JustGottaMakeIt

       When we are young, we choose to go to college, because we believe that college is the answer for getting a great career. We believe that college is the answer for not being stuck at a dead-end job and actually being somewhere where we can fuel our passions. Some of us are lucky enough to have that type of success story that most of us would like to achieve. Unfortunately, a lot of us are still struggling to get jobs. Some companies are just not taking a chance on a lot of us graduates who don’t have years of experience behind us (even the entry positions). I finally understood why one of my past college professors told the class that majority of the time it’s not about what you know, but rather who you know when it comes to landing a job. I finally get why internships and work study programs are so important. So, what about the people who didn’t do those things?

       What happens when we apply to job after job and don’t get an interview let alone a callback? What do we do? What happens when we need money to survive? After talking to a few people in similar situations I found that a lot of us have the same fears. My question was do you remove the degrees off your résumé and just go back to retail and food service jobs? Does our pride get in the way of that? I remember being so frustrated with not getting any callbacks and thought about going back to retail because that’s where I had a lot of my experience, even though I hate it. It was honestly hard wrapping my head around going back to retail for a mediocre position paying a little over minimum wage. I felt like doing that would be a slap in the face after getting in so much debt so I could have a better future. I know it’s not good to live your life thinking about what others think of you, but I can’t help but wonder what will people think seeing me behind a register. Here I am, a person with multiple degrees and nothing to show for it. I’m embarrassed and I feel like a failure. I feel like taking that position would be accepting defeat. After speaking to other post graduates who are going through the same struggles I found out that I’m not the only one who has fears about going back to those type of jobs.

       Some people will say put your pride to the side and to just do it because you don’t really have a choice, unless you want your debt to pile up. I don’t see how 8 dollars an hour will help me in the long run when my student loan debt is over 100k. I don’t think there’s nothing wrong with taking low positions that will help you get to the ultimate goal. I’m realizing that more years at a job that is NOT in my field will only be more wasted years of not gaining the experience that I need for the job that I want. So, what’s next? What do I do? Do I suck it up and bite the bullet? Or, do I try to reach out to companies in my field to volunteer? It might be working for free, but I really need the experience. Have any of you been in this situation? How did you handle it? Are you currently in this situation? How are you handling it? I would like to hear your thoughts.