Needless to say, this job search I’m on is demoralizing, aggravating, frustrating, and draining me of any optimism I have (note: I graduated only 4 weeks ago, so I can’t imagine what it will feel like if it lasts twice, or three times as long).
It’s not that there aren’t jobs – there are – but job descriptions and job titles are vaguest of the vague. It does not help either when a job search engine essentially forces you to pick a job title that you wish to search, otherwise jobs such as “Pizza Delivery Driver for Pizza Hut” will appear (it really does, at least for Dublin, Ohio). I am not degrading those that wish to pursue careers as a delivery person, but I would rather not have to be a delivery person with a degree. The examples Monster.com gives you for job title are “accountant” and “sales” – yeah, because everyone graduated with an accounting degree or wishes to have a job in sales. My degree is in geography, with a minor in marketing, and the job role geographers are supposed to have must have something to do with GIS, which is a shame because geography is more than just a computer application.
GIS was not particularly the most exciting application, but a great deal of information can be had, or made, through GIS. Yet every job or internship I have found online, or through the job search engines, requires x+ amount of years at a GIS job, or I must still be a college student (which I’m obviously not) to be able to accept an internship position. Basically what I am getting at is that there are no entry level GIS jobs (at least that I’m aware of) and I royally screwed the pooch by not getting an internship on top of my education while I was still enrolled. I don’t like to place blame, but my university did not do exactly the best job helping students find internships. Sure, a professor would occasionally email geography students open internship positions, but many of these positions were way out of state to the point that I would be hemorrhaging money for room and board on top of my student loans. There was no active faculty member pushing us to get internships.
The hardest part is the pressure from my parents. My mom explicitly told me, “There’s no rush. Just look for jobs at your own pace right now.” So I took that advice, looking for jobs that I wanted every day, and applying to two or three jobs a day. Suddenly, though, my father decides to press me every single time he sees me with, (caps for added effect) “SO DID YOU FIND A JOB YET?” or “DID YOU TRY MONSTER OR CAREERBUILDER? THOSE ARE GREAT SITES – I’M SURE YOU’LL FIND SOMETHING ON THOSE!” or “BRAD, THERE ARE JOBS OUT THERE. HELL, I STARTED OUT WASHING DISHES WHEN I WAS YOUNGER AND I TURNED OUT ALL RIGHT!” This doesn’t happen very often, but has happened nearly every day since the Monday after my graduation. It’s becoming an annoyance as well as affecting my self-esteem.
I’ll leave you all with this quote from Charlie Kelly from Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
“Oh, get a job? Just get a job? Why don’t I strap on my job helmet and squeeze down into a job cannon and fire off into job land, where jobs grow on little jobbies?!”
Chwomp 