Before things started to pick up, it was suggested to me that I work at a juvenile detention center as a detention officer. Here I was a recent college graduate with dreams of becoming a successful writer being told that I need to get over myself and go babysit some yuckmouth, trifling kids on their way to spending several years in an adult prison.
My response didn’t come in words; I just had a blank stare on my face, and pretended to channel my inner Helen Keller.
As job opportunities continue to dwindle, many with and without a degree have found themselves considering positions they never imagined themselves in — or not.
One frustrated job hunter shares his story:
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“I'm also concerned about college loans, but what about all of the students nationwide that have been unable to gain employment after graduation? I am one of those people.
Why are we in this situation? I am a US Navy veteran and I still cannot find a job worth talking about.
A job paying only $10 an hour will not cover my student loan payments. With offers like that sometimes I feel like I'd actually lose more money working than I would not working.
I'm applying to FSU for graduate school in an accelerated 1 year graduate program. I am hoping and praying that everything clears up and all of this money that I have spent will mean something. I always argue with people telling me things like, “you should take any job that you can get now.” But should I really at the cost of being even more broke than I am now?
Why did I go to college and pay all of this money when I could have just stayed at home and worked 3 jobs such without losing money in our flawed and massively expensive post-secondary education system?
I don't think anyone is really taking in the magnitude of what is really going on here. If I had some money enough to make it to Vegas and gamble off my college debt, then I think I would take that option as well.
Such a sad situation for everyone living in these times and it appears that it won’t be ending anytime soon.”
Calvin
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I’ve actually read about grads heading to Vegas to gamble with the hopes of winning big to pay off the big loan. And more and more stories about veterans returning home from war losing the fight for post-war work are surfacing.
I didn’t end up monitoring teenagers charged with aggravated assault and attempted murder, but I’m sure I would make more money doing that than my backup plan of stanky legging in the street for spare change.
For those who refuse to deter from their ideal career path, are they being impractical?
Are you already working a job (or second job) that you didn’t imagine yourself doing?
Email me at therecessiondiaries@gmail.com.
Michael Arceneaux hails from Houston, lives in Harlem and praises Beyoncé’s name wherever he goes. Follow him on Twitter.