I picked on a criteria of job prospects and vibrancy. As a person, I am as lively and complete as I have been in a long time. All the “involuntary leisure time” I’ve had, brought opportunity for personal reflection and improvement. Plenty of time to digest engaging books, indulge in fulfilling hobbies, learn new skills and see interesting sights. I’ve managed to collect a few more good stories to tell to my friends. Truthfully, in most any measure beyond my wallet, I am thriving.
I’ve been an intern, a clerk, an auditor, a call center rep, a construction worker, and for a short time, even a bouncer. However, I have never been offered a full time job. Despite grinding away in mostly white collar roles, with a white collar degree, my earnings have barely exceeded the poverty line each year. Even better, my attempts to find employment through temporary jobs have begun to work against me. In my work history, employers see someone who can’t commit, instead of one doing anything to find work.
It is fair to say, that I haven’t gotten anywhere yet. Many people look at my lack of a career path and attribute it to a character flaw. I’ve felt that sting most prominently in the dating scene. In the reflection of American culture, which measures men most by their occupational prestige and financial standing, I do not amount to much right now. It is not fair to say that I haven’t tried.
The dismal science has tinted my view of the world. At this point, I’ve resigned much of the control of my little world to forces unseen. All I can do is improve my odds and hope the roulette wheel stops on my number. Adjust my resume one more time, try one more angle in a cover letter, attend one more networking event and hope something, anything, sticks around for a little while. Otherwise, the crisis will continue.
As I read this article, that old, familiar feeling of the cold hands wrapping around my neck and squeezing came back. I have been out of work for ten months since I was laid off last year and am now in a position of having to find something, anything after 22 years as an architect. I was a project manager, licensed, and good at what I do (did). The prospect of temping or taking something far outside my field filled me with dread and in all honesty wounded my pride. But I have no choice. I am still looking in… Read more »
These days, it’s who you know. That’s what it comes down to. It helps to expand your network to include people in the career you would like to be in. Here in Toronto, Canada, it’s the same thing; people can’t get into the career of their dreams, so they stay in whatever job they have until the right opportunity opens up. Opportunities are more likely when you network.
Well, I got my coffee pot. A black and Decker (coffee pots with a tool trade mark are cool) 10 cup for $3. Ya know Brian, you are so right about the financial pressure when you are the sole supporter of a family. The area where we raised our kids would be considered an upper middle class community where my wife and I were kind of the odd balls. We didn’t have all the “stuff” other families had but one thing that we had that many of them didn’t was a parent that was home all the time. Our old… Read more »
I can empathize…I finished college in the midst of the recession also. Getting my first job was really hard, I had to fight like hell for it, and it didn’t pay much. But I was fortunate that it gave me the experience I needed to move into something I enjoyed and was more financially rewarding. Tom B’s advice is so important for all of us young guys to remember, but at the same time, it’s hard advice to really take to heart until you’re in a place where you’re not in the constant strain of financial tension. Even with a… Read more »
Did I mention that my last corporate position was with AIG?
Years ago, when I was in the corporate world, something that was obvious when I was interviewing was that people right out of college with their new degree appeared to believe that the degree was enough to warrant them the job and pay that they wanted. Being in sales management and development, I needed people who could come out of the gate quickly. Are colleges leading students to believe that once they have a college degree, the rest is a cake walk? I don’t know but I do know a lot of college grads disappointed that they aren’t able to… Read more »
Geez, I FEEL your pain. I just graduated last year–honor’s, double-major, work experience, extracurricular experience, paid myself through school–and it feels so hopeless out there. I have to commend you specifically for this line: “In my work history, employers see someone who can’t commit, instead of one doing anything to find work.” I am in the same exact boat and the closer I get to the end of a contract job, the more panicked I get. I ask myself “Do I even put this on my resume? What’s a couple months in a non-related field?” I just recently surrendered to… Read more »
I really struggled when reading this piece. Mostly because of the similarities: I’m 28, I also majored in economics. I have trouble reading pieces like this because they are too foreign to my experience to be able to reasonably contemplate. I want to believe that the author is being completely honest, and yet it doesn’t match my experiences at all. It took me years to get through undergrad because I was working full time (and carrying a part time course load) for most of it. I was still working full time in 2008 and 2009, the worst years of the… Read more »
That is the attitude I touched on in the article. I don’t begrudge you for it because the scenarios you described are very typical. There are a lot of people out there who don’t get it and act like a job is owed to them just for existing.
I’ve seen that very mindset, too, and as a 40-something architect still desperate for a job ten months into my third layoff in three years, it is galling. Not everyone who can’t find a job is in that situation due to lack of effort.
I really hear what you guys are saying, and I’m willing to believe that there are people out there who really just cannot get a break. But I don’t know how to tell them apart from the ones who are just terrible employees. When I was still in retail management in 2009 I came across a guy who seemed great. He showed in a suit(!) to interview for a retail position. He had a six month gap in his resume, but he explained that this was due to the poor economy and his references from before the gap were good.… Read more »
@john hall. There are a lot of shysters out there and some are really good at what they do. A lot of employers hands are tied as to who they can contact (former employers) and information that those employers can disclose. In my case, I would fully engage the prospective employee beyond the “job expectations and experience” and attempt to get his/her guard down. Once it’s down and in a much more relaxed setting is when the “interviewee” becomes the person and starts talking. Even the best shyster manages to lose consistency and opens holes his background and what they… Read more »