Recession Frustrations!

The economy sucks! Yes, it does. Okay I know this is cliche and this story has probably been told 1000's of times already if not more by others, however I want to share my particular situation on the whole job blues. I'm a graduate student finishing up my graduate work in Instructional Technology. I love the program, however, I'm really frustrated. Why you might ask? Because, it's been over two years since I got  my bachelors degree. I got a degree in sociology back in the fall of 2009 and my initial plans were to work for a year to earn some income and then I was going to head to grad school at SUNO (Southern University at New Orleans) and get my MSW. Let's just say, the reality was nothing like the vision that I had in my head. I busted my ass during my undergrad years of college and after 4.5 years of school non-stop (I went to summer school every summer from the time I graduated from high school), I was looking forward to being free of school and just being able to focus on working and my health. Don't get me wrong, I knew I would have to get a masters degree eventually, however I thought that I would be able to put it off for at least a little bit. I tried to ignore the "you won't find a job, get your masters and get it over with" statements, but it seems that I either bombed each interview really badly or I interviewed well but ultimately someone else did better, or (and often the case), they already knew who they would hire for the job but just had to go through the entire process just for the sake of putting on the facade of being "equal opportunity". Job fairs weren't much help either, unless you were in engineering or business. The social sciences opportunities were an absolute joke unless you wanted an unpaid internship for as long as you wanted (yes, someone actually told me this at a career fair. They only had one position available but I was not able to do that b/c I was fresh out of college at the time or an unpaid internship for as long as I wanted). Then you would go to another table, they would explain a bit of what they do, but "oh we aren't hiring" (yet you are at a job fair where people are looking for JOBS and you have no JOBS available!). This was in 2010 and this went on for seven months before I just said, "back to school" to get the masters degree, and I decided to switch fields totally. I continued to look for work even then, while I had picked up a work study job, I was tired of working jobs that required me to be in school to keep but it always seemed that when I was about to walk into something, a piece of glass would begin to come at me and BAM, knock me out.

It's like the Bachelors degree is the new high school diploma. Forty years ago, a college degree was the best thing you could do, but now it's not worth anything. Now employers want internships and/or master's degrees and in some cases, you have to have a Doctorate.Internships are another problem because:

a. There are only so many internships available and they usually go to the top 10-15% of the class
b. Most of them want you to work a 9-5 shift w/ no compensation

Moving on from internships, I was talking w/ a colleague of mine who I met my sophomore year of college, he was telling me that he remembers the days that he could walk into McDonald's and get a job on the spot, now he can't even do that. My personal experience is more like, I did not work in high school, it was not until I began college and began to work on campus that I was able to get my foot in the door and develop a work ethic. Now that I'm about to get my masters degree, people have asked me if I have been applying at the plants, but now plants are very specific about who they are looking for, they won't just take anybody and train them like they did forty or even twenty years ago; they want a particular degree and they want somebody w/ experience/proficiency in a particular field. Nobody wants to train anybody anymore, but how does one get the experience if they are never given the opportunity to do so?

Unless you are in health care, transportation or manufacturing you may be out of luck for a bit. Construction jobs have declined and it was once a very "high in demand" if we must say type of job. The underemployment rate has gone up as well (this was part time workers like me who are looking for full time work and those who have just given up on their job searches all together). The Department of Labor's current statistics show that the amount of long-term unemployed (4 months or more) has increased as well to over 40%. Even with the health care factor, w/ the exception of nursing, you are going to have to go to medical school.

My advice? Don't be in a rush to graduate at this time, b/c there really is not much out there for you unless you are a nurse. Oh and please, if you can look outside of the social sciences, I strongly advise you to do so, maybe go for plant processing technology or something else. Avoid the social sciences at all cost unless you plan on getting an MBA or MPA.

http://business.time.com/2012/06/01/the-bleak-unemployment-report-is-europe-to-blame/

http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/Unemployment.Final.pdf