Time flies...

It's been nearly a month since my last posting, and I wish I could say that the delay was due to the fact that I finally secured gainful employment. Sadly, that is not the case. 

Sometime in the last month or so, NPR called for submissions on stories about student loans. Like a little kid, I was thinking, "pick me, pick me!" Since I have a lot to say about this issue, I drafted a post and sent it; I have yet to hear anything, but this is what I composed (sans the link to this blog):

Wow, the number of stories shared here is truly overwhelming. I wish that I could comment on each and every one (but there is no option with which to do that). In the meantime, all I can do is share my story, too. It's another tragic tale of girl works hard, girl goes to school, girl takes out loans to fund her education, girl graduates (three times), and, sadly, girl cannot secure gainful employment due to the fact that she is overqualified in the face of a bad economy. 

When I started law school in 2001, I knew that federal student loans along with the help of some private loans were going to get me through what would be the single largest expense of my life. When I graduated in 2004, I started an accelerated M.B.A. program for attorneys. Again, loans were my saving grace – or so I thought at the time. Without a silver spoon in my mouth, lottery winnings, or even a job, I knew that I had to borrow insane amounts of money to attain my educational goals. Little did I know that I would graduate in January of 2006 and spend the better part of the next five years searching and searching for something that simply does not appear to be there – a job offering a decent salary.  

Now, despite the fact that I am still not working, I do not even factor into the unemployment rate (having never collected unemployment benefits). I owe over $130,000 in federal student loans, and that is only part of the problem; I still owe another $100,000 or so in private loans. Without a job or any viable prospects, I have accepted the fact that I will never own a home because I basically have a metaphorical mortgage. The sad reality is that with all of this debt, I have nothing to show for it other than three diplomas that I cannot afford to frame.  

When asked the question: Was it worth it? Frankly, no. It was not worth it to worry every day about how I will come up with the money to pay any of my bills. What good is an education if no one will hire you? Without a job, how can I think about paying over $1,000 each month in student loan bills? Earlier in my life, I never viewed education as a risk; I truly believed that if you worked hard and went to school, the world would be your oyster. Now, however, I view education as a risk that simply did not pay off, and I am beginning to doubt that it ever will. I know this sounds dramatic, and I have tried to remain positive, but there comes a point where you just have to face reality. I can tell myself every day that something has to give eventually, but over five years out of school, I am still searching. 

On the heels of that post, I kept seeing news coverage about Obama's proposal to restructure federal student loan repayment. I am not sure how I will be affected because I do not know whether or not the policy will apply retroactively. Either way, when this became headline news, it stirred up some controversy. With every Facebook post that I read, I became a little angrier. (Maybe that is why I took time to think about what I wanted to post here.)

Similar controversy likely ensued after the New York magazine article, The Kids Are Actually Sort of Alright, was published. After reading the article online, I could not help but look at the comments that followed -- one of which stood out. Someone with the moniker PTORLANDO posted his or her disapproval of student loans, arguing that: "It's immoral to let an 18 year old sign her name a few times and owe $50K or $70K or $100K." I disagree; what is immoral--or, more aptly, unconscionable--is the fact that a student takes out that kind of money (or even more), believing that education is the key to a solid career and a sound future only to learn that is a lofty goal, very far from reality.

False hopes and the unfathomable....

Don't worry -- the title of this post is not a bad new band name. It is just a reflection of what I have been experiencing. As much as I would like to update this blog every week, sometimes it is just too draining to reduce my situation to words on a computer screen.

False hope speaks to the idea of believing in a positive outcome that is simply not realized or achieved. Last week, another friend of mine mentioned a potential opportunity and set up initial contact between myself and a small business owner. Even though it is not what I want to do, I figured it was definitely worth a phone call. During the course of said phone call, it became apparent that this guy is one of those people that need face-to-face meeting and interaction. The next day, I drove for an hour to have a 2-hour meeting that proved to be a colossal waste of time. From the simple fact that he does not want to pay employees to his frequent (and annoying) use of the word, synergy, I knew that this meeting was just another example of false hope -- despite how optimistic and open to the idea I was before the meeting. C'est la vie.

