22 years old and LOST!

[VintageSweetPea]

Gunny....All you have said was said like a true Soldier/Sergeant

[Nanuk]

You'll find out later in life that when you need a job you will take any job that pays money to put food on the table and a roof over you head. Your too young to get what some of us are saying. Doesn't matter what courses you took or what degree you have if the right job for you is not available then you need to take was is. Interviews or no interviews it about landing a job that pays money so you can survive. Now a days the middle class are really poor, living from pay check to pay check hoping to have enough money to survive retirement. So get work experience now while you can afford to quit if you need to and live in you car until you land your next job. I work for a university in Philly and many graduates are working in McDonald's until something better comes along. That's the way of life here on this planet...I mean of course for us people who have to work and struggle to make a living.

 

Agreed. I will be finishing up my social work degree in less than a month and will be applying on several jobs in my field. Job prospects in social work are pretty good where I live, but of course there are no guarantees in life so I will apply on other jobs just in case, such as minimum wage ones because sometimes you have to take what's available if you have no other prospects...at least that's how I was raised. Before going back to school for my education i worked one job where I made $65 a week, and another time I did a job that was temporary and paid me only at the end of it. When I calculated the work I put into the job versus what I was paid, I only made about $2.50 an hour, and this was only about 13 years ago and way below the minimum wage. I would much rather work at a job I enjoy going to and is related to what I studied, but if I don't get a job in my field right away, I will have no choice but to work at something else so I can put food on my table and pay my bills.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Nanuk

[clia]

Well those people should have taken full advantage of the interview process. When I was job seeking all through 2012 I knew that I did not want a job that dealt with a lot of public speaking and traveling. When I got to the interview the lady told me the position requires me to be in all the time which was the thing that made me accept the job.

 

So I don't accept jobs I don't like and never plan to

 

Aren't you the guy who is always complaining about how broke you are?

 

Yes, in a perfect world we would all love our jobs, and we would only take a job that we loved. However, this isn't a perfect world and the reality is that people have bills to pay for shelter, food, transportation, et. al., which means you sometimes don't end up in your ideal, perfect, enjoyable job. There are a heck of a lot of people out there who would love to be actors and actresses; in truth, most of them spend the majority of their time working as waiters and waitresses or whatever other job they can get to pay the bills. Sometimes beggars can't be choosers.

 

I read an article (I think it might have been in the New York Times) last year discussing the economy and how difficult it is for new graduates to find jobs, and one of the main guys they interviewed (a new college graduate) had turned down a job making $45,000 a year because it wasn't his dream job and the pay wasn't high enough. Meanwhile, he was still unemployed months later, living with his parents. I was completely flabbergasted at that attitude. I mean, you have to start somewhere.

[Sparkly24]

Please please ignore all the people telling you off for wanting a career that you enjoy!!!

 

Apparently this is a generation thing. I'm of a similar age, and myself and all of my friends are sort of hitting what is known as a midlife-crisis in their early twenties. I have been told that this is because we have fast access to information and have grown up with this, whereas other generations haven't, mainly the internet and now smart phones, social media etc, and have more of a concept of what is available out there. It is also (especially in the UK) easier to get a degree, and most people who would not have usually gotten degrees 10 years ago now have them. (again, especially in the UK) most younger people these days are not so keen on having a family and settling down, they are absolutely more career driven and mortgages are a thing of fairy tales. While past generations have seen a job as something to pay the bills and support families, we have a very different perspective on what a career should offer us, and very little guidance is available.

 

So... the trick is to work out the following. (I have been working from a careers guidance book which has been really helpful)

 

1. your natural abilities and interests - good with people? like working with physical things or more ideas and concepts? enjoy being creative? good with numbers? etc

2. the sort of work environment you want to be in - office? lab? outside? large company, small company?

3. the actual job function- analyzing data? working on your own? working in a team? sales? researching?

 

Once you have this information together, you can work through different possibilities and then you know your potential career will be a good fit for you. If you have a job that works well with your natural abilities and interests then you are more likely to be motivated, work harder, sail through promotions and enjoy your time at work. You worked hard at your degree, so you absolutely deserve to enjoy your job!!!

[pink_sugar]

I know where you can purchase a nice big can of SPAM.

[UpwardForward]

I was 25 before I knew my interest/blessing. Never proceeded w further education because I was M and wanted to have babies.

 

Reflect upon that that you have the strongest interest/passion. Perhaps consider starting at bottom of said field, until you are certain and w further education.

[GI_Joy]

It's really about iniative and putting yourself out there. I graduated last year as well, and I'm also 22, so I was in your shoes not too long ago, where I was jobless, getting rejections left and right, not knowing what the future holds. It's a horrible idea to go to grad school only because you have no idea what else to do, it's a waste of money to do so and you'd be in a worse position when you get out because you'd have that much more debt and a similar unforgiving job market. I graduated with a degree in psychology, and yea, that pretty much seems like a guaranteed degree in nothing lol. I was in texas for a couple of months after graduation for my military training and it wasn't until September when I really started applying for jobs. I legit applied to 7-8 jobs a day, even jobs as admin assistants/receptionists. I had multiple courses of action that I planned on implementing, depending on what job I ended up getting. At this point I just needed a job to start paying debt and was going to volunteer in the field that I ended up wanting my career in if the job had nothing to do with my interests. I must have applied to about 200 jobs in the 2.5 months I was unemployed before I finally got hired as a clinical research assistant. This job could not be more perfect for me.

 

My advice to you: Be open to anything and don't close yourself off to something that isn't related to your interests. Do not go into interviews with a sense of entitlement but go in, willing to learn and grow and develop. It seems that employers are more receptive to those who don't have chips on their shoulder for being college grads but more to those who understand that they've got little life experience and are willing to learn.

[IcedEarth]

I'm 27 and lost, facing my second layoff in 5 years.

 

Jobs are bullcrap, to say the least.