Job Worries

[eredien]

I feel sometimes like I wish my parents had taught me a useful, marketable skill, such as piledriving or meatpacking, but instead they encouraged me to play Bach sonatas.

I spent most of my formative years doing creative things--playing music, writing, doing art projects, and the like. I continued to follow my heart through college, because I realized, or thought I realized, that picking a major and possible career based on what would be marketable and make you money isn't the way to live a happy, satisfactory life, and that I would rather be mostly broke and be happy with myself than have more money and die early from stress and displeasure.

Unfortunately all the lofty ideals in the world won't get one a job.
I have 73 days until graduation, at which point my student loans will start kicking in, I will need to move, and I will need to start paying rent on an apartment in an expensive city where the job market isn't as good as it was a year ago.

All the fields in which I have job experience need you to show more experience or have a degree or both. I can't even get a job feeding lab animals because I don't have the right kind of certification training, despite having three years of experience. You need a bachelor's degree to make sure you've ordered enough bedding for the monkeys. Fields I know I would enjoy working in (book preservation, for instance) want you to show experience--despite interning in a museum over break and working for an archive for the past three years, I don't have the right kind of experience.

I feel really scared.

How can I have gone to one of the most prestigous colleges in the country and been completely unprepared for this? How can I have let things get this bad despite doing everything I could to find jobs over the past six years that were varied, interesting, and potentially useful as careers? Why did the job market die two years into my schooling?

How can I reconcile my heart with the fact that I need to keep a roof over my head?

I can't help but think of my dad at times like this. He's been running his own business in some form or another since before I was born. When the economy tanked in the mid 90's, he went to go work for other people for a while, selling insurance and stuff like that. He was keeping regular hours for the first time in his life; I got to see him; I felt glad that my dad was doing something normal for a change because I'd always really resented the way he'd put work ahead of family, even after I realized why he felt he had to do that, and even after I realized that he probably actually had had to do that. I still resent it, in fact.

But he wasn't happy, working for someone else. Neither am I.
That scares me so much I feel almost sick.

If I have kids, I don't want to doom them to an existence where they don't see their mother because she's off writing somewhere, and can't give all the opportunities they want to their children because they never had them themselves, and so weren't able to get the good job with the money to let their kids go off to the retreat that looks good on their resume when they get out of college.

But I write, damn it! It's precarious, but it's what I do--possibly one of the only things I would really ever want to do, through some fault of biochemistry, spiritual nature or upbringing--and it makes me happy!

But I want stability!
But I write!

Hear my complaint and celebration: my life will be precarious!

Fuck it.
I'm so fucking scared.

Comments

[fiddledragon.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[weirdquark]

*hugs*

It helps to remember you'll be paying less rent then you would otherwise be paying because you'll be sharing rooms with other people.

Also remember you can find a way to make money and write -- even if it means getting another job and writing at night, or in the morning, or during your lunch break.

And that I majored in physics, which some say is a useful thing to major in, and I'm working in a job that has nothing to do with physics at all.

Hopefully the economy will improve and the job market will get better.

You write. You'll find a way to do it.

[zdenka]

Mrr. I think I understand. Says the unemployed humanities major over here. It sounds like you've been a lot more responsible about things than I was before and just after graduating -- and I'm, er, getting by? I decided to major in Classical Languages because it's what I loved, and I still don't regret that.

Hopefully, the situation is less grim than you think --
every field has to have entry-level positions somewhere, doesn't it? And you're a lot more prepared than a lot of people. So yeah.

[(Anonymous)]

As another english writing major who's still undergrad, I too share your fears. But at the same time, I'm telling you not to be afraid because with an english degree, you have the proper springing board for entry into grad school and numerous sorts of other opportunities. (If your school has a career services office, go bother them!)

Me, I figure if I'm gonna have loans out the ass, I may as well live it up and go on for the MFA and try to do teaching fellowships/PhD things--I'll even go abroad if I have to because that's what real passion is about. Look around at all the great people in the world. They did not get where they are by giving up.

