So many unfamiliar faces here these days but I'll post my rant anyway

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

Have any of you ever lived in a place that you LOVED that you had to move away from for reasons beyond your control? I moved away from the only place I ever really felt at home last August, in 2009, after graduating college and not being able to find work in my field. I had lived in Manhattan for two years and Brooklyn for another two. Now I live with my parents. There's no work in my field here either, but at least I don't have to pay rent. It's just shitty, knowing exactly where you want to be and what you want to be doing, and having to put it all on hold because the economy is broken. I guess what's prompted me to post this is yet another rejected resume, and the feeling that nobody is listening to the REAL statistics on unemployment. There are still those of us who graduated college within the past couple of years who were never employed in their field to begin with, OR the underemployed, who are still working as wait staff in restaurants and as cashiers in clothing stores even with degrees from the best colleges in the nation. Somebody told me in 2008 that this would get better by the time I entered the job market in 2009, somebody told me in 2009 that it would get better by now, and I have to wonder if it will get better next year. Something tells me it won't...

I re-read some of my old posts from 2001-2004 tonight and got a little sad. Everyone who used to post here had so much hope and optimism for the things I would accomplish and do. My family did too. I can't help but feel shitty about working in retail and now, being out of work. I recognized that it might take a year after graduating to find steady employment and I really kept a cool head up until that point. Now that I'm headed into year two, something about it hurts a lot more. :(

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear LeftPeopleFinishFirst!

Welcome back, sweetie...

Yeah, a lot of folks are gone, for one reason or another, from here...

There are still cool people around, but they're just new.

I hear you about feeling blue about your optimism and your prospects.

Your expectations are not being met, and you bet it hurts. I hope that the economy will improve so that you can work in your chosen field...

Hang in there!

:hug:

[kimi]

2. I don't know you and I'm kinda new here

but I understand about the job situation. Two of my kids graduated college this past summer, one graduated early cause he was so eager to get out into the "real" world and work on getting into grad school. His thinking was to earn money and study for the GRE. Well, that's been a bust. The other kid has gone into the military (it was his plan all along) and he's going to a base in Montana so he's fairly safe. But the boy who wanted to earn money for grad school - his degree is in biology - has had no prospects for work whatsoever. He'll be lucky if he can find a seasonal retail job over Christmas. And the students he graduated with, other folks with Biology degrees? - they're working selling women's clothes at Kohl's or selling computers at Best Buy.

Blows my mind. I graduated with a nursing degree back in the late 80's and had to fight off recruiters. Such a different atmosphere. I feel so badly for people who work so hard now, and graduate with such good grades and prospects, to enter a job market like the one that exists now.

Best of luck. Hopefully it turns around.

[Broken_Hero]

3. I'm sorry to hear about your struggles,

but you aren't alone. I got my degree in 03, and haven't spent one second working in my field(Social Work). I spent time as a substitute teacher, and luckily my significant other was earning enough $$ that the "dire" need of me finding employment wasn't in my face.

I did look for work til mid 05, when I got denied a janitor job at the county High School, my work self-esteem took a plummet to the nether regions of hell.

[Lucian]

4. I finally graduate in May...

and your OP makes me sad. :( I hope the job market gets better when I get out of grad school in 2013. But I'm not holding my breath.