The Life And Times Of A Recently Graduated, Unemployed 20-Something

At this particular time of the year, there is the highest rate of unemployment amongst young people because everyone has either just graduated undergrad/graduate school or their lease is up and they have decided to relocate to a different city and try their luck at a new game.

As a recent recipient of my graduate degree, I find myself with a new morning routine. This routine is quite different than what I am used to — gone are the days when I’d wake up at 5:45am, drive to an internship, sit in a four hour night class, write a paper, sleep and repeat. Nowadays, it all begins when I wake up around 10 from a sound sleep, brew up a steamy cup of coffee, open my computer, throw on Pandora, and search and search and search some more for jobs.

And then I spiral: How legit are these jobs anyway? I am skeptical of those that are “sponsored” and how many resumes these people are getting a day from people just like me. Is my resume even good enough? I wish I could attach a video of me talking about how passionate I am about the field. At least the employer would gain a sense of my personality to attach to my credentials on paper. I am officially doomed.

Once I get bored with that, I spend some time catching up on my newsfeed drama, and oh man, I can’t believe that that girl got engaged. I think it is just because she feels that after school this is the next step. Does she actually love him? I’m not sure, but either way, I am happy that her Pinterest boards can finally come to life. She will be the most beautiful vision — surrounded by her best girls, all of whom are wearing tacky hairstyles and pink chiffon — that I have ever seen.

I realize that I am over this person’s life so I decide to peruse Netflix for a while and catch up on the early 2000s drama series United States of Tara. I mean, it’s about a woman with Multiple Personality Disorder so I am basically just brushing up on my knowledge about mental health so I am not wasting my time. I find myself criticizing the writers because if she was really this ill than blah blah blah.

Around 1 o’clock, I realize that I have not left my bed. The worst thing that could happen is to become a 700lb reality TV show star on TLC so I force myself to get up and put on those yoga pants. I run a few miles on the treadmill in the gym that is literally 3 floors below me in my apartment building but yet, seems so far away. If my day is extra inconvenient, then there might also be someone else in the gym who could potentially judge me for being there at that time. “Doesn’t that girl have a job… Why is she here before 5 o’clock?”

I run errands for the rest of the day until my employed friends get off of work and are able to hang out with me. I used to feel bad about myself for my extended job search until I realized that I have a Masters Degree, and the declining job market is just not in my favor at the moment. It can not make me feel like a lazy person who does not put herself out there.

I find solace in the fact that most recent graduates are in the same predicament. It’s a transition period. We have gone from the comfort of saying, “I am in school for [insert profession here].”

Do not let anything take your power and make you feel like your hard work meant nothing because at the end of the day, everyone is struggling in the modern day job market and you can’t take it personally. I have learned that it is certainly a “live and let live” kind of world, so just take it slow and see what comes your way. At the end of the day, it is better to have worked hard for something then for nothing at all.