Never before in my life has my Gmail inbox been such a source of misery and dread.
After months of applying to various newspapers, websites and magazines, the decision emails have begun to trickle in. I’ve gotten the “If you’re receiving this email, I’m sorry to say that you will not be with us next summer,” the “We regret we will not be able to offer you a position,” the “Unfortunately, you were not selected,” or the very worst of them: the flat out “Application Rejected.”
In the past two months, I’ve written 27 cover letters and countless essays. I’ve dug out and organized writing clips and secured a trusty team of references. I’ve effectively become a job-searching machine. I press on, armed with a meticulously followed calendar of every due date for the internship and fellowship programs for more-or-less every political magazine and newspaper in the country.
And I’ve got to admit, I’m really starting to get discouraged.
For the first time ever, there’s a disconnect among people our age. Half of us know precisely where we’ll be a year from now; whether that’s slaving away at law school or working long hours at a first real job. The other half, the half I belong in, are desperately trying to figure it out before those caps get flown high in the air, officially demoting us from “students looking for a job” to just plain “unemployed.”
It’s a known fact that many of our generation are riding out the recession with a year or two (or six) in graduate school. For those of us who decided to forge ahead in the dismal economy, the prospects for most are wince-worthy. I’m starting to realize that the reality I’ve so methodically mapped out for myself just may not happen — at least not yet.
A New York Times article described this phenomenon in August: “Meet the members of what might be called Generation Limbo: highly educated 20-somethings, whose careers are stuck in neutral, coping with dead-end jobs and listless prospects.”
The article painted depressing portraits of bright, ambitious Ivy League graduates waiting tables and working at art-supply stores. And it’s true — college graduates these days do not have it easy. Take, for instance, my close friend Alyssa. She graduated a semester early with a global studies degree and French minor even though she studied for a semester in Paris. But she gave up her plans to move abroad to work like many other graduates of her discipline. Now she’s taking classes at Parkland College to prepare for applying to an accelerated Nursing program — a career she believes will more readily provide employment.
“I don’t just want to live on my hopes,” she said.
Or another friend, John, who graduated in December with a political science degree who is now working at a public relations firm until he decides what he really wants to do, a move he made after becoming discouraged with the limited job options in his field.
And it appears others have fared the same. The article said about 14 percent of those who graduated from college between 2006 and 2010 are looking for full-time jobs, either because they are unemployed or have only part-time jobs, citing a survey last year by the Heldrich Center at Rutgers.
As I kiss each fat envelope goodbye at the post office, I’m admittedly a little less wide-eyed and hopeful than I was just two short months ago. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving in to the idea that I’m doomed for an imperfect future just because I was born at an inopportune time. It just means that I may need to keep an open mind.
A 2010 graduate from this school, Lindsay, helped put this in perspective. She was intending on pursuing a career in broadcast journalism. When she interned at NBC5 Chicago, she loved it. But she didn’t love the sacrifices she’d have to make to have a successful career in the field. So she changed her mind. She quickly found a great job in sales after graduation and never looked back.
I asked her if she felt she had to swap her dream job for a better quality of life.
“A ‘dream job’ was once thought of as the career you envisioned yourself having as a child, or a job that never feels like work because of the total enjoyment it brings to you,” she said.
Though selling Information Technology software solutions isn’t what she once dreamed of doing, it’s the perfect fit for her.
“This is definitely my ‘dream job,’” she said.
From where I stand right now, it crushes my soul to think about doing anything other than writing. Even with a great resume and an obsessive job-seeking nature, it just may not happen for me yet. But I’ll get there — or somewhere equally fulfilling — eventually. We may be known as this sort of “lost generation,” but I think it’s only true in the sense that someday we’ll be found. We may just need to take a few detours.