Growing up, I had no concept of the realities of the working world. A career is just a notion, an identity you’re going to grow into, and you don’t realize that a job is a binding contract with sacrifices and obligations and pressure and competition. None of that enters your mind, and thank god for that, because there would be a lot of depressed kindergartners out there with dreams crushed prematurely.

All that I knew was what interested me and where I showed the first signs of talent, which was drawing, painting, a thirst for creative writing, and an imagination that soared a little too high.

My imagination kept me daydreaming in the clouds for too long. I wish I had my feet planted in the ground of reality sooner. I mean, I didn’t stop believing in Santa Claus until the fourth grade! We still had arguments, discussions in the cafeteria, and I firmly advocated on the side of his existence.

Ten years ago, when I was 15, I definitely thought that by now I would be living on my own in another city and financially independent. I expected to be making enough money to live by myself without a roommate. Everyone wanted to become a writer and move to New York. And I fell into that cliché at one point, too.

Now, as I look ahead, I hope that in a few years I will have the good fortune of being able to reflect on the challenges that I, and we, are currently facing. I will have an increased knowledge of economics and personal finance. I will be working at a job that I enjoy — as an administrative assistant at a university, for a policy research institute, or a book publishing company. Publishing will no longer be a distant pipe dream and I will have found a way into that world. I will have more of a social life. I will have developed a strong commitment to playing a musical instrument. But more than anything I hope to have a salaried job with health insurance.

I don’t think that’s asking or expecting too much. Is it?

In ten years, I hope I can say that I was able to master something.

I will have completed a Master’s degree in public policy or publishing and I will have traveled to unfamiliar cities in South America and Europe. I’ve never put a time frame on marriage or children. I don’t think about marriage — but if it happens, great! I won’t live my life counting on it, though. If in ten years I can afford to buy property then I will consider it and I won’t wait for anyone else to come along. I don’t see children in my crystal ball. I never had dreams of being a mother and I don’t believe it is every woman’s destiny.

My perception of the world around me is constantly changing and, depending on how earth-shattering my experiences are, it may or may not affect my original plans. Whatever happens I’m always teetering back and forth between optimism and pessimism. I’m disappointed in reality but trying to make the most of it.

People often refute the idea that you are what you do. It seems superficial to be defined by your job. But I think it depends on how you look at it. If your job is a means to get by, then it’s not who you are.

If your job is your passion and you love what you do, then it is part of your life’s purpose. If you are fortunate enough to be successful or highly content in your chosen profession, then you’re fulfilling your life’s purpose and therefore it is a big part of your identity.

When you’re unemployed, like me, or at a job that is not related to your interests, then you lose sight of what your talents are because they’re not being utilized. Or maybe, like me, you still don’t have a clear understanding of what your talents are because a job hasn’t come along to unlock those qualities.

I try to have a positive attitude about what I have yet to accomplish, but outside forces make it difficult. The slow hiring trends and the national unemployment statistics that are reported exactly mirrors what we are all personally experiencing and that’s what makes it real — they’re not just numbers.

I often get caught up with comparing myself to other 25- or 26 year-olds and how much they’ve accomplished
so far. But I know that kind of thinking is self-destructive and that each person has their own unique set of attributes and skills to contribute.

Nowadays you have to create your own career trajectory and what that means for young people like me is not just having a plan B, but a plan C, plan D, and maybe even a plan E. It might mean having to take on a second job. It might mean being flung to a random city in the Midwest because that’s where the jobs are, even though you have your heart set on New York or Philly or Boston.

But it’s all on you — you have to make the contacts, you have to maintain those contacts, cultivate those
important career relationships, and no headhunter or staffing agency is going to do that for you.

I have faith in my ability to create the future that I want, but I worry about wasted time. I hope I have the courage to make immediate sacrifices for those long-term goals. It’s easy to declare your dreams and aspirations to the world, but another thing entirely to make them happen with economic forces working against you.

