The current job market makes me understand wanting to become a tradwife and I do not want to understand that. Below are my thoughts and analysis as a recent, unemployed college graduate.
Omfg I have never felt so seen by a post ever. I have been suffering through this finding a job shit for the past 2 years and EYE AM TIRED. Currently I have settled for working as a barista at a coffee shop in New York where I made somewhere between $23-$27 after tips. I make just enough money to live, and that’s it. Very much the definition of living paycheck to paycheck. I have a ton of social media and branding work but the thought of applying to jobs has become laughable at this point seeing that I am competing with people 5 years my senior who just got laid off and have a ton of experience competing for the same “entry level” job. People like to frame this as “oh well, your still able to afford your bills and at least your life is more flexible since you don’t have a traditional 9-5” and yes, this is true, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SAVE FOR A FUTURE OMFG. And it seems like unless I am talking to other people in similar positions, no one gets it. And to see job reports saying that hiring is “on fire” is beyond infuriating because I don’t know who that is a reality for or where they are hiring. On top of that, about half of the jobs I see pay as much or less than MY FUCKING JOB AS S BARISTA which is behind asinine. You want me to be in office 5 days a week making less than 50K bring bored out of my mind doing nothing of impact for ehaf??? The only person I know who got a job that wasn’t through nepotism of luck was a friend who had gotten laid off from a well known corp company and had a ton of experience and it took him 6 months and he was applying to jobs every.single.hour. of every single day and went through a job search process that could only be described as degrading. My parents are talking to me about moving out of New York, but as you mentioned, the cost of living has went up everywhere. I pay less than $1000 for my apartment with one roommate and no car. No matter where I move to, that rent price will go up, as well as the expense of owning a car, and my salary will not be high…so we are back in the same boat. My mom also suggested going back to school and getting my masters. So sorry, but I tried the pay to play scam twice. Once for undergrad and the other for a coding bootcamp. I will not be fooled again.
Like you, I have come to the conclusion that the answer to my employment woes will be by creating a job myself, whether it be a brand or my own production company or doing some freelance consulting work. All things I am considering, but I am tired and this is degrading and I feel like I am not asking too much by wanting a stable job that will allow me to save for the future.
I’ve been lucky enough to travel and understand that this experience is pretty normal for most people our age in other parts of the world. People go to college later and get “real jobs” in their 30s. No shade to that, it’s just not the reality that I was presented growing up in this country and it’s a a shame that the people won’t acknowledge this reality and things have changed to the detriment of future generations. It’s like I am being gaslit by everyone around me. The economy and job market is shit, idk what the economist say. Ask them to try and get me a damn job if it’s so good then
WOW thank you SO MUCH for this comment, I loved reading this today. I absolutely felt everything you wrote HARD. I'm glad and also depressed that my post resonated so hard. I'm sorry about your situation. I relate to the thought of applying to jobs as completely laughable. It feels like throwing letters into a fire and hoping they get sent to the recipient via mail. It's especially frustrating when the jobs that I do apply for, as you mention, don't even pay more than barista jobs. In fact, I could probably make more as a babysitter/tutor/bartender. It's also really validating to hear about your friend's grueling job search -- I know that if I spent a million hours per day applying to 20 jobs per day and also emailing a ton of people, I could get something. But I'd have to do that on top of the tutoring work I do now, and I also don't get paid for applying.
It's really frustrating, because most entry level jobs are obviously not fulfilling enough for me to be motivated to apply to them, and then on top of that I can make more doing something not career-oriented, so why even bother? It's all very frustrating, and then to top it all off, the cost of living is so exorbitant all over the US that it kind of doesn't matter where you go or what you do. I hope the economy opens sometimes soon. I wish you luck and hope you're able to muster the energy to start that freelance company. You have an engaging writing style and I hope you can make some extra $$$ that way.
Thank you!! I wish you luck as well. Hopefully after the fires cool off that government position will open back up. Or maybe something else will open up 🤷🏾♀️. Do keep busy tho, I find it the best way to keep from going insane and depressed about everything
Look on the bright side, if the nationalist faction of Trump's coalition wins out over the techbro faction, then cracking down on H1Bs would significantly improve the job prospects of American college graduates.
Right now, it's cheaper for employers to go through the motions of attempting to recruit domestically, before performatively throwing in the towel and bringing in an indentured immigrant who can't quit and will accept getting paid minimum wage for a supposedly white collar job.
I graduated in 2008 with an MFA from a good university and it was a terrible market at the time, but I don't think it's gotten much better. Somehow I raised a kid teaching college composition at 32k per year. The cost of living has gone through the roof.
What’s your degree in and also yes we have been taught that college degree= a job but not in this economy. There are so many ghost jobs and you can’t just walk into the business with a paper copy and get an interview. A sucky science job at a plant wanted to pay me $17 an hour to do 10 hours shifts each day with probably overtime and subject myself to hazardous conditions. And the commute was kinda long for me. These jobs are crazy. Do not run to get a masters because then you’re be unqualified and overqualified for so many positions .
I am going back and forth on commenting bc on one hand, I LIVED in this pain for years at my last job. I had a degree in English from a well known university and 3 years of relevant experience. They offered me $21 dollars per hour and I took it. Because I was unemployed for 6 months and desperate.
On the other hand, I just started a job at a public FinTech company that is doing really well. Pays me double. Has unbelievable benefits and unmatched culture. I got a job here after 3 applications to different jobs. I got a job here also because my husband works here. And he got a job here because his friend works here.
While going through the process, I was pissed at my husband for trying to help me out. I wanted to do it myself. Family companies and nepotism had burned me in the past, and I wanted to prove that I didn’t need help.
Unfortunately, that is just not the reality anymore. You literally have to know people that are where you want to be. You have to be invited by the right people. And that makes it damn near impossible.
I am so sorry that this is the situation for you, and it’s only getting harder. I wish I had magic advice for you. I wish I could offer you a job. But I mainly wanted to say that I feel you, I wish it were better, and it’s all so fucked up.
Hi, this was such a kind comment and a great, exemplary story. I totally understand the dilemma of being annoyed at people wanting to help you and simultaneously really needing the help, especially from a financial perspective. There's probably more shaking down I could do toward family friends etc. -- but it really goes against my beliefs! I'm even kind of against asking old employers for help, even though I already did that to all of them. I really believe the playing field should be perfectly even. All jobs should be posted online and all applicants weighed fairly.
Of course, as you point out, it really isn't and when push comes to shove we all have to participate in this system in order to make it. I am happy that you got such a great job and are also able to come at it with sensitivity and self-awareness. Thank you for your kind words at the end and the shred of hope this offered <3
I had a friend experiencing employment woes going on two plus years. He'd get so prickly about any advice I eventually just shut up about it, even when I thought it could genuinely help him.