What is especially frustrating about this is the fact that I wasted my time and, likely, his. What is even more frustrating is that this meeting is another illustration of the fact that I cannot seem to get an interview without a friend setting it up for me.

Now, on to the latter half of the post title. Last night, I was watching the very late-night or early morning news when something grasped my attention. The newscaster claimed that for the first time in American history, student loan debt exceeds credit card debt. He went on to say that many graduates come out of school owing $80,000 (I wish that was all I owed) and find themselves moving back in with their parents 5 or 6 years later. Thanks, Captain Obvious -- what do you expect them to do? With debt like that combined with facing a job search like no other, what are people supposed to do? Seriously, if anyone has answers, I am open to hearing them.

Ahhhh, the emotional rollercoaster...

Here's the thing: When you have been searching for a job for as long as I have, you don't want to drag people along with you for the ride. There are more ups and downs than I am willing to share with my family and friends. A glimmer of hope often turns out to be nothing more than a falsity -- that's not me being cynical; that's me being realistic and honest with myself. It has gotten to the point that the last couple of interviews that I went on were virtually kept secret.

Some days I wake up, feeling motivated and ready to grab the job search by its horns; other days, I hit a wall after browsing listings only for a short while. The whole process is exhausting and mentally draining.

Today, before I could begin, an old friend posted something on Facebook, which I am going to retype for you here:

"Just go find a job... like they are lying around like dropped pennies on the ground. The use of that argument is so tired. I would like to think that people have tried to get a job, sent out many resumes, been on many interviews and have been told repeatedly that they aren't the right fit, the job has been filled, you are too overqualified, etc. Don't you think that people would rather have a job than be facing homelessness, bad credit, and the ridicule from others????"

A series of comments followed, and I felt compelled to weigh in with my response because I am a real life example. Not only have I tried time and time again to get a job by sending out thousands of resumes, I have been unsuccessful in getting calls for interviews. The last couple of interviews that I was LUCKY enough to get were only scheduled because I knew someone that worked for the interviewing company; without that inside advantage, I probably would not have been called.

I have heard it all -- I'm overqualified; my credentials are impressive, but the company has decided to go another route; despite the fact that the job is being advertised, the company is not actually looking to fill the position due to a hiring freeze; and a series of other lame rationales. More often than not, however, I simply do not hear anything. Companies will disregard my resume altogether. Being ignored is beyond annoying -- not to mention, extremely frustrating.

Some of the comments on my friend's initial post were related to the catch-22s of job searching. You can't get hired without experience, but you can't get experience if nobody will take a chance on you. Now, companies are more inclined to hire someone fresh out of school, thinking that they will work for less. Let's face it -- my 3 degrees might seem impressive, but they also correlate with a higher pay scale. Little do employers know... I am willing to work for a lot less than I am worth. Isn't that a bargain?

As promised...

Here is the link to the article mentioned in my previous post: The University Has No Clothes

I'm back.

After a long hiatus, the time has come for me to get back into writing about the journey of the jobless and the seemingly endless quest to secure gainful employment. Over the last few months, I have been applying for job after job, across various industries and situated in multiple locations, but, unfortunately, I am coming up empty. The only phone calls that I received were due to the fact that I had friends on the inside, urging the powers that be to at least review my resume; despite going well, the interviews that followed proved to be nothing more than sources of disappointment and added stress.

All the while, I find myself surrounded and even stalked by signs of the times. I have watched several films about the economic crisis, and, a month or so ago, I woke up in the middle of the night (or, more aptly, the early morning) to see Suze Orman on public television, telling a man not to go back to school because it would make his situation worse. Apparently, adding to your student loan debt to further your education does not make financial sense. Where was she a decade ago?