I don’t feel any more or less capable than I did when I was in college.

I have experienced emotional stress from my situation in the past, but now I just feel motivated by that stress. I can’t attribute that improvement in my psyche to any one thing in particular, aside from the desire to be on my own — financial independence and making my own decisions has begun to far outweigh the comfort of being at home and not having to pay bills while I figure it out.

I feel ready to take that risk even if it means discovering a new kind of misery.

Being broke means not having a dating life. But I’m perfectly okay with that because that’s not a priority in my life right now. Having a job gives you a sense of identity and purpose and self-esteem, and it’s so important to me that this central piece of my life be in place if or when I become involved with someone else on a serious level. I’d like to have a firmer grasp of where my career is going.

Meeting someone at “the right time” is not something you can plan, but that would be my ideal scenario. I’m not concerned with making a lot of money, but I want the power that comes with being able to make my own decisions. And there is a deep, great satisfaction that you worked hard for your own money and that you can afford to pay your own way in this world. I value that kind of independence tremendously.

There is a general misconception that being unemployed means that you haven’t been doing anything. I’ve completed an unpaid internship, I’ve done volunteer work, and I’ve taken several online classes. I try, as much as I can, to keep myself occupied and that includes learning new skills and maintaining ones I have already acquired. Not to mention the fact that a job search consumes most of the hours of one’s day and is, in itself, an actual job, one that truly is the ultimate test of discipline and drive and dedication.

I don’t like talking about my unemployment in social situations. Who does? It’s an awkward and uncomfortable conversation that no one wants to have because it forces you and others to feel unsettled for your sake. But it’s hard to avoid discussing it because that’s the first question people ask when they haven’t seen you in a while. Where do you live now? What are you doing?

My inclination is that most people understand how difficult the job market is and feel the need to help you in some way because of your unfortunate circumstance. In my case, that means older acquaintances and friends of my parents, who want to talk about my unemployment and offer ways to fix it.

I try to keep an open mind and listen to whatever advice they have, even though it can be irritating because of the constant feeling of being judged. Or the feeling that you constantly have to prove to them all the things that you’ve already been doing to look for work.

People who disapprove of any liberal arts concentrations are automatically suspicious of you having made an irresponsible career choice when they don’t know how to link your major to a job that matches that field of study. As soon as I say “English,” people automatically assume that the only thing you can do with that is teach. “Oh, so you want to teach?” “Oh, so you want to be a teacher?” No!!! I don’t have anything against education, but I resent that it’s the assumption over and over and over again.

Fortunately, my parents have been very patient and supportive throughout this period of unemployment.

My closest friends and people my own age understand my situation and are sympathetic without making me feel like I’m being pitied. Most of my friends are employed but for one reason or another also feel stuck.

But I personally find it difficult to have any kind of a social life — let alone a dating life. My hometown is very isolated from any major city and most educated young people leave this area after they graduate, so I don’t have very many friends here. I’m neither a socially bunny nor am I a complete recluse so I like to think I’m pretty adaptable to whatever situation I find myself in. I get invited by my sisters or by my friends to go visit them in New York or Pittsburgh or Boston, but I can only afford to do that a few times a year.

Not having money really affects every aspect of your life, especially your personal relationships.

I think anything that happens in our lives, any situation we find ourselves in, is a result of the combination between our own decision-making and factors that are out of our control. The question is: To what extent is this recession, this financial crisis, to blame for having knocked us off our intended paths?

How does one even go about determining that? I guess you could look at the statistics if you wanted hard numbers. I certainly don’t feel part of an “entitled” generation. I don’t expect special treatment from any person or from any job. You have to earn everyone’s respect around you and prove your worth just like anyone else. But there is a sense of frustration that comes from being dealt a bad hand, from getting the short end of the stick, for being punished for something we had no control over.

Yes, we grew up being told that good grades and a college degree were the keys to success. They were supposed to guarantee you a salaried job you could live off and support a family.