Chiming in cuz I had a very similar situation as Anne: my spouse and I have gotten each other hired at three separate companies, including the one we're both working at now. So when people ask me how I achieved my stability, my only answer is luck and connections, just as you described. We kept our marriage secret this time around. When he found out, my boss actually told me that if he had known, he wouldn't have hired me lol
But we have layoffs now and then, people who I thought would be safe get fired. The industry is super unstable -- I don't think I'll ever not live in fear. I think I'm beginning to understand the seemingly cold-hearted advice of Boomers who say "life's not fair." It fucking should be fair; all this cruelty is unjustified laziness.
The reasons you've just pointed out are the same that have driven me to refine my survival skills (food preservation, first aid, sewing, community organization, etc.). I'm not advocating for everyone to drop everything and live out a Ballerina Farm fantasy but skills that are not monetized in our lives are essential to our lives as we watch broken systems continue to flounder, fail and burn before our very eyes. I'm 22, working part-time and pursuing a master's in library and information science, I have a B.S. in earth sciences. I was told my undergrad degree was niche but applicable to the job market in many ways (lies). I was told going to university was a privilege that could pull me and my family out of the working class (more lies). I was told working hard and pursuing entry level jobs would give me an avenue for bigger and better things (the biggest lie). I want nothing more than to be able to pay my rent and spend one day a week with my partner, I don't need the "sexy" job, and most people don't. We just want ANY job that can pay the bills. I keep pushing nonetheless and it is the only thing preserving my sanity. Do not stop trying to work the system but also look outside of it as capitalism falls. Unfortunately, that's the only advice I can give. Laugh at the doom, just laugh as you keep moving forward.
Thank you so much for this comment! I am similarly surprised you couldn't get a job with an earth sciences degree because I keep hearing about how green energy / engineering / eco-friendly tech stuff is the one tech sector that's actually growing and hiring. it's really bleak when even super practical STEM majors can't get jobs. I am sorry to hear about your job search. it's really all a sham and a lie; when i got my BA i was like "great, another high school diploma!" and then my cousin has a PhD and applied for a research assistant role to a non-fiction author -- they actually told her she was over-qualified. you literally can't fucking win.
the idea of building life skills is interesting and something i have been thinking about more, especially as my life feels so out of touch and disconnected from life itself. LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, e-mail, SEO, all this stuff feels so evil. i have a backyard and have been considering gardening and growing some berries and vegetables. also -- groceries are expensive AF so it would be cool to be able to make breakfast and salad for free, at least. i currently teach which means in the summer ill be totally unemployed, but was considering doing a WorkAway on some dairy farms to learn how to make cheese, milk, and yogurt.
I love libraries and librarians so I wish you a ton of luck in your graduate schooling and future. i am sure your kindness and perspective will be a great asset to anywhere you work.
I'm 39 and graduated face-first into the great recession -- I can assure you that you are experiencing is VERY real. In case you are getting any blowback about being young and entitled, that was the same bullshit cultural narrative they tried to apply to millennials also.
I was DESPERATE to be hired literally as a receptionist -- ANYTHING; and I was competing with people with masters degrees for entry level positions. Hundreds and hundreds of applications. The "economy" may have bounced back since then, so that the rich are miles richer than they were in 2008; but the root inequities were never addressed and have only gotten way worse.
One of the important things I would tell my 24 year old self is that if someone else's trajectory doesn't make sense to you, *100%* of the time the answer is that they were independently wealthy/connected to begin with. You are not crazy.
Thank you so much! this comment was really awesome to read. I mean -- the stuff about inequality being worse now is not awesome. However, the fact that other people have gone through this helps to know, and i am happy that i feel at least confident enough to be honest about it, speak about it, and not be gaslit! thank you for saying im not crazy, sometimes this whole system makes me crazy.
"Sometimes, it feels like the only option actually is to make my own job and do something completely outside of the sphere of the normative working world." Bingo. This is the answer. Unfortunately. I'm sorry this sucks, but I think you'll kill it doing your own thing based on this post alone.
Omg thank you. This means the world. After writing this post, I took a break from the job search and my part time jobs due to the fires in LA. I went to the desert for a week and it evaporated a lot of my angst and burnout. This post doing well and my time away from all the anger and the grind gave me a lot of clarity. I realized it could actually be fun and freeing to forge my own path. I love writing and I have a thumb on the pulse for social media and marketing things. I love this type of stuff and I’m good at it and I don’t need to wait for someone to let me do it! Maybe I’ve been avoiding it because it’s scary and new but it might just be the best thing ever. Either way, thank you for the extra push today. It meant a lot <3
So glad my comment helped. I have a 20-year-old daughter who is trying to figure all this crap out too. She's incredibly creative and may end up doing something in gardening/green house (loves plants) or tattooing (she's an excellent painter) and I'm totally behind her in figuring out something that's not "the normative working world" as you put it because...fuck that. Nothing is normal right now. I started freelancing when I was 31 (in 2002) and haven't had a "real" job since.
"Nothing is normal right now." Well said! also your daughter sounds like she has legit skills and is even younger than me, I am sure she will find a way to use her skills for a great career!
Just echoing Jacqueline Dooley up there. I had a job in corporate that I 100% got through nepotism—my college roommate knew someone looking for an assistant and I jumped at it. I hated every day, but the money was decent. After six months I was let go a week after getting a raise for performance and it completely blindsided me. Now, two years later, I have my own business and I make just as much money while working less. Critically, I feel in charge of my life and I’m happier than ever.
I know how starting something is scary and difficult… But it can also be really rewarding. I wish you nothing but the best luck. You got this.
I dunno. I think the line is blurry sometimes. This was a job that was better than I think I would’ve qualified for (Mr. Needs Assistant is a big deal), and the job wasn’t publicly posted for other applicants. Sure, you can say it’s networking; but if you wouldn’t have gotten the job without it, isn’t that an unfair advantage all the same?
Retired RN here. If you take a pulse with your thumb, all you count in your own heart rate. Your idea of gardening sounds great but first find out if you’ll be able to water it in LA.
There are few jobs for English majors but if you had a nursing degree, a civil engineering degree, or were a competent carpenter or journeyman electrician or plumber there would be jobs. Our society only needs a few English majors.
One of my sons got a degree in economics. I asked him what kind of job he’d get with it and he gave me the song and dance the college gave him. He’s a contractor today building and remodeling homes and condos. He doesn’t regret the economics degree. A
This was fantastic as are all the comments. I recommend David Graeber’s masterpiece “Bullshit Jobs” for a deeper analysis of this actually long-standing tendency in our economy of wasting human capital and keeping us on the hamster wheel.