Worry about kids and all that far future shit when you get to it. (I'll be damned if I even entertain the idea when I'm married!) One day at a time, one page at a time. We writers might not be the most conventional people, but that doesn't mean our lives have to be unstable--there are ways around that too. Besides that, it's great to live your life with passion that others envy--who else will the future generations of humanities majors look to when the rest of society threatens to smash their dreams?

True, the job market might suck now, but when you think about it, all those people who majored in business and computers are a dime a dozen, whereas we of the humanities clan tend to come with more versatility. Chin up. Student loans do have a grace period, and you can defer them if need be.

But the most important thing here is to hang on! You know how writers who stop writing because of rejection will never publish? People who stop dreaming because of fear will never begin to live.

*By the way, I'm not a random freak. I found your deadjournal when I was reading Meow_Tuna's blog.
-- The Ever-Dancing Flame

[rabidfangurl.livejournal.com]

I think I need to add another card to my pile of flashcards for seniors: 'You are stubborn. You will do what you wish before you are thirty.'

Because really, the pragmatist in me sees all of this panic and wonders why people do not realize the value of sheer determination in the face of obstacles.

I have ideas of what I want out of life. And I am willing to put up with a pile of shit first if it means I will get to the gold at the end of it. Snarl.

[batshua]

*hug*

It will be okay. It will definitely be okay. Because I said so. And because I have Connections. Or… something. Seriously.

[baxil.livejournal.com]

As a point of sympathy -- I graduated from college with a degree in mathematics. Since then, I've had all of one job that was in an even vaguely related field, and that was at a dot-com.

It sucks being where you are. But you'll get through it in some way. Even if/when it requires taking crap jobs for a year or two to reassure yourself of your financial stability and then leaping out into the world again once you've got your confidence up (went through a few of those up in Seattle, and am definitely recovering from the shock), you'll find a way to make it through.

*offers a hug*

[kaypendragon.livejournal.com]

Hey sweetheart! Everyone loves you!
Go yell at your carreer department. That's what they're there for and they can help out. You can come yell at mine too, if you want.
Also, think outside the box. There are lots of jobs out there, you just need to convince someone that you'd be good at it. You're always going to have to start at the beginning and work your way up, just don't give up.
We're all here for you!

[khava.livejournal.com]

For some unfathomable reason, companies routinely lie about how much experience is necessary for a job. Start applying places that ask for 1-3 years of experience, and tell them about your experience and classwork. Point out that you're a fast learner. You have a reasonable chance of getting hired.

They say that the economy is in fact improving now, so it should get better for you. Best of luck!

[skywize.livejournal.com]

Just be glad you're not trained in anything IT...

As for why 'the job market died two years into your schooling...' That's after Schrubby was appointed president, you see...

A couple of suggestions for you in your job search... firstly, if you're at all interested, look abroad. Some are trying to deny it, but the jobs here really are moving over there. Wherever over there is... it's not here.

Secondly, if there is any way whatsoever that you can put in any job application that you've saved money in some way during the course of your experience, do it. In today's economy, every company's first concern is their bottom line.

*hugs*

You just have to keep going, one day at a time, one minute at a time. Everybody is right, you know... somehow, you'll make it through.

Oh, I've LJ Friended you, btw... feel free to reciprocate, though... I don't post all that often. Though we do share some interests.. horses/animals, space/astronomy, etc. :-P

[khava.livejournal.com]

Some jobs are moving overseas. Mostly they're jobs that are easily-defined (i.e. "produce a widget" or "write a computer program that does X") and don't require direct interaction with the customer.

But jobs in the broadly-defined service sector are rapidly increasing in the U.S. Jobs like landscaping, designing Christmas light decorations, giving massages or manicures, cooking a week's worth of ready-to-eat meals for a family, etc. Since most of the people who work in these areas are self-employed or work for small companies, they are systematically undercounted in employment surveys. It's easy to count 1,000 people working at a paper mill. It's not so easy to count 1,000 people working in artistic and service professions. And these types of jobs are frequently more fulfilling, more flexible, and have better working conditions than the more visible factory jobs.

