Dear Job Seekers: A Letter
There are some things I want to share and thoughts I have, as a current job-seeker myself, in both an economy that isn't looking upon us kindly and a society that has reinvented itself.
You are not worthless. Don't take a job doing something you hate until you really, really have to, and even then, keep searching. You're going to find something you love, and if you don't, or, if that position doesn't exist, make it. Invent it. Scrape by for now while you figure it out-we're young, we aren't supposed to be comfortable. Be hungry and scared and a little desperate, and you'll keep looking. Complacence is fine until you're 50 and you realized you never really chased what you wanted. If you want a full time job with a full salary, you deserve it. Do not undervalue yourself, your many skills, your talents, your unique personality and contributions.
You have done everything right-you interned, volunteered, all-nightered, spent your college years doing what you love and all of these things will help you, when the right employer sees your application. It takes a mutual good fit, not just what you think is your dream job. As someone who has applied for multiple dream jobs, I know. I thought I had found The One a month ago. It was my one day for not doing work during spring break, and I applied, then got on a subway to downtown New York. I spent $18 on cupcakes, found a FedEx office to print my resume, and put it in a bright blue manila envelope. I walked 20 blocks in heels to deliver these things, trying to be as memorable as possible. The guard wouldn't even let me up-I had to leave them at the door. When I called in the morning, the HR rep who answered practically hung up on me. Not a "thanks for applying", nothing. My wide-eyed optimism and belief that if I chased it, I'd get a chance, earned me a swift kick in the confidence. I was so hurt. I love this organization! They spit rhetoric about wanting to help young women like it's their life mission, and this is how they treat me? But I'm one person, in the sea of many, that they saw as an annoying pest, not a potential hire. And that's ok, because working there would have sucked. I don't want to work somewhere where they treat potential hires like dirt, as if they never had to start out themselves. This story isn't meant to discourage you-it's meant to tell you that they have to want you, too. Fight for jobs, and when it's worth it, they'll fight for you.
Ignore your parents and older relatives. They were wrong when they told you you couldn't get a job Tweeting, weren't they? Their generation, their world, is very different. Many industries that have proved lucrative, exciting, and have provided a life for many people didn't even exist when they were starting out. They grew up when people went from undergraduate to grad school to the world, degree in hand, ready to earn money and start a family. And that's wonderful, and that still works for some people. But for many of us, it doesn't. Our lives are no longer straight arrows, and that's the way we want it. I'd be a gajillionaire if I had a dollar for everytime my mom has said "How long are you taking off of school..." with fear in her voice. Don't let their not understanding make you feel badly about your future. Take their support, block out their doubts. They want the best for you, they just don't get it yet.They will.
It's not always going to be like this. It won't always be this hard. You'll get a job, and switch jobs, and change your mind, but once you hit job one, everything will start to seem a little less overwhelming. You can switch careers and industries at 27 and 67. I recently sat in a design class with a 65 year old retired nurse. She's looking to get her master's degree and pursue a career. It's never too late, and things change.
Get a mentor your own age. I love networking, I admit, and a lot of people I connect with have been older professionals, well entrenched in their field. Their advice has been invaluable and priceless to me. They have connections and wisdom I could never get elsewhere. However, they are a bit removed from where I am in life, and seeking out people who have only been in the field for a few years has been the best thing. They get how hard it is out there. They'll give you an honest opinion about how Americorps barely pays you, and how being an administrative assistant can still be a foot in the door if it's at a progressive company. There are more than 3, or 8, or 20 ways to "start out" nowadays. I know, the possibilities feel exhausting, another thing to apply for. But it may be comforting to know, at some point, that there are many things to do that aren't "wrong".
You might be thinking with jealousy about your friends going straight to grad school. They, at least, know what they are doing...I know I'm feeling scared and envious. How could I be so stupid? Why did I think I would put that off, or not go at all? The thing is, there's a reason you chose the work world after graduation. There are many reasons, in fact. You know yourself and this was the right choice, for you. Really.
You are so, so, SO not alone. It feels like that when our best friend is coffee and 8 dozen HR websites, making cover letter after cover letter, sticking them into the online black hole that is the modern job hunt. A lot of us are struggling. We're just pretending not to, so it feels less hopeless. Try to casually bring this up with someone. You'll get solidarity, compassion, empathy.
I hope I showed that to you, to some point.
romaincrisis
ellievsbear
gamechangershow
gracieabrams