I LOVE THIS BOOK. it felt like putting on glasses or walking for the first time. Just so clear. It’s very frustrating that there are no jobs, but more importantly that the jobs that are out there are truly bullshit
heyyyyy love the name of your blog first of all and I'm not even American but the job market in France is pretty much the same. i don't have a degree but i have the work experience of someone in their 40s with an established career and contacts but the work just isn't there anymore. i haven't had a job in a year, I've been living with my mom and doing temp office jobs I'm over qualified for and don't know what the fuck I'm doing and end up quitting soon after because the work environment is beyond toxic. I've had doors slammed in my face, called lazy, belittled, and much much worse. i don't look forward to having a job again but thankfully I'll go back to university to get my master's soon. i hope your situation improves once the fire is extinguished
“The work just isn’t there anymore” — yes this is exactly how it feels. I’m hearing this also from people who got laid off in their 30s-50s and are stunned by how bad the job market is. And then when you do get a job, the treatment (or rather mistreatment) is horrendous. I hope you get a good working environment and good pay soon <3
To answer your question, it's because the Federal Reserve increased interest rates a bunch to slow down the inflation that was caused by the TRILLIONS of pandemic aid sprayed around to most every person, business, school, and nonprofit in the country (except for porn producers, the legislation specifically cut them off). So organizations have cut back on their hiring.
Temporary help services are cutting jobs the most of any sector, whereas most of the remaining employment growth is in health care, leisure & hospitality, and government.
So, keep after that government job after fire season ends, whenever that happens.
It's because old people (boomers) have no employer pension and our government thinks working fulltime at a low wage for 30 years is worth less than $1000/month social security. Our decision to have "small government" has resulted in people continuing to work into old age so they can put food on their tables and medications in their mouths. The "good" news is that Trump signed an EO to stop the NIH and CDC from funding research and informing us of health information, such as flu cases and foodborne infections. This, combined with RFK Jr's pause on all vaccinations, should cull those like me from the herd. Then jobs will open up for you (and my offspring, who are in your identical situation). I truly hope your generation fixes the disasters my generation bequeathed. I am truly sorry for what we caused and hope my current efforts to mitigate this disaster do some good.
Hi, thanks! I check LA, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica government jobs boards every week. sometimes I have luck but even then most of the job listings are for police officers, water engineers, etc. i'll keep at it but it's nice to know i'm not crazy in feeling like this economy is completely dysfunctional and imbalanced.
all true – i’m 26 with lists on lists of work accomplishments under my belt and i’m having a harder time finding a new job than i did as a freshly graduated 21 year old. shit’s ridiculous
it's crazy because even if you had a computer science degree (maybe you do actually, idk what your academic background is) and a few years of experience in software, the job search would still be difficult!!. everything is fucked. there's no truly good entry level jobs and the ones that are even available pay as much or even less than barista/bartender work. it is ridiculous AF. wishing you the best of luck <3
I’m 33 and remember feeling this way when I was 24. The thing is it takes years to cobble together a resume into a career that fits neatly in a decently paying niche if you don’t land in some pre-baked thing like consulting right away. I worked on political campaigns (no money), a startup (laid off), a nonprofit (laid off), and a tiny digital marketing agency that was basically a scam and was always on the verge of going bankrupt before landing at what felt like a real company for a real salary at 27. All of these jobs were completely unprofessional and bizarre, paid about 45K a year (well, the campaign jobs paid 24k) and didn’t seem like I was gaining any real skills but eventually I had enough experience for someone to take a chance on me and I could breathe out. If you’re tutoring and writing your own paid blog, my guess is you’re further in your career than you realize and will fight your way into a solidly middle class career in the next few years.
OK wait, i love this comment. i tell myself a version of this when i am panicking, which is that "everyone else i know who's 30-40 got it together and also struggled after college, so there's no way i'll still be this unemployed and this broke when im 30." I just figure at some point something gives, and like you said, everyone else is screwed at 24 but somehow makes it work. I just always feels so hopeless on HOW it'll work out. I know it will, but it's so uncertain. Your description of low-paying and totally random jobs finally turning into something solidly middle class make a lot of sense to me. thank you for the rational calm this evening.
This his home —your rage is both cathartic and disturbingly relatable. The endless dead-end applications, nepotistic hires, and underpaid “opportunities” feels less like a job market and more like a sick game.
I’ve been digging into this mess myself, especially how higher education promises the world and instead delivers debt and despair. It’s like we’re sold diplomas as golden tickets, but they mostly lead to overpriced coffee chats and rejection emails. If it resonates, I wrote something about this titled "Diplomas and Despair: The Aftermath of Higher Education".
Anyway, I feel you. If nothing else, this piece makes me feel slightly less alone in this dumpster fire of late-stage capitalism. Keep fighting the good fight—someone has to call this out. Hope that more people become vocal about this. Hope this doesn't last too long.
Hi, thank you for your comment. This was so beautifully worded and it is very much a sick game. Sometimes I feel like there should at least be cameras filming all of this as some sort of documentary or dark comedy film. I’m sorry you’re facing the same struggles. I will definitely check out your essay because this topic is really interesting and I’m curious to hear thoughts on it from someone in the Balkans/Eastern Europe! I lived in the Balkans for a year :) but anyway — I wish the best of luck to you and I hope your writing skills can get put to good, PAID, creative use somewhere soon <3
The movie would must have a sense of normality when nothing is normal, because that’s how it feels - everyone goes out, buys drinks, clothes, makeup, and acts like everything is normal. At least from my experience. Like admitting you can’t find a job is what, humiliating? Anyways, fingers crossed for you and everyone in this position. More articles about it, more talking about it, more adressing this huge issue - LOUDLY.
Both happy this resonated with you and also sad. thanks for the comment and wish u the best of luck in this defunct economy we're in. hope to see you in the revolution!
Both happy this resonated with you and also sad. thanks for the comment and wish u the best of luck in this defunct economy we're in. hope to see you in the revolution!
I don’t know if this will make you feel better or worse but it’s like this in Norway too. I’m from southern California too and moved here for my now-husband a few years ago. I looked for a job here for ages and ended up getting something in corporate (gross) renewable energy (cool but not my industry) in health and safety (boring, I’m a social media girly).. only because my husbands friends friend knew someone here 🙄 now my husband is trying to shift from freelance designer to full time so we can buy a home and he CANNOT FIND ANYTHING despite going to the best design university in Scandinavia. So.. we’re all in this hell fire together and even the socialist utopias (lol) are feeling the pain. Sending you the very best wishes for your search and hoping you find more tutoring clients in the meantime!!
Also I saw in a few other comments that asking for help / connections goes against your values but I would encourage you to reconsider and reframe, community is supposed to help eachother! It’s human to connect and support and help other succeed. It’s humbling as fuck, but people who can help are usually very happy to!!
thanks for the pushback; i hear you. sometimes i just feel guilty because i have some privileges, like being able to live at home in college and all that, so i was able to get a leg up in certain ways, and so it feels a little wrong to take advantage of a network people might not have. thats just my thinking anyway, but i totally agree about your ideas about community and connection. i hope one day ill be doing well in my field and can help others who haven't had any luck!
