By Anthony J. Machcinski
Everyone talks about the economy and how bad it is on businesses and on whole communities. For once, I want to speak for a demographic that isn’t talked about – college aged kids.
As a just-graduated 22-year-old journalism major, I know how blessed I am to be able to get a job in the industry I want to be in for the rest of my life; however, I know that I am the exception, not the rule.
In the six months since I got my diploma, I have talked to countless friends who have gone to hundreds of interviews and have not gotten callbacks. Are these students under-qualified? No. These are kids with multiple internships, MBAs, and years in valuable student organizations.
Many of us have gotten calls asking us to pay our student loans.
I can’t help in times like these but think of the popular Everlast song, “What It’s Like”, and some of the song’s strong lyrics.
“He ask the man for what he could spare with shame in his eyes. ‘Get a job you (explitive) slob is all he replied.’”
The song cautions people not to judge others on the way they look because the time could come when you could be “in their shoes.”
I’ve seen the judgment these young adults receive and the shame these students feel when telling others they don’t have a job. These students feel like they didn’t do enough in school, or that they simply aren’t good enough for the working world, all because someone older, who’s had a job for years, thinks they’re lazy.
While some of us may be lazy, living off our parent’s dime, some of us have been dying to work since graduation.
For those my age and hopefully for others who need the help, I have some advice; don’t be confined to where you currently live.
When I started looking for writing jobs, I knew I needed experience. I wasn’t applying to the New York Times, I was applying to The Villages (Fla.) Daily Sun. I sent resumes, cover letters and writing samples to places like Texas, Missouri and Wisconsin. While I ultimately was hired by my hometown newspaper, The Observer, being willing to move (and having the ability to), made the job search a bit easier.
For all those selling your guitars just to make a rent payment, hope is out there; you just have to search for it.
