With a full week in California under my belt, I’ve officially moved in. This move-in was a lot different than any dorm room move-in I’ve done throughout college. Instead of signing for my dorm key, I signed a lease. A real “I’m an adult, I must abide by this contract or I’m legally responsible” lease. In fact, everything I’ve done this past week had a stamp of “Adult” on it, making post-grad a lot different than any undergrad experience.

So, now that I traded my student checking for an everyday bank account, I think it’s time to put some money in there. Maybe it’s my drive to be successful, even when my life is in limbo, or all the California wealth around me, but I have been looking for some kind of job to occupy my time. However, job hunting is a full time job, and it seems like the job market has turned its back on us post-grads.

Nearly every job listing requires three to five years of experience. Uh … I’ve been in college classrooms for the last four years, does that count? It’s kind of scary to think that I spent all this time getting my B.A. degree, only to be told that I need experience to match my degree – full time experience. It seems like entry level positions, which used to require a degree and interest (not a few years of experience), don’t exist anymore. I want to use my skills, so I can build up experience – but I can’t gain experience when I can’t get hired. Some listings I’ve seen even say that if resume don’t show three to five years of job experience in the field, they will be tossed. Yikes! Read More »

Even at the beginning of my senior year, my friends and I were starting to discuss where we would end up after school.

It was a given that I would be around New York City because that is the place to go for my future career. Not to mention the fact that I absolutely love the place and had the time of my life interning over the course of two different summers. Lucky for me, a good amount of people from my school also head down there to start “real” lives.

My experience was similar to a new trend that has really started with our generation. That new fad being putting priority on WHERE you will be living, instead of WHAT you will be doing. Recent grads tend to decide what city they want to live in, and then the job comes secondary.

The job tends to be something figured out once you have moved to the chosen location, as was my experience, which made for many stressful unemployed days filled with cupcakes and wondering just how I was going to get by. Eventually things worked out and I can officially say I am employed in my chosen field and have my own apartment.

But, this ballsiness (is that even a word?) is something that our parents are not used to. Long gone are the days of sending out resumes to every viable city or town in America and seeing where you get a bite. We refuse to live in a horrible town just to have a job, which I think is a great philosophy. Read More »