Yes to this! I feel privileged and underprivileged in different aspects. The hard part for me about reaching out to people I know or don’t know is having to put on my extrovert hat as an introvert. It is tiring to be something I’m not to get to somewhere I don’t want to go but feel forced to go and to put it bluntly, all of it just sucks. I feel even more privileged when I think about how I CHOSE TO LEAVE A JOB I HAD. There was pretty decent job security but the burnout got to me. My heart wasn’t in it but as I am in the midst of searching for a new place to experience burn out/participate in capitalism, I can’t help but feel a tinge of guilt that I LEFT A BAD SITUATION FOR MY MENTAL HEALTH only to be replaced by *gestures* whatever the fuck this is 😑
thank you for the validation although i am sorry to hear it sucks where you are. i wish some economist could explain what happened! i have friends in their 40s who moved to LA in 1995-2005 to work in the entertainment industry and were getting BEGGED left and right to do production assistant work, script editing, coordinating, etc. there was so much work and never enough people. i understand there were hollywood strikes which has hit the industry a bit, but it doesn't explain the lack of jobs across the board. i hope you both get jobs you want and like in your industries!
The business has restructured over the past few decades. The legacy TV networks have been dying and with them their season long writing, acting and production jobs. Streaming seasons are short and irregular. Viewership is no longer transparent. Only the streaming companies know how valuable one’s work is, so experience is deprecated.
That said, the entertainment business has ALWAYS been brutal and nowhere worse than in LA. It has always been transactional, nepotistic, miserable, vile, unfair and so on. There have long been scads of people come to town to strike it big and only a handful who make it.
I see the bigger problem as the gutting of mid-level jobs thanks to computerization and organized management. In the past, a barista could move up to being a real manager or open his own place. No, what they call a manager is a baseline employee making an extra dollar an hour and everything is run out of the franchise rulebook. Mid-level jobs used to cluster in cities, but they don’t exist anymore.
I am very sorry to hear about your struggles - I am sure it seems incredibly unfair. The problem you raise is multifaceted, but I have to ask:
- you chose to major in English in 2019 or so, a decade plus into deep and well publicized oversupply of English majors and associated struggles with employment
- you would like to remain in LA
- you do not seem to want to work in corporate (I didn’t get a good sense for why but that may be my misread)
- you would like to pursue a career in a field (it seems again I may be missing something) that has a ton of people interested in and declining job openings as competition and technology reshapes the industry
A mentor of mine used to say you can have anything you want just not everything you want. We chose to move from a huge coastal city to a mid sized midwestern city with amazing cultural amenities, terrible winter weather, 1/2 of the cost of living LA or less, decent food scene, and abundance of corporate jobs (we have a talent problem not a jobs problem), and poor travel connections. That’s a mix of trade offs that worked for us. I am not saying it should for you. But maybe there is a mix of trade offs that’s right for you.
No one has to work for large oil companies. But boy do they pay well, and have locations in lower cost of living cities. I don’t work for one and certainly am not suggesting you should. But this is my attempt at saying there is a big difference between “there are no jobs” and the “the market does not value my combination of skills and interests as highly as I think it should”.
I hope this helps. I’d be happy to help however I can should you consider a corporate career.
Thank you for daring to voice the 'unpopular' opinion.
I honestly envy the pure and idealistic nature of Gen Z (I assume the author belongs to it). Maybe with this approach, they’ll actually win better job conditions for all of us.
But the older and boomerer I get, the more I realize life isn’t actually fair. No one ever said it would be tbh. You have to make sacrifices. And this realization is what helps you (me) get through the day.
Have a nice day, best of luck and fuck you too, guys.
Great response. In the first note after this thread a genius said that "Unsolicited advice is criticism. Always." That about sums up the attitude of the author and most of the commenters here. But, as the guy said in that movie: "Youth is wasted on the wrong people!" Cheers.
I’m a little hesitant to say this because I’m fairly certain my other comment on your other post inspired some of the backlash in this post, but not all advice is meant to be condescending. The fact is, there are plenty of people—like me—who have lived in the very same headspace you are occupying now. Frustrated with the system to the point of throwing things at the wall while screaming.
When people go to the trouble of sharing, it may not be because they want to prove that they’re smarter or better than you, or to suggest that you don’t know obvious things like the existence of ZipRecruiter.
In my case, I saw your post, recognized someone walking the same frustrating path I had and in some ways still am, and offered the one thing that’s worked for me. A solution that depends on volume. Here’s the thing, I don’t have connections either, and my degree is from a university a lot less prestigious than yours.
But applying en masse with little regard up front for what I was applying to as long as it paid enough was the only thing that ever worked for me. It saved my sanity and got me two jobs in the course of as many years.
If you don’t have connections, I don’t believe there is another option, other than trying to make it on your own.
Feel free to roast me for doubling down, but it’s all I’ve got.
Thank you for this piece, I loved it! You make many good points about the job market that were just simply not true 30 years ago when I graduated. I took a layoff during Covid and thought “this will be fine, I have many credentials and 30 years of industry experience in engineering”, but I was wrong.
I have not been able to get an engineering job at any level since then and sit watching as I get replaced by younger engineers and AI. I thought that maybe I should get one of those snazzy certificates and return to the job market with a shining new credential - but halfway through that experiment, I am beginning to realize nobody will care about my brand new certificate except Northeastern University’s marketing department - and I will be out ten grand.
I had once believed I could work as long as I wanted to because I enjoy the work and have significant experience in a strong industry (environmental), but now I’m planning to just take it on the chin ride it out five more years until retirement making $18/hour.
My own daughter, who is a junior @UMass studying neuroscience(!), has already figured this out and is making money freelancing as a photographer/graphic artist because she knows her degree will mean almost nothing in the job market.
It feels like a trend that is not going to reverse itself, so we must adapt. I am confident you will succeed given the force of your writing. Good luck.
Wow, I am sorry about your layoff experience. Even though it is very hard as a young person, I can also imagine much different hardships in the job search for people who have been working for a long time and then look for work now. I hope you get a job soon, although the tech industry seems as though it transforms in all sorts of toxic ways each week and it's so unpredictable.
I am so sorry about the certificate. I think those are basically scams most of the time. Unless they're really able to set you up with employers, they're just taking advantage of the fact that every job requires so much expertise now and people are scared and jobless and want something that feels tangibly helpful.
I am happy that at least your daughter is getting started on a better path. A good freelance gig can be really good. It sucks that a BS in Neuroscience means nothing now, not just because young people should be able to get a job, but also because scientific research and all that is important, but increasingly defunded and unavailable.
Best of luck to you both, and I hope good things come your way soon.
