Maybe, you are the lucky one...

You've graduated from college, You've researched, you've interned, you've networked, you've perfected several copies of your resume, and you've got nothing. You're a loser? Unless that degree from that accredited university was in underwater basket weaving, there is not a chance that you are a loser. The victim of the worst economy since the Great Depression? More likely. Lucky? Yep.

How many people do you know who graduated from college with big dreams of having "the life" and were going to live their dreams, only to settle for some administrative assistant position and stay there for a maximum of 2 years, and 5 years later are still there, have forgotten what their dream was and have no clue how to get out of it, and you also feel guilty about quitting a job when so many people are unemployed. Plus, if you quit how will you afford the life you are only mildly pleased with. The same life you convince your family and yourself daily that it makes you happy. Why are you lucky? Because this isn't you, this is your friend that graduated 2 years before you, the cousin you keep in touch with, or the girl who seems to have her life together.

You worked for free, at 4 internships, you had decent grades in college, 3.5, you were involved, and you can barely get your resume down to one page. You're confused because you have applied for so many different possible career paths, that when people ask you what you want to try to get into, you look like a deer in headlights. The jobs you are interested in either aren't hiring, or after you did several internships in the field you decided that you didn't want to pursue a career in that field, and you are back at zero.

So you can't find a job and you don't have any leads, you have moved home with your parents and you are saving your money, you aren't a loser because in 15 years you will know that you've done everything you possibly could have to pick the career that is right for you!

So get a good book, join a community service club, and help others, before you know it you will have the happiness you once imagined that you would have without having to lose your dreams in the process.

When you know, you know.

Like in nature when a mother knows her young, we as young professionals know on some level what we are meant to be. We know in a way that may not yet revealed to us until a much later time of our life, but at any rate we know. At times it becomes revealed to us by a series of unfortunate events. This is what is so amazing about life.

Serendipity

No matter how much you fight fate, it will always find you. Sometimes it takes an adventure to explore a lifestyle you thought you always wanted to realize that what you actually wanted was there all along. However, it would not have made sense to pursue the obvious choice right away, because at the end of the day the amount of doubt that would always have you wondering what if, would never yield true happiness. Why you may ask? Because true happiness is when you know you have chosen the right path, and that the right path is not a mistake.

So if you are unhappy with what you are doing or trying to do, take a minute and ask yourself if it truly makes you happy for years to come. If not, cut your losses and move on to your next adventure, because at the end of the day it's not the destination it's the journey you take to get there!

Happy Holidays :)

everyone should work in customer service...

It takes on to know one is not just a meaningless cliche, it is more than that. To truly understand someone or something, you must have experienced its counterpart. Walk a mile in their shoes if you will.

As you know, I have been in the quest for employment, and along the way I have been finding out who I am. My job in customer service is no exception. It is not too important that I share where this is, simply because they are all the same. I have gained more humility (or I have tried) in the last 2 months. Not because I was an unusually egotistical person, merely because the University culture and society as a whole fostered a certain understanding of how life works into my psyche.

My entire life it was drilled into my brain that hard work pays off, but the opposite has held true in the real world. Not to say that slacking pays off, just that there are too many people who work hard to reward everyone equally. This is where luck comes in. I guess my dad was right, it's not what you know it's who you know!

But back to my humility. So I was sent out into the world ready to conquer it with my best foot forward. My suit was pressed, my resume crisp, my hair did, and my thank you's were flying through the mail like hotcakes. "thanks, but we're going in a different direction" aka "not you". this cycle several times over and over again and what we have is a part-time minimum wage job that my $50,000 education is utilizing. fantastic.

However, I feel like I am doing penance everytime a customer says something mean/rude/offensive/sexist/etc. This will help me throughout my life, why? because life isn't perfect all the time and if I can learn this at 22 the next 70 years will be much better. Sometimes being an idealist is great, but the event that turns you into a realist may be the hardest thing you will ever deal with. A seemingly midlife crisis will pass and become better with time. In the meantime you may change the path to your life several times, and with trial and error you will find what is meant for you!


Moral of the story? Be nice to people who are serving you, wear a smile because it takes less muscles than a frown and if you are employed count your blessings!

when it rains it pours...

So since all I do these days is apply for jobs and pray that something good happens, I decided to put my unemployment rant on hold and deal with a more pressing concept.

So, I have been realizing that when it rains, it pours. Example, of course I total my car when I don't have a job to buy another, and can't find people to live in my apt, so I have to pay for 2 months of rent...life isn't always peachy. When I woke up that morning, I didn't know I was going to get in a serious car accident and be lucky to walk away. This got me thinking, in the way that you have no idea when the worst day of your life is happening, you might not know when the best day of your life is happening.

If this is all true, we need to appreciate everyday that we live. You never know when you will wake up and it will be the best day of your life or the worst day of your life. Try to find something to be excited about in everyday, and before you complain, try to think about how even if it is the worst day of your life, the best day is on the horizon...

You're the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be.

So it's one of those days, you hit dismiss on your alarm, you get toothpaste on your shirt as you realize that you are wearing blue pumps with your black skirt. Additionally on the way out the driveway you realize that you only have enough gas to get halfway to work. To make matters worse, it's a monday. sweet. The week is going to be great. What should you do to make this week better? Firstly, you need to thank God that you woke up that morning, you could have completely slept through the morning and been fired.

