Being a jobless young professional writer is a lot of work. First, there’s the relationship between society and the job market. Friends and family will have you believe it is imperative to be employed. Employment has its benefits, don’t get me wrong, but it also has its drawbacks. Being in a bad job can be worse than being unemployed, and most of the time whether a job appears is not within the individual’s control, but rather in the hands of the economic markets.
There are many impediments to obtaining a job that is the right fit, including a blurred distinction between a job and a livelihood. A livelihood includes a job, but also includes life goals, which are not always clear as a young adult. Everyone has goals that sometimes present themselves as hunches as to what someone wants out of life. Jobs can help refine one’s goals or eliminate ones that don’t work. A job can include helping some friends move from one apartment to another or dropping off some packages at the post office and are first and foremost services that are reimbursed. Unfortunately many employers want you to forfeit your goals for minimal or no reimbursement, at least as an entry level employee. The job market is a supplier’s market as many young adults are naive and will work for nothing, so long as they are assured an eventual paid position the more common phrase “it will build your resume”.
Universities take young adults at their prime and convince them that they should spend loads of money by selling the idea of a secure future, but in many cases they accomplish the opposite by delaying the worker’s entry into the job market. Most jobs, even white collar jobs, can be accomplished with focused training, and do not necessarily require one knowing what one wants to do after the job, a trait with which colleges claim to help.
My advice…never stop asking questions.
The Bird's Song 