Omfg I have never felt so seen by a post ever. I have been suffering through this finding a job shit for the past 2 years and EYE AM TIRED. Currently I have settled for working as a barista at a coffee shop in New York where I made somewhere between $23-$27 after tips. I make just enough money to live, and that’s it. Very much the definition of living paycheck to paycheck. I have a ton of social media and branding work but the thought of applying to jobs has become laughable at this point seeing that I am competing with people 5 years my senior who just got laid off and have a ton of experience competing for the same “entry level” job. People like to frame this as “oh well, your still able to afford your bills and at least your life is more flexible since you don’t have a traditional 9-5” and yes, this is true, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SAVE FOR A FUTURE OMFG. And it seems like unless I am talking to other people in similar positions, no one gets it. And to see job reports saying that hiring is “on fire” is beyond infuriating because I don’t know who that is a reality for or where they are hiring. On top of that, about half of the jobs I see pay as much or less than MY FUCKING JOB AS S BARISTA which is behind asinine. You want me to be in office 5 days a week making less than 50K bring bored out of my mind doing nothing of impact for ehaf??? The only person I know who got a job that wasn’t through nepotism of luck was a friend who had gotten laid off from a well known corp company and had a ton of experience and it took him 6 months and he was applying to jobs every.single.hour. of every single day and went through a job search process that could only be described as degrading. My parents are talking to me about moving out of New York, but as you mentioned, the cost of living has went up everywhere. I pay less than $1000 for my apartment with one roommate and no car. No matter where I move to, that rent price will go up, as well as the expense of owning a car, and my salary will not be high…so we are back in the same boat. My mom also suggested going back to school and getting my masters. So sorry, but I tried the pay to play scam twice. Once for undergrad and the other for a coding bootcamp. I will not be fooled again.
Like you, I have come to the conclusion that the answer to my employment woes will be by creating a job myself, whether it be a brand or my own production company or doing some freelance consulting work. All things I am considering, but I am tired and this is degrading and I feel like I am not asking too much by wanting a stable job that will allow me to save for the future.
I’ve been lucky enough to travel and understand that this experience is pretty normal for most people our age in other parts of the world. People go to college later and get “real jobs” in their 30s. No shade to that, it’s just not the reality that I was presented growing up in this country and it’s a a shame that the people won’t acknowledge this reality and things have changed to the detriment of future generations. It’s like I am being gaslit by everyone around me. The economy and job market is shit, idk what the economist say. Ask them to try and get me a damn job if it’s so good then
WOW thank you SO MUCH for this comment, I loved reading this today. I absolutely felt everything you wrote HARD. I'm glad and also depressed that my post resonated so hard. I'm sorry about your situation. I relate to the thought of applying to jobs as completely laughable. It feels like throwing letters into a fire and hoping they get sent to the recipient via mail. It's especially frustrating when the jobs that I do apply for, as you mention, don't even pay more than barista jobs. In fact, I could probably make more as a babysitter/tutor/bartender. It's also really validating to hear about your friend's grueling job search -- I know that if I spent a million hours per day applying to 20 jobs per day and also emailing a ton of people, I could get something. But I'd have to do that on top of the tutoring work I do now, and I also don't get paid for applying.
It's really frustrating, because most entry level jobs are obviously not fulfilling enough for me to be motivated to apply to them, and then on top of that I can make more doing something not career-oriented, so why even bother? It's all very frustrating, and then to top it all off, the cost of living is so exorbitant all over the US that it kind of doesn't matter where you go or what you do. I hope the economy opens sometimes soon. I wish you luck and hope you're able to muster the energy to start that freelance company. You have an engaging writing style and I hope you can make some extra $$$ that way.
Thank you!! I wish you luck as well. Hopefully after the fires cool off that government position will open back up. Or maybe something else will open up 🤷🏾♀️. Do keep busy tho, I find it the best way to keep from going insane and depressed about everything
Look on the bright side, if the nationalist faction of Trump's coalition wins out over the techbro faction, then cracking down on H1Bs would significantly improve the job prospects of American college graduates.
Right now, it's cheaper for employers to go through the motions of attempting to recruit domestically, before performatively throwing in the towel and bringing in an indentured immigrant who can't quit and will accept getting paid minimum wage for a supposedly white collar job.
I lived through 2009-2010 recession. You don't know shit.
I graduated in 2008 with an MFA from a good university and it was a terrible market at the time, but I don't think it's gotten much better. Somehow I raised a kid teaching college composition at 32k per year. The cost of living has gone through the roof.
It's gotten way better in terms of job offerings. Cost of living is a different issue and more fixable. YIMBY and Abundance Agenda is the way to go.
What’s your degree in and also yes we have been taught that college degree= a job but not in this economy. There are so many ghost jobs and you can’t just walk into the business with a paper copy and get an interview. A sucky science job at a plant wanted to pay me $17 an hour to do 10 hours shifts each day with probably overtime and subject myself to hazardous conditions. And the commute was kinda long for me. These jobs are crazy. Do not run to get a masters because then you’re be unqualified and overqualified for so many positions .
I hope you didn’t write “eye I am hard worker” in your CL 😁
I am going back and forth on commenting bc on one hand, I LIVED in this pain for years at my last job. I had a degree in English from a well known university and 3 years of relevant experience. They offered me $21 dollars per hour and I took it. Because I was unemployed for 6 months and desperate.
On the other hand, I just started a job at a public FinTech company that is doing really well. Pays me double. Has unbelievable benefits and unmatched culture. I got a job here after 3 applications to different jobs. I got a job here also because my husband works here. And he got a job here because his friend works here.
While going through the process, I was pissed at my husband for trying to help me out. I wanted to do it myself. Family companies and nepotism had burned me in the past, and I wanted to prove that I didn’t need help.
Unfortunately, that is just not the reality anymore. You literally have to know people that are where you want to be. You have to be invited by the right people. And that makes it damn near impossible.
I am so sorry that this is the situation for you, and it’s only getting harder. I wish I had magic advice for you. I wish I could offer you a job. But I mainly wanted to say that I feel you, I wish it were better, and it’s all so fucked up.
Hi, this was such a kind comment and a great, exemplary story. I totally understand the dilemma of being annoyed at people wanting to help you and simultaneously really needing the help, especially from a financial perspective. There's probably more shaking down I could do toward family friends etc. -- but it really goes against my beliefs! I'm even kind of against asking old employers for help, even though I already did that to all of them. I really believe the playing field should be perfectly even. All jobs should be posted online and all applicants weighed fairly.
Of course, as you point out, it really isn't and when push comes to shove we all have to participate in this system in order to make it. I am happy that you got such a great job and are also able to come at it with sensitivity and self-awareness. Thank you for your kind words at the end and the shred of hope this offered <3
I had a friend experiencing employment woes going on two plus years. He'd get so prickly about any advice I eventually just shut up about it, even when I thought it could genuinely help him.
