Unemployed Yet Again

(in keeping with my promise to post a bunch of old stuff, this was something that actually happened in December 2010)

Today my only plan was to go to the liquor store, to pick up a bottle of Bailey’s that I had promised to bring to a holiday party at a friend’s place. When you have only one errand to run, somehow your whole day revolves around that. So today was liquor store day, and then I got an email about a job from someone requesting a phone interview. Well, naturally, my first thought was “I will have to schedule this phone call around my trip to the liquor store.” (have I mentioned that the store is 2 blocks away?) Ummm….maybe that kind of thinking is the reason I don’t already have a job?

When the next interviewer asks me about my ability to “prioritize,” maybe it’s best if I don’t share this one?? ha ha. (btw, I obv didn’t get that job - but that’s a story for another post…)

A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much

It’s worth remembering that to some extent, these accusations of laziness and narcissism in “kids these days” are nothing new — they’ve been levied against Generation X, Baby Boomers and many generations before them. Even Aristotle and Plato were said to have expressed similar feelings about the slacker youth of their times.

I usually don’t like anything that generalizes about a generation of people as if they’re all the same person - but at least this article is a little more sympathetic to Gen Y grads who are just getting out of college. There are so many articles about how “young people today are so entitled/spoiled/lazy, blah blah blah”…yet, it’s been PROVEN that this country is experiencing a recession. Naturally, new grads will find it extremely difficult to find jobs, and naturally, people will be frustrated by this!

(btw, I was also sad to realize that I don’t even fit into this category anymore! I’m in my late 20s now…this article is referring mainly to 16-24 yr old, apparently. but i happened to get my mba in ‘09, the “worst year for grads,” which was also true for people graduating with advanced degrees.)

(via jjlouis)

Source:

It sounds horrible, but I’ve realized that everyone I know who attended graduate school (for any degree) hated it and frequently tries to discourage other people from following in their footsteps. I know that some of my followers are considering business school - good luck and I hope it works out better for you than it did for me (I mean that sincerely) - but I have to admit that if I could go back in time a few years, I wouldn’t have gone. Sometimes a friend of a friend will message me on facebook to ask me questions about my school. As business schools go, I guess my school was ok, but since I’ve had so many bad experiences with the job market and interviews, I usually try to advise people to do something else.

Back to the beginning of this post: In the age-old tradition of “do as I say, not as I do (because I already made the mistake so you wouldn’t have to)” - I also know people who discourage others from:

going to law school

getting a Ph.D.

getting a masters degree in:

urban planning

graphic design

architecture

public policy

film

journalism

Is there anyone out there who is happy about getting a graduate degree AND managed to get a job that really did require the degree?

Econ Blues 2011: Like me, many others have simply given up and stopped looking for work. i simply no longer care without being married...

There are other “missing workers” too - the college and graduate school graduate who were never counted as part of the workforce. They are not eligible for unemployment pay, since they weren’t laid off from a job. I wonder what the REAL unemployment rate would be if everyone was counted. I wish there were a way to find out.

econblues2011:

Over the last three years, nearly 5 million U.S. workers have effectively gone missing.

You won’t find their photos on the backs of milk cartons. The Coast Guard isn’t out looking for them. No missing-persons reports have been filed. These are jobless Americans who have grown so discouraged by…

(via econblues2011-deactivated201204)

I just had to share these:

• Must know Excel, especially Pivotal Tables

(note: they’re called Pivot Tables)

• good judgement

My JUDGMENT is so good that I can even spell the work correctly!

• Smiles frequently/very upbeat/good sense of humor

Oh, how I hate this criterion! You should be choosing an employee based on ability to do the job, not whether you’d choose the person as a friend. Sure, You want someone who is relatively pleasant and can get along with people - no one wants to hire someone who’s going to behave like they’re on Jersey Shore/Jerry Springer all day. But, come on, you can’t expect everyone to have YOUR IDEA of a good personality/sense of humor! These things are subjective!

• Explain any gaps in resume

I want to write to them: “There’s a recession going on. Check any news source if you don’t believe me.”