Growing up in a poor family, the idea of college was consistently pounded into my head as a necessity for getting out of the backwater town we lived in. And of course, college does provide that opportunity. You get to leave home, most likely for the first time, live on your own, meet people from all over the world, experience new ideas and new ways of thinking, and expand your mind. I am not the same person I was when I left for college five years ago. However, I still have the same job opportunities; zero. Unless, of course, you count the same general labor and part-time jobs anyone can aspire to. Which is honest work. I am in the process of trying to get hired on at a factory that makes car parts because I desperately need a paycheck and I'd rather have a labor job than no job at all.
But I went to college for four years, I was told repeatedly, not just by my family, but by trusted professionals and professors that I would be able to do whatever I wanted. Honestly, I should have taken those four years and worked somewhere just for the experience because I am quickly learning that experience is invaluable. And apparently my three years of work study experience does not count for anything. I have already been turned down for two jobs because of my lack of experience, never mind my academic accomplishments, and I haven't bothered applying to countless jobs because they list two to four years experience with management as essential.
"Why not apply for entry level jobs?" You may be asking. These had "Entry Level" in the job description, right above the "two to four years experience required."
It's tough out there. I wasn't in any clubs in college because I worked at my work study, focused on just graduating, and helped take care of my sick grandfather before he passed in 2011. After that I experienced severe depression, was suicidal and had to receive therapy and take medications. I am a lot better now, I still have bad days, especially thanks to the incredibly stressful and competitive search for a job.
I am lucky enough that my uncle used to edit resumes and went over mine. At least I have a professional resume. That can't hurt. But everyday I am more and more convinced I may have to move out of state to find a job. In Kentucky, there are hundreds of listings for farm hands. Very, very few other types of jobs, except for the national guard, coal mining (which is dying out in Kentucky as it moves farther east and deeper into the Appalachian Mountains), or government jobs which are almost cut throat competitive and it really helps to know someone on the inside.
I have been tossing around the idea of building a CV, just in case I come across a job that asks for one. Since I was an English major, I think a CV might better explain my college experience, I mean, I think employers would really like the fact that I took an upper level professional writing course but there is no place for that on a resume. I really, really wish Morehead State University had offered a grant writing course. We had a speaker in my senior seminar who talked about the growing need for grant writers as funding is increasingly cut back. If the course is offered at a university near you, I strongly urge you to take it. If one ever becomes available at MSU or if I move closer to a university which offers one you can be sure I will be doling out the tuition to take it.
I've also been really tempted to go back to school and just work on my master's. I'm not entirely convinced it would help me in my job search because I still hold that EXPERIENCE IS INVALUABLE. But if I come up on the next semester with no job, you may very well see me enrolled in a program somewhere.
Job hunting is just so...complicated. It's like, there is an age old ritual to it that almost seems outdated. You send in your resume, they review it, determine whether you would make a good employee based on a piece of paper with only facts, no personality, no knowledge of potential, just a piece of paper that says where you've worked and whether or not you graduated high school/college. Then they call you in and interview you based on asinine questions of, "WHY do you want to work here?" or "What do you feel your weaknesses are?" I mean, that is no way to evaluate someone? But they have what you need so you spin. You say what they want to hear, they say what you want to hear, unless they turn you down, and then you start working for them and nothing is like what they said it would be, on both ends.
Maybe once I get a job I won't be so bitter. But until then, it is just frustrating and overly complicated. My advice, build the cleanest, most professional looking resume/CV possible, join a club in college and actively participate, pick up a part-time job and try to work your way to management, and basically say goodbye to any down time for the next four years. But four years of suffering now makes for an easier hiring process later and a more connected and enhanced social network. Don't be like me and spend your four years writing fantasy novels and crying yourself to sleep because you lost a valued loved one. Employers don't like for their employees to be human.
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