Chiming in cuz I had a very similar situation as Anne: my spouse and I have gotten each other hired at three separate companies, including the one we're both working at now. So when people ask me how I achieved my stability, my only answer is luck and connections, just as you described. We kept our marriage secret this time around. When he found out, my boss actually told me that if he had known, he wouldn't have hired me lol
But we have layoffs now and then, people who I thought would be safe get fired. The industry is super unstable -- I don't think I'll ever not live in fear. I think I'm beginning to understand the seemingly cold-hearted advice of Boomers who say "life's not fair." It fucking should be fair; all this cruelty is unjustified laziness.
The reasons you've just pointed out are the same that have driven me to refine my survival skills (food preservation, first aid, sewing, community organization, etc.). I'm not advocating for everyone to drop everything and live out a Ballerina Farm fantasy but skills that are not monetized in our lives are essential to our lives as we watch broken systems continue to flounder, fail and burn before our very eyes. I'm 22, working part-time and pursuing a master's in library and information science, I have a B.S. in earth sciences. I was told my undergrad degree was niche but applicable to the job market in many ways (lies). I was told going to university was a privilege that could pull me and my family out of the working class (more lies). I was told working hard and pursuing entry level jobs would give me an avenue for bigger and better things (the biggest lie). I want nothing more than to be able to pay my rent and spend one day a week with my partner, I don't need the "sexy" job, and most people don't. We just want ANY job that can pay the bills. I keep pushing nonetheless and it is the only thing preserving my sanity. Do not stop trying to work the system but also look outside of it as capitalism falls. Unfortunately, that's the only advice I can give. Laugh at the doom, just laugh as you keep moving forward.
Thank you so much for this comment! I am similarly surprised you couldn't get a job with an earth sciences degree because I keep hearing about how green energy / engineering / eco-friendly tech stuff is the one tech sector that's actually growing and hiring. it's really bleak when even super practical STEM majors can't get jobs. I am sorry to hear about your job search. it's really all a sham and a lie; when i got my BA i was like "great, another high school diploma!" and then my cousin has a PhD and applied for a research assistant role to a non-fiction author -- they actually told her she was over-qualified. you literally can't fucking win.
the idea of building life skills is interesting and something i have been thinking about more, especially as my life feels so out of touch and disconnected from life itself. LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, e-mail, SEO, all this stuff feels so evil. i have a backyard and have been considering gardening and growing some berries and vegetables. also -- groceries are expensive AF so it would be cool to be able to make breakfast and salad for free, at least. i currently teach which means in the summer ill be totally unemployed, but was considering doing a WorkAway on some dairy farms to learn how to make cheese, milk, and yogurt.
I love libraries and librarians so I wish you a ton of luck in your graduate schooling and future. i am sure your kindness and perspective will be a great asset to anywhere you work.
I'm 39 and graduated face-first into the great recession -- I can assure you that you are experiencing is VERY real. In case you are getting any blowback about being young and entitled, that was the same bullshit cultural narrative they tried to apply to millennials also.
I was DESPERATE to be hired literally as a receptionist -- ANYTHING; and I was competing with people with masters degrees for entry level positions. Hundreds and hundreds of applications. The "economy" may have bounced back since then, so that the rich are miles richer than they were in 2008; but the root inequities were never addressed and have only gotten way worse.
One of the important things I would tell my 24 year old self is that if someone else's trajectory doesn't make sense to you, *100%* of the time the answer is that they were independently wealthy/connected to begin with. You are not crazy.
Thank you so much! this comment was really awesome to read. I mean -- the stuff about inequality being worse now is not awesome. However, the fact that other people have gone through this helps to know, and i am happy that i feel at least confident enough to be honest about it, speak about it, and not be gaslit! thank you for saying im not crazy, sometimes this whole system makes me crazy.
"Sometimes, it feels like the only option actually is to make my own job and do something completely outside of the sphere of the normative working world." Bingo. This is the answer. Unfortunately. I'm sorry this sucks, but I think you'll kill it doing your own thing based on this post alone.
Omg thank you. This means the world. After writing this post, I took a break from the job search and my part time jobs due to the fires in LA. I went to the desert for a week and it evaporated a lot of my angst and burnout. This post doing well and my time away from all the anger and the grind gave me a lot of clarity. I realized it could actually be fun and freeing to forge my own path. I love writing and I have a thumb on the pulse for social media and marketing things. I love this type of stuff and I’m good at it and I don’t need to wait for someone to let me do it! Maybe I’ve been avoiding it because it’s scary and new but it might just be the best thing ever. Either way, thank you for the extra push today. It meant a lot <3
So glad my comment helped. I have a 20-year-old daughter who is trying to figure all this crap out too. She's incredibly creative and may end up doing something in gardening/green house (loves plants) or tattooing (she's an excellent painter) and I'm totally behind her in figuring out something that's not "the normative working world" as you put it because...fuck that. Nothing is normal right now. I started freelancing when I was 31 (in 2002) and haven't had a "real" job since.
"Nothing is normal right now." Well said! also your daughter sounds like she has legit skills and is even younger than me, I am sure she will find a way to use her skills for a great career!
Just echoing Jacqueline Dooley up there. I had a job in corporate that I 100% got through nepotism—my college roommate knew someone looking for an assistant and I jumped at it. I hated every day, but the money was decent. After six months I was let go a week after getting a raise for performance and it completely blindsided me. Now, two years later, I have my own business and I make just as much money while working less. Critically, I feel in charge of my life and I’m happier than ever.
I know how starting something is scary and difficult… But it can also be really rewarding. I wish you nothing but the best luck. You got this.
that's not...nepotism? your college roommate knew someone looking for an assistant and you went for it: that's just...networking.
I dunno. I think the line is blurry sometimes. This was a job that was better than I think I would’ve qualified for (Mr. Needs Assistant is a big deal), and the job wasn’t publicly posted for other applicants. Sure, you can say it’s networking; but if you wouldn’t have gotten the job without it, isn’t that an unfair advantage all the same?
Retired RN here. If you take a pulse with your thumb, all you count in your own heart rate. Your idea of gardening sounds great but first find out if you’ll be able to water it in LA.
There are few jobs for English majors but if you had a nursing degree, a civil engineering degree, or were a competent carpenter or journeyman electrician or plumber there would be jobs. Our society only needs a few English majors.
One of my sons got a degree in economics. I asked him what kind of job he’d get with it and he gave me the song and dance the college gave him. He’s a contractor today building and remodeling homes and condos. He doesn’t regret the economics degree. A
This was fantastic as are all the comments. I recommend David Graeber’s masterpiece “Bullshit Jobs” for a deeper analysis of this actually long-standing tendency in our economy of wasting human capital and keeping us on the hamster wheel.
