Newbie!

[ex_anirishl834]

Hey everyone. I just recently discovered this community and think it's brilliant (except for the fact that we're unemployed.. of course!). I graduated from college in May. Then proceeded to fall flat on my face as far as job hunting goes. Because frankly, there are no jobs. Then after a month or so I finally found a cashiering gig (but only through

Comments

[to]

Please don't take this the wrong way. Many people assume I'm being rude when I say what I'm about to say, but I mean it with the best intentions I promise. I just recently graduated from college in December as well. I got out there, and after about 2-3 weeks of looking, landed a fairly decent "career" job. They weren't paying me nearly as much as they should have been, but I took it because I needed to pay my bills. A month later, I was fired. Anyway, that's not the point. The point is, too many recent grads and current students that I know think that a 4 year degree is a magic ticket to a $30,000 a year job. It's not. They're called entry level jobs for a reason. We don't have experience. (Well, technically I have a little experience, but I mean the collective we.) Don't expect it to fall into your lap. Find what you want and go after it. It might take awhile, but you'll find it even if you have to find a company that HAS the position you want, but is filling a secretarial job at the moment. Ya know what I mean

[ex_anirishl834]

Hah, that wasn't rude at all. You had me all prepared for some bashing =P

[to]

Delusional 22 year olds that think the world owes them something because they went to college mostly. I just warn people about that little speech more often than not because it's offended many people. Better to have smart people understand and tell me I'm crazy for thinking I'm rude than get in a flame war with idiots, right? :D

[ex_anirishl834]

Ahaha, I guess that's the safe way to play it. =] I'm 23. Maybe that makes all the difference? Who knows! *feels old*

[ivymutant]

There's a difference between expecting a degree to get you a managerial position straight out of uni, and expecting to get a graduate job, where you can actually use your degree, and not just be working at the local supermarket stacking shelves, you don't need a degree to do that, but you do if you want to do forensics, research, etc.
I spent three years at university and 10k+, I'd rather be using my degree, than not. If that makes sense. I don't want £30,000 a year, or a company car, just something related to my degree, that's above minimum wage (graduates should be paid a bit more, to show that you did do three years at uni to get your degree), and that's long term.

[to]

Oh yeah, I know. But somethings you have to work a shitty job to get where you want to be is all I'm saying.

[to]

And by somethings I mean sometimes.

[ivymutant]

Yeah, just the way you phrased it, made it sound like people shouldn't expect anything after their degree, like they should all just get menial jobs and be happy about it. I just wanted to point out there is middle ground, that isn't either unrealisti cly high job expectations and shitty menial work for the rest of their lives.

[to]

Well, I personally don't think there's shame in taking a menial job until you find something better. Fake it 'til you make it!

[ivymutant]

I'm not arguing that point, its just you make it sound like they shouldn't expect anything more than a menial job, and having hopes is stupid. Sure, taking a menial job for a couple of months or so is fine until you get a better job, but it's hardly ideal to spend years and thousands of pounds/dollars to end up earning minimum wage the rest of your life, is it? That's my point, which you seem to ignoring.

[wood_elf]

On the upside (here in the UK at least) it means I never have to pay back my student loan. ^^ Always believed education should be free.

[ivymutant]

Actually, I had a job for 3 months, just above min wage, and because of how much JSA I'd had before, I ended up paying tax and studen load repayments for the last couple of weeks, which was slightly irritating. :P But, yeah, that's one thing, I don't have to worry about loan stuff until I'm actually earning, rather than sponging off the state.

[ex_anirishl834]

Oh stop fighting over nothing. I think we all understand both points =) It's not like I automatically EXPECTED to get this fancy new career that paid 30k. Although I did hope to at least get something better than cashiering, which I'd been doing throughout college anyway. So that being the only thing I could get WAS a disappointment, but I think a lot of it has to do with the economy as well. It's just not good. Which means that we just have to work a lot harder to get anything at all, and now I'm just determined to get anything but retail, which I'll have to work my butt off to do and might take a while. I just couldn't handle retail anymore. Yadda yadda yadda. Being unemployed sucks? ;-)

[to]

...

Hope is fine. And I'm getting your point loud and clear, so you really don't need to say the same thing over and over again, do you? The air of entitlement that our generation has is not okay, and that's what I'm talking about here. I know too many people that think that things are just going to be handed to them without having to work for it just because they went to school. Sorry, but if you don't put in the time and effort, you're going to end up working as a cashier. If you don't have talent, you might end up being a cashier degree or no degree.

[ex_anirishl834]

And there ARE times when you DO try (like I did) and wind up as a cashier, mostly because of what's happening in the world & to our economy. Just to be fair.

You were almost starting to make me sound like a failure up there =/

[to]

And that's okay! The point is if you're not putting in any effort, that's where you'll be in 10 years almost certainly. If you work at what you want, go out there and try everyday, and the best you can do is a cashier gig right out of college, big deal! It's a stepping stone, not a dead end which is my entire point! People seem to think that if they don't land some great job right out of college that that's the end of the road and nothing else will ever happen to them, college will have been a waste of time, etc. You HAVE to keep trying even if it seems like you're treading backwards. Most people give up or never try at all.