Don't despair. It's much better out there than it seems.

[skywize.livejournal.com]

You'll forgive me for being rather pessimistic... I've been looking for full-time work for 20 months.

Oh, and I am IT trained... I have going on 10 years of experience to my credit, and I cannot even get an interview, despite the numerous jobs that I apply for every week.

My local paper no longer even has a Technology section in the Job Ads Classfieds... at least it has not for the past 2 weeks.

So... I'm looking towards a career change.

No point in being down about it, just... as I pointed out to Eredien, one minute at a time.

Oh, and I concentrate every day on the hope that Shrubby does not get reappointed for another 4 years of destroying the country.

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

Mrrr. You are, as above, hugged.

And I would point one thing out, which is: you don't need to figure out the entire rest of your life before you graduate. You have to figure out the entire rest of your life before you die. (Or possibly after, depending on whose afterlife you end up in.) You have to figure out your classes and where you're living before you graduate. It would indeed be a good thing to get a good, fulfilling job right away when you get to Boston-- but is the situation with your student loans such that you HAVE to do so? Or would you be able to pay those off while working at somewhere like, say, Starbucks while you find a Real Job? Because, I mean, you know you're welcome to crash space at our place, right? So while being able to pay rent would be nice-- it's not necessary the day after you graduate.

(Yeah. Also-- damn it to hell, I never got to hear you play the damn piano, dammit! We have to FIX that!)

Love,
Ruth.

advice

[signy1.livejournal.com]

Okay- first of all, I'm going to tell you to do what Ford Prefect would tell you to do; ie, DON'T PANIC.
...No, I mean it. Take the time, right now, for a few deep breaths.
All right. The second thing to do is get yourself signed up with a bunch of temp agencies. The more the better, because it could take a while to get your first assignment if there's only one agency looking. Once you've had that first job and aced it- which you will, because you're a college-educated, intelligent human being who can, I assume, figure out how to do taxing things like alphabetizing forms, the agency will be delighted and give you more jobs. The pay tends to be rather decent, in the $9-14 per hour range, and it will not be difficult work. Bring something to read to all assignments; you may or may not get to use it, but it's better to have it and not need it than vice versa.
I'm not kidding. It will be scut work, but it is at least income, and I have yet to work with an agency which was not so utterly thrilled to have someone who can READ that I could essentially pick and choose what I wanted.
Meanwhile, you can pursue better and more fulfilling work if you choose... or you can use the downtime at the scut jobs to write. And in either case you're not begging for quarters on the street corners with a sign saying 'Will produce the Great American Novel for food,' a fate to which I have occasionally thought my wonderfully useful English BA would consign me.
...And just to be repetitive- DON'T PANIC.

Re: advice

[zdenka]

If you want a temp company, I can give you the info for the one I & Midnite_Phoenix have been working for. I think they're pretty decent.

[a4yroldfaerie.livejournal.com]

one of the upsides of goping to a school that can in some ways seem like a big sorority is that in some ways it is like a sorority. Go to the CDO. And if you apply for a job where an alumna works, it is in theory like knowing someone at the job. She will pull for you--and with good reason. She knows you made it into and through a great and very difficult institution.
And yeah, apply for stuff where you have less experience than it says...
and keep writing--the upside to boring office work is you go home at the end of the day. You will have more time to write than you do now, because you won't be bringing work home. And if you are bringing work home, it is probably because you are at a job where you are important, and hopefully one yo like.
And good luck, hugs available if wanted.

[baphnedia.livejournal.com]

*offers a hug*

You'll make it. I was a freelance musician for two years (as well as a dishwasher for steady income); and when the restaurant I worked at hired on three more dishwashers so they could avoid giving me full-time benefits, I looked at other possibilities; and settled on the military.

I'm not saying that the military is right for everyone; but its another possibility. Do what's right for you.

Also, try not to limit yourself to one area geographically if you can avoid it. I know the pain, though it's been years since I felt it last. Best of luck.