I LOVE THIS BOOK. it felt like putting on glasses or walking for the first time. Just so clear. It’s very frustrating that there are no jobs, but more importantly that the jobs that are out there are truly bullshit
Yes! I was actually thinking that his book Debt: the first 5,000 years addresses this post also
heyyyyy love the name of your blog first of all and I'm not even American but the job market in France is pretty much the same. i don't have a degree but i have the work experience of someone in their 40s with an established career and contacts but the work just isn't there anymore. i haven't had a job in a year, I've been living with my mom and doing temp office jobs I'm over qualified for and don't know what the fuck I'm doing and end up quitting soon after because the work environment is beyond toxic. I've had doors slammed in my face, called lazy, belittled, and much much worse. i don't look forward to having a job again but thankfully I'll go back to university to get my master's soon. i hope your situation improves once the fire is extinguished
“The work just isn’t there anymore” — yes this is exactly how it feels. I’m hearing this also from people who got laid off in their 30s-50s and are stunned by how bad the job market is. And then when you do get a job, the treatment (or rather mistreatment) is horrendous. I hope you get a good working environment and good pay soon <3
To answer your question, it's because the Federal Reserve increased interest rates a bunch to slow down the inflation that was caused by the TRILLIONS of pandemic aid sprayed around to most every person, business, school, and nonprofit in the country (except for porn producers, the legislation specifically cut them off). So organizations have cut back on their hiring.
Temporary help services are cutting jobs the most of any sector, whereas most of the remaining employment growth is in health care, leisure & hospitality, and government.
So, keep after that government job after fire season ends, whenever that happens.
It's because old people (boomers) have no employer pension and our government thinks working fulltime at a low wage for 30 years is worth less than $1000/month social security. Our decision to have "small government" has resulted in people continuing to work into old age so they can put food on their tables and medications in their mouths. The "good" news is that Trump signed an EO to stop the NIH and CDC from funding research and informing us of health information, such as flu cases and foodborne infections. This, combined with RFK Jr's pause on all vaccinations, should cull those like me from the herd. Then jobs will open up for you (and my offspring, who are in your identical situation). I truly hope your generation fixes the disasters my generation bequeathed. I am truly sorry for what we caused and hope my current efforts to mitigate this disaster do some good.
Hi, thanks! I check LA, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica government jobs boards every week. sometimes I have luck but even then most of the job listings are for police officers, water engineers, etc. i'll keep at it but it's nice to know i'm not crazy in feeling like this economy is completely dysfunctional and imbalanced.
all true – i’m 26 with lists on lists of work accomplishments under my belt and i’m having a harder time finding a new job than i did as a freshly graduated 21 year old. shit’s ridiculous
it's crazy because even if you had a computer science degree (maybe you do actually, idk what your academic background is) and a few years of experience in software, the job search would still be difficult!!. everything is fucked. there's no truly good entry level jobs and the ones that are even available pay as much or even less than barista/bartender work. it is ridiculous AF. wishing you the best of luck <3
It is worse in computer science probably at this point
I’m 33 and remember feeling this way when I was 24. The thing is it takes years to cobble together a resume into a career that fits neatly in a decently paying niche if you don’t land in some pre-baked thing like consulting right away. I worked on political campaigns (no money), a startup (laid off), a nonprofit (laid off), and a tiny digital marketing agency that was basically a scam and was always on the verge of going bankrupt before landing at what felt like a real company for a real salary at 27. All of these jobs were completely unprofessional and bizarre, paid about 45K a year (well, the campaign jobs paid 24k) and didn’t seem like I was gaining any real skills but eventually I had enough experience for someone to take a chance on me and I could breathe out. If you’re tutoring and writing your own paid blog, my guess is you’re further in your career than you realize and will fight your way into a solidly middle class career in the next few years.
OK wait, i love this comment. i tell myself a version of this when i am panicking, which is that "everyone else i know who's 30-40 got it together and also struggled after college, so there's no way i'll still be this unemployed and this broke when im 30." I just figure at some point something gives, and like you said, everyone else is screwed at 24 but somehow makes it work. I just always feels so hopeless on HOW it'll work out. I know it will, but it's so uncertain. Your description of low-paying and totally random jobs finally turning into something solidly middle class make a lot of sense to me. thank you for the rational calm this evening.
This his home —your rage is both cathartic and disturbingly relatable. The endless dead-end applications, nepotistic hires, and underpaid “opportunities” feels less like a job market and more like a sick game.
I’ve been digging into this mess myself, especially how higher education promises the world and instead delivers debt and despair. It’s like we’re sold diplomas as golden tickets, but they mostly lead to overpriced coffee chats and rejection emails. If it resonates, I wrote something about this titled "Diplomas and Despair: The Aftermath of Higher Education".
Anyway, I feel you. If nothing else, this piece makes me feel slightly less alone in this dumpster fire of late-stage capitalism. Keep fighting the good fight—someone has to call this out. Hope that more people become vocal about this. Hope this doesn't last too long.
Hi, thank you for your comment. This was so beautifully worded and it is very much a sick game. Sometimes I feel like there should at least be cameras filming all of this as some sort of documentary or dark comedy film. I’m sorry you’re facing the same struggles. I will definitely check out your essay because this topic is really interesting and I’m curious to hear thoughts on it from someone in the Balkans/Eastern Europe! I lived in the Balkans for a year :) but anyway — I wish the best of luck to you and I hope your writing skills can get put to good, PAID, creative use somewhere soon <3
The movie would must have a sense of normality when nothing is normal, because that’s how it feels - everyone goes out, buys drinks, clothes, makeup, and acts like everything is normal. At least from my experience. Like admitting you can’t find a job is what, humiliating? Anyways, fingers crossed for you and everyone in this position. More articles about it, more talking about it, more adressing this huge issue - LOUDLY.
i felt this with every fibre of my being
Both happy this resonated with you and also sad. thanks for the comment and wish u the best of luck in this defunct economy we're in. hope to see you in the revolution!
Both happy this resonated with you and also sad. thanks for the comment and wish u the best of luck in this defunct economy we're in. hope to see you in the revolution!
I don’t know if this will make you feel better or worse but it’s like this in Norway too. I’m from southern California too and moved here for my now-husband a few years ago. I looked for a job here for ages and ended up getting something in corporate (gross) renewable energy (cool but not my industry) in health and safety (boring, I’m a social media girly).. only because my husbands friends friend knew someone here 🙄 now my husband is trying to shift from freelance designer to full time so we can buy a home and he CANNOT FIND ANYTHING despite going to the best design university in Scandinavia. So.. we’re all in this hell fire together and even the socialist utopias (lol) are feeling the pain. Sending you the very best wishes for your search and hoping you find more tutoring clients in the meantime!!
Also I saw in a few other comments that asking for help / connections goes against your values but I would encourage you to reconsider and reframe, community is supposed to help eachother! It’s human to connect and support and help other succeed. It’s humbling as fuck, but people who can help are usually very happy to!!
thanks for the pushback; i hear you. sometimes i just feel guilty because i have some privileges, like being able to live at home in college and all that, so i was able to get a leg up in certain ways, and so it feels a little wrong to take advantage of a network people might not have. thats just my thinking anyway, but i totally agree about your ideas about community and connection. i hope one day ill be doing well in my field and can help others who haven't had any luck!
