Two years ago, the economy crashed. Badly. I was a rising junior witnessing my close friend trying to find a job right after graduation. He was a member of multiple honors clubs, extensive experience in leadership and management, several internships, glowing recommendations and a high GPA. None of this mattered though, because the jobs simply weren’t out there. The debt from his four-year private school tuition was, but no jobs. Highly successful individuals were getting laid-off left and right, unemployment sky-rocketed and people were forced to chose between putting gas in their tank to get to work or feeding their families. And what did this young, educated man have to outweigh the success of his thousands of over-qualified competition? His potential. To put it simply, “we have hired someone else for the position. I’m sorry.”
This is when I wrote this blog. Just a short four semesters away until I was thrust out of college and I had to “figure it out” in the “real world.” Fear is an excellent emotion when a writer wants to be inspired. Fear is exactly where I was when I wrote this post.
Now, I am about to graduate into that real world. Thankfully economy has taken a better turn since the last time I read this, but there are still striking similarities of what I am now feeling and what my friend was undergoing. In my commentary after finding my original blog post, I wrote, “When will this end? Someone please help us!” Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that these feelings will never end. No matter the economy, it seems graduates will still feel the same anxiety and nervousness of being plucked out of their comfort zone and shoved into the world unknown.
I began with this: ‘Amidst a crowed stadium full of caps, gowns, and tassels, one thing is missing among the sea of college graduates: a smile. In light of recent economic events, grads are deciding that their commencement isn't much of a milestone to celebrate. The paradigm has shifted once again to reveal a very different kind of emotion at these graduation ceremonies. It seems that graduating seniors are more discouraged when it comes time to turn their tassels then joyful--a feeling of dread and hesitation to walk across the stage into a very real economic crisis.’
So times are necessarily so dismal. Students will be happy, if not relieved to finally graduate. But now that I am experiencing this phenomenon firsthand, there’s always going to be a feeling of “dread and hesitation” when graduating, especially for those without a job lined up.
‘Those that are determined to find a job in this failing economic status are faced with the cliche rejection: "We're looking for more experience." Let me ask this: For those willing to work for little to nothing as long as it more-or-less pertains to their field of study, why aren't companies willing to create that experience than keep their minds closed to having it? Where is this experience supposed to come from? Why must students be judged solely by their electronic applications and rejected before any personal conversation? Answer: older citizens within the communities that have been laid off of their higher end jobs and are now willing to work the lower end jobs the college graduates should be filling. They have the experience that looks better on a shiny computer screen or crisp sheet of paper. Just goes to show how misdirected this economy has gotten in the last year and a half.’
The fact is, this is how it has been for much longer than the economy crash, and will be until the human race no longer needs to work for a living. Business is business, and employers want the best, most qualified worker to do the job right. How do employment candidates get this? Work. Plain and simple. No ifs, ands, or buts. No matter what the job is, graduates have to find a job to get the experience (any experience) that an employer wants. Also, with online spaces booming with activity and buzz every single second of the day, gone are the days where candidates hand in a paper application. It’s now become old-fashioned. Just send them an application online followed by an e-mailed thank you note.
‘Where are these students supposed to go? What is this teaching the generations, and new college classes, to come? Where will these students end up when they have yet to receive experience when the economy begins to get better? Maybe. . .they are all just out of luck. Tell me, where is the change?’
Sadly, it’s no where. Charles Darwin theorized the survival of the fittest. You have to be the best to survive. So prepare accordingly. Looking back, that is what I have decided college is for: learning skills and techniques to use out in the workforce and preparing for the hunt when you get there.
Bottom line, there’s no use in complaining. You could be using that time to find a job – even if the economy says there aren’t any. Find one, because we really don’t have a choice.
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