

Graduating into One of the Nastiest Job Markets in History - AustinF
http://www.philalawyer.net/archives/graduating_into.phtml

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incognito1
I graduated last year, in England. In journalism. (In hindsight, perhaps not
the brightest of choices.) I freelanced for a while, not earning nearly enough
to live, before landing a job on a brand new small radio station. The station
was a spectacular failure and went amazingly tits-up (I'm talking people
removing equipment in front of us) after just six months.

Since then, I've been working a succession of shit temp jobs in supermarkets,
fast food and so on. Next month, I'm moving to the Scottish islands. I've
always wanted to, but I never have because "the opportunities aren't there".
But now I've got a choice between working a rubbish warehouse job on a
miserable industrial estate down here and working a rubbish job serving meals
on a ferry surrounded by some of the world's most beautiful scenery, it's a
no-brainer.

I _could_ stay here in the hope that the radio industry picks up at some
point, but why bother? Our industry is all but dead and we've got so little to
lose that it's worth being radical, leaving the career treadmill behind for a
while, going somewhere different, trying something that's off the heavily
beaten media industry track and maybe, just maybe, finding that one thing that
stirs our individual passion in a way that the trendy career we picked under
pressure at eighteen never has. (Personally, I can't believe universities are
_still_ churning out broadcast journalists by the thousand, but that's off the
point.)

You might as well grab your dream, run with it and see where it drags you.

(Posting under a false name because my main account's under my googleable real
name)

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tybris
Not that bad. You probably don't have a mortgage, wife or children yet. You
can usually still stay with your parents. You have enough freedom and
enthousiasm to do a start-up. You can probably still secure an internship
including a visa. If all else fails, you can even do a PhD.

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evilneanderthal
Maybe if you're a liberal arts major. I had three offers within two weeks of
beginning my job search in January. This is NOT a bad time to be a CS
graduate.

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ansin
Take comfort from the fact that you are graduating into one of the nastiest
job markets in the history of the United States and still don't have to face
the kind of competition that you would in any of these countries:

Liberia (80%)

Zimbabwe (70%)

East Timor (50%)

Bosnia (40%)

<http://www.aneki.com/unemployment.html>

Graduates in any of those countries would gladly swap places with you.