Yes to this! I feel privileged and underprivileged in different aspects. The hard part for me about reaching out to people I know or don’t know is having to put on my extrovert hat as an introvert. It is tiring to be something I’m not to get to somewhere I don’t want to go but feel forced to go and to put it bluntly, all of it just sucks. I feel even more privileged when I think about how I CHOSE TO LEAVE A JOB I HAD. There was pretty decent job security but the burnout got to me. My heart wasn’t in it but as I am in the midst of searching for a new place to experience burn out/participate in capitalism, I can’t help but feel a tinge of guilt that I LEFT A BAD SITUATION FOR MY MENTAL HEALTH only to be replaced by *gestures* whatever the fuck this is 😑
thank you for the validation although i am sorry to hear it sucks where you are. i wish some economist could explain what happened! i have friends in their 40s who moved to LA in 1995-2005 to work in the entertainment industry and were getting BEGGED left and right to do production assistant work, script editing, coordinating, etc. there was so much work and never enough people. i understand there were hollywood strikes which has hit the industry a bit, but it doesn't explain the lack of jobs across the board. i hope you both get jobs you want and like in your industries!
The business has restructured over the past few decades. The legacy TV networks have been dying and with them their season long writing, acting and production jobs. Streaming seasons are short and irregular. Viewership is no longer transparent. Only the streaming companies know how valuable one’s work is, so experience is deprecated.
That said, the entertainment business has ALWAYS been brutal and nowhere worse than in LA. It has always been transactional, nepotistic, miserable, vile, unfair and so on. There have long been scads of people come to town to strike it big and only a handful who make it.
I see the bigger problem as the gutting of mid-level jobs thanks to computerization and organized management. In the past, a barista could move up to being a real manager or open his own place. No, what they call a manager is a baseline employee making an extra dollar an hour and everything is run out of the franchise rulebook. Mid-level jobs used to cluster in cities, but they don’t exist anymore.
I am very sorry to hear about your struggles - I am sure it seems incredibly unfair. The problem you raise is multifaceted, but I have to ask:
- you chose to major in English in 2019 or so, a decade plus into deep and well publicized oversupply of English majors and associated struggles with employment
- you would like to remain in LA
- you do not seem to want to work in corporate (I didn’t get a good sense for why but that may be my misread)
- you would like to pursue a career in a field (it seems again I may be missing something) that has a ton of people interested in and declining job openings as competition and technology reshapes the industry
A mentor of mine used to say you can have anything you want just not everything you want. We chose to move from a huge coastal city to a mid sized midwestern city with amazing cultural amenities, terrible winter weather, 1/2 of the cost of living LA or less, decent food scene, and abundance of corporate jobs (we have a talent problem not a jobs problem), and poor travel connections. That’s a mix of trade offs that worked for us. I am not saying it should for you. But maybe there is a mix of trade offs that’s right for you.
No one has to work for large oil companies. But boy do they pay well, and have locations in lower cost of living cities. I don’t work for one and certainly am not suggesting you should. But this is my attempt at saying there is a big difference between “there are no jobs” and the “the market does not value my combination of skills and interests as highly as I think it should”.
I hope this helps. I’d be happy to help however I can should you consider a corporate career.
Thank you for daring to voice the 'unpopular' opinion.
I honestly envy the pure and idealistic nature of Gen Z (I assume the author belongs to it). Maybe with this approach, they’ll actually win better job conditions for all of us.
But the older and boomerer I get, the more I realize life isn’t actually fair. No one ever said it would be tbh. You have to make sacrifices. And this realization is what helps you (me) get through the day.
Have a nice day, best of luck and fuck you too, guys.
Great response. In the first note after this thread a genius said that "Unsolicited advice is criticism. Always." That about sums up the attitude of the author and most of the commenters here. But, as the guy said in that movie: "Youth is wasted on the wrong people!" Cheers.
This is wisdom.
I’m a little hesitant to say this because I’m fairly certain my other comment on your other post inspired some of the backlash in this post, but not all advice is meant to be condescending. The fact is, there are plenty of people—like me—who have lived in the very same headspace you are occupying now. Frustrated with the system to the point of throwing things at the wall while screaming.
When people go to the trouble of sharing, it may not be because they want to prove that they’re smarter or better than you, or to suggest that you don’t know obvious things like the existence of ZipRecruiter.
In my case, I saw your post, recognized someone walking the same frustrating path I had and in some ways still am, and offered the one thing that’s worked for me. A solution that depends on volume. Here’s the thing, I don’t have connections either, and my degree is from a university a lot less prestigious than yours.
But applying en masse with little regard up front for what I was applying to as long as it paid enough was the only thing that ever worked for me. It saved my sanity and got me two jobs in the course of as many years.
If you don’t have connections, I don’t believe there is another option, other than trying to make it on your own.
Feel free to roast me for doubling down, but it’s all I’ve got.
Good luck.
Thank you for this piece, I loved it! You make many good points about the job market that were just simply not true 30 years ago when I graduated. I took a layoff during Covid and thought “this will be fine, I have many credentials and 30 years of industry experience in engineering”, but I was wrong.
I have not been able to get an engineering job at any level since then and sit watching as I get replaced by younger engineers and AI. I thought that maybe I should get one of those snazzy certificates and return to the job market with a shining new credential - but halfway through that experiment, I am beginning to realize nobody will care about my brand new certificate except Northeastern University’s marketing department - and I will be out ten grand.
I had once believed I could work as long as I wanted to because I enjoy the work and have significant experience in a strong industry (environmental), but now I’m planning to just take it on the chin ride it out five more years until retirement making $18/hour.
My own daughter, who is a junior @UMass studying neuroscience(!), has already figured this out and is making money freelancing as a photographer/graphic artist because she knows her degree will mean almost nothing in the job market.
It feels like a trend that is not going to reverse itself, so we must adapt. I am confident you will succeed given the force of your writing. Good luck.
Wow, I am sorry about your layoff experience. Even though it is very hard as a young person, I can also imagine much different hardships in the job search for people who have been working for a long time and then look for work now. I hope you get a job soon, although the tech industry seems as though it transforms in all sorts of toxic ways each week and it's so unpredictable.
I am so sorry about the certificate. I think those are basically scams most of the time. Unless they're really able to set you up with employers, they're just taking advantage of the fact that every job requires so much expertise now and people are scared and jobless and want something that feels tangibly helpful.
I am happy that at least your daughter is getting started on a better path. A good freelance gig can be really good. It sucks that a BS in Neuroscience means nothing now, not just because young people should be able to get a job, but also because scientific research and all that is important, but increasingly defunded and unavailable.
Best of luck to you both, and I hope good things come your way soon.
A neuroscience degree without grad school is paltry. She needs to go to grad school but she can have opportunities to make bank with it.