With the recent Occupy Wall Street (or various other locations), nothing seems to be improving. A recent photograph comes to mind in which a peacful protester wields her homemade cardboard sign, which reads "college education = unemployment." She blames the nation's problems on Wall Street and uses the sign to literally and metaphorically to thank Wall Street.

Is it really that simple, though? Are the industry elites of Wall Street responsible for all of the problems? Can I blame them for my current situation? Or is the fact that I am unemployed and overqualified with a list of worthless degrees the result of something else? Speaking to the worthlessness of college degrees, I urge you to read a New York magazine article from May of this year that I will share.

Willingess to relocate can be a problem.

Because I am in serious need of a job, I am willing to go almost anywhere for the right job (or a job that comes close to what I want). That should increase my odds of finding something, right? Unfortunately, my willingness to relocate makes searching that much more difficult. How do you cast a net over the entire United States at once? There are meta-search sites, but you have to have the right keywords to find anything that resembles what you are looking for or just get really lucky.

Job searching takes up way too much time.

Few people realize just how time consuming looking for a job is. I just spent the better part of the last hour and a half reading hundreds of job listings. Despite spending all of that time reading through ad after ad, I only applied to three positions -- a labor relations administrator job, a contracts administration job, and a job as a copywriter -- all of which would require relocation in the miraculous event that I should be hired.

If I thought that I could generate actual interest in my resume on the major job boards, I would happily repost it on any and every site. At this point, with my newly revised resume, I guess it can't hurt, right?

How many times can you update/change a resume?

I have written and rewritten my resume more times than I can count. In an effort to find a job (or, at the very least, garner some interest or secure an interview), I just finished updating my resume yet again. Hopefully, the thirty-seventh time is a charm. With a tweaked resume, I can finally start applying to the list of various jobs that I bookmarked over the last couple of weeks.

Welcome to my life.

In the current economy, some people think that education is somewhat of a safe haven. Little do they know that education is anything but safe these days. In my experience, education was a risk that has yielded virtually no reward. My most recent graduation was over 5 years ago, yet here I sit, blogging about the dreaded job search and the harsh reality of being overqualified in the face of a bad economy.

Over the course of the last 5 years, I have applied for well over 3,000 jobs and been on only a dozen or so interviews. I spent a little under a year working for a company that paid me no base salary and would have hired me despite my education. Desperation coupled with the hope of future networking opportunities and at least decent money led me to accept the position, but, after nearly a year, I realized that I was not meant to be there. The few subsequent offers that I received were for $12 per hour or less. That simply does not cut it when you have a student loan tab of a quarter of a million dollars.

Needless to say, the job search is disheartening at best. At one point a few years back, I came across a blog entry about unemployment-related depression and the woes of looking for jobs that simply are not there. That was the one time (prior to now) that I took the time to post about what is going on in the country today and in my personal life.

Regardless of what the news tells you, the economy--in terms of available jobs--is not improving all that much. Sure, unemployment rates may be decreasing, but unemployment rates do not reflect the correct number of Americans that are out of work. I, for example, have never collected unemployment benefits, but I have not been gainfully employed on a regular, full-time basis since June of 2007. Do I factor into the body of statistics that contribute to the unemployment rate? I think not.

What makes this situation even worse is the fact that my sizable student loan debt has made me somewhat of a prisoner. I am trapped in my reality and the realization that there are certain things in life that I am unable to do. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will probably not be able to buy a house -- at this point, I just want to move out of my mother's house. Don't get me wrong -- I am thankful that I have a place to live and a mother that helps me out constantly, but, still, this is not what I want(ed) for myself. I did everything that I was supposed to do; I worked hard, put myself through college, and continued to push myself academically for years (and multiple degrees) beyond.

As if my journey up until now has not been depressing enough, I find myself in the familiar position of being overlooked for job after job and continuing to search for what seems like forever. To illustrate how bleak the job search is, I decided that I am going to start chronicling my search. Feel free to read about it, wish me luck, or comment as you see fit.