Sometimes we think that life couldn't possibly get any worse. We spend so much time dwelling on the current problem instead of how you will get out of it. Our problem is, we get so caught up in the depths of the forest, focusing on one tree and we forget that there is an entire forest out there. In life there is rarely a time when there are only 2 options. There is always something out there that will be the right answer and once you find it, you will feel silly for only thinking that there were a limited number of options.

What should you do? Get your thinking cap on, yes that one from 2nd grade, and come up with a plan. You need a plan to make it from day to day. With that said, no matter how good of a plan you have, it will only get you so far, your plan MUST absolutely MUST allow for flexibility.
Just remember this, once you realize that life could get worse, and indeed it would be possible for you to see another day, life will just look better.

When the day is looking bleak and there appears to be no ups, remember this, you're the oldest you've you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be. carpe diem!

Free Agent

Ok folks, So I've been a college grad for 8 odd weeks and I am still unemployed, yet I'm still smiling! Why you may ask? It's simple, I've got nothing tying me down.

Lesson 1: You can only plan so far into the future, lets not confuse life plan with life goals, I will go into this more later.
Lesson 2: Don't sweat the small stuff. Everything happens for a reason, and in the end it all works out!
Lesson 3: With that said.The relationships you have fortified over the years are what will get you through the bad days. At the end of the day knowing you have someone to vent to/a shoulder to cry on and a friend to share things with will get you through anything. What's the point of going through life alone?
Lesson 4: Have faith. This doesn't necessarily have to be religious, have faith in yourself because if you don't believe in yourself who else will? This goes back to the whole staying positive thing.


Life goals. Okay make a list and post it somewhere you will see it all the time! Putting it in a box tucked away will get you nowhere! And don't be hasty with these, shoot for the moon.

At the end of the day its all about being a risk taker, do something you wouldn't imagine doing, and most importantly find something in everyday to make you smile. All right I need to go out and start living, another day another job application...

Staying Positive

If there is one thing I have come to realize over the past weeks of failed employment, it is this. 2 words, STAY POSITIVE. There are several reasons why this is in your best interest. 1st, in an economy such as this, a smile is a breath of fresh air among all the faces of worry that are polluting our world. 2nd, if you were hostile at every person with a job, you won't ever get hired. 3rd, its just plain healthy for you to remain positive.

Why you may ask should you remain positive when you don't have a job. Although you may have been forced to move back in with your parents which means you may or may not be back in your childhood bed with your teenage mutant ninja turtle sheets, and you may or may not be biking everywhere, not because its healthy but because you are too cheap to shell out the gas money. Well I have one answer for you. You, yes you, will never get this time back.

Sure, you might quit your job once you are married, to raise your children, but that is a job folks. You will never get your "YOU" time back. This is your time, embrace it. For the first and probably last time in your life you get to truly know yourself. So my advice to you, get a hobby, and no becoming a regular at the downtown pub on a tuesday before noon is not the hobby I was thinking about. Get out of the house and do something, maybe that is training for a marathon or picking up art or reading all the books that came out while you were in college that you never got a chance to read, in any event, do something.

Why should you listen to me is your next question? Well although I may be employed I make it my personal goal to live by a rule my high school swim teacher once told me. "The glass isn't half full or half empty, it's overflowing" If you live you make the best out of everyday you can't be mad at yourself. So maybe I just had a good day because it was Day 1 of partial employment aka my internship. possible. But i'll tell you one thing, my new hobby tennis, has got my mind off the fact that life sometimes is too overwhelming.

Stay positive friends, and until next time, another day, another job application.

ps, the law of averages says that if you try something over and over again, at some point it will work, and that goes for your positive attitude and your job prospects!

The Perils of unemployment...

So this summer has been filled with job searching and internship hunting. I was blessed to get an internship last week, however it's unpaid. But I have a good feeling about its potential so I can't complain now can I? This summer has been one adventure after another. I have pretty much traveled the entire state visiting friends and trying to figure out my next step. In addition I've been on some rare job interviews.
Lesson 1: Never trust a commission only job that requires you to sell crap to people, and convince them that they will get fined by the state without it. always a scam.
Lesson 2: standing outside a supermarket and trying to sell make-up is hardly a marketing event.
Lesson 3: ALWAYS trust your gut.

I am very excited to say that I have applied to 4 starbucks' and I intend to apply to more, what better way to find out what I wanna do than to help people feed their caffeine addiction.daily, and the free coffee doesn't hurt either!

Well I need to work on my LSAT homework, because we always need to keep something on the back-burner.

I will leave you with some a thought to think about, when we finally have time to stop and smell the roses, we have no money to buy them. Oh the Catch-22 of unemployment.

Until then, another day, another job application.

Welcome to my Blog

This blog will be primarily about my hopefully successful quest for a job. I am an unemployed member of the class of 2009. Everyday of unemployment is a lesson learned about the world, I wish the lessons were more lucrative, but hey what would be the fun in getting what you planned? This blog is going to serve as a portal into the life of a job seeker. My goal is to entertain you with my shortcomings, in hopes that it will provide comic-relief in a time of economic recession.

So that's just an intro, I will be on here again to keep you all posted, until then, just another day, another job application.