Opinion
Hunting for jobs is no easy battle
November 6, 2008
A funny thing happened to me the other day, and I imagine I’m not the only one of my kind. I’ve been a bit introspective lately, listening to Harry Chapin and Coldplay rather than Kings of Leon and Jet. If it persists for another couple of weeks I’ll start wondering about the possibilities of a recession, but for right now it’s just a lull.
The funny thing is the process of looking for jobs and application of those jobs. I don’t have much time, just a couple of months, and then I can no longer use college as an unemployment alibi. For some soon-to-be college graduates the process may lack the extreme sense of urgency, but for a guy who is casting his gaze toward winter while he watches his four-month-old son try to eat his own feet, I’m feeling it.
It’s a well-known fact that there aren’t an enormous amount of jobs out there for us college grads to snatch up. So without a glut of strictly reporting positions I, for a while, expanded my search to include marketing and public relations jobs as well. I recently have narrowed my search back down after finding out…I’m not qualified for any of those jobs. I am qualified for just about one job on the planet, a print journalist.
The job hunt went something like this: “Entry level public relations position.” I think to myself, “hmm, one of the bachelor’s degree subheads is journalism, lets take a peak at this job.”
“Good understanding of AP Style,” checkmark. “Excellent communication skills,” checkmark, sort of. “Ability to use an abacus to solve complex problems,” checkma…wait, what?
So I’ve found out after a couple months of job-hunting that everyone is more qualified for just about every position, except “print reporter,” than I am. This is disconcerting.
Perhaps the new Obama administration could help me out. Within the massive expansion of government that will undoubtedly occur over the next few weeks, months and years, all the liberals in power need to do is create governmentally run journalism outlets. Oh wait, these already exist under the code names of the New York Times, Washington Post and MSNBC.
But I guess I don’t know if I could look at myself in the mirror if I was as “in the tank” for democrats as the rest of the “journalists” out there are. Politics aside, I still need a job.
It is really starting to come down to the wire. The purpose of this column was not to tell a grand job-hunting story with a specific resolution at the end, because there is no resolution at this point in time. I am considering just posting my resume in the Student Voice as my column for next week, just to get it out there.
I need to focus my thinking more “outside-the-box.” Make no mistake my friends, this is a war, we are soldiers fighting for an existence free from the tyranny of the unemployment line.
My job search is just one “journalism” battle in the job searching war. All I’m saying is that sometimes I feel like I’m bringing a knife to a gunfight. Fortunately for me, I’m like really good at throwing knives and the bullets in your gun don’t phase me. So good luck, because I’m not afraid to throw knives at people’s tracheas.
Caleb Stevens is a student at UW-River Falls.