And that’s the frustrating thing about all of this. We can’t blame our educators or our parents, who could not predict that all of the things that we expected from our society to run smoothly would go wrong. They only wanted to help motivate us the best way they knew how.

There is a frustration with the fact that previous generations didn’t have to worry about so much competition. They were guaranteed jobs in their field after graduation and that’s what the concept of the American Dream was all about. Employers used to provide more benefits and they’ve had to cut more and more from their budgets. Now it seems we have all sorts of hurdles to overcome. We have to acquire all kinds of experience before we can even begin to work at the bottom of a particular company or organization.

We’re competing with all kinds of people, in different age groups, with all kinds of backgrounds and experience. Now we almost can’t count on anyone for anything and that’s the shock to our system — that of my generation, who as children and teenagers came to expect our financial system to work as a stable, reliable entity. We slept soundly with no forewarning that this kind of crisis would throw off our career aspirations.

People still have opportunities to “rise up,” to surpass the income of their parents or grandparents, but the factors that typically determine a person’s success have changed. Who you know and the diversity of your work experience matter more than the kind of education you received or whether or not you even went to college.

So it is exactly because these aspects of life have changed so drastically, and out of our control, that I have no choice but to let that resentment go and just move on and do the best I can with what is available. I won’t dwell on it and I won’t blame it for where I am now.

I won’t forget about what the Occupy Wall Street movement meant nor will I forget about the laissez-faire economic policies of deregulation that I believe, among other things, got us into this recession in the first place. It is important to acknowledge and discuss who should have been held accountable for all these abusive consumer practices but still move on with our personal lives and our careers despite all the growing competition and despite the saturated job market for liberal arts majors.

Ultimately, you only have yourself to answer to if you’re not happy with where you are. I know a few
people who are exactly where they want to be in this economy, so it’s not impossible.

I did have student loan debt after I graduated, but it was a little over a thousand dollars and, fortunately, I was able to quickly pay it off. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, my parents did not have to pay tuition because my father was an employee of the University of Delaware. Sadly, I don’t know if schools are still giving out those kinds of benefits to spouses and dependents of employees. I certainly hope they are because if that opportunity had not been available to me then I too would be swimming in debt right now, just like so many of my peers.

Still, room and board, meal plans, books, and extra fees are not cheap and my parents did not have an easy time paying for all of that.

There is a definite flaw in the priorities of our universities, but what also needs to be re-evaluated is the way our state and federal government allocate money towards education. We all know the statistics on graduates and student loans, right? Our government should be investing its money on young people’s education by giving out more grants to graduate students, not spending it on expensive wars.

In terms of what colleges and universities have been doing, I ask myself: Does it make sense for a school to keep adding more and more brand-spanking-new buildings when less and less people can afford to attend? It seems as if universities are more concerned about national standings or being at the top of prestigious lists than they are about trying to help students avoid debt. I understand that outside organizations and other private donors are more willing to invest money in a particular university when they see that they’ve been ranked at the top. But it seems as though, once a school has that money, they are more likely to use it toward the construction of state-of-the-art fitness facilities than they are to give out scholarships worth more money.

What else are students paying for each new school year? More amenities? Do we really need flat screen TVs in the lounges? Does the increase of cost translate into an increase in the value of their education? Probably not. We’re becoming an elitist society, where those who come from wealthy families not only get the best of everything, but are the only ones able to afford a basic college education.

I do not currently have any credit-card debt, but I worry about that changing in the near future. How possible is it to continue to avoid falling into debt, especially when you’re on your own and have no one else to rely on for money? I have a constant preoccupation with how my actions or lack of actions are affecting my credit score.

I don’t think people choose to go into debt, but for one reason or another they’re forced into it. I wish I didn’t have to have a credit card at all. I don’t like spending money I don’t have. I’d rather not own a house or a car if I can’t afford to pay the full amount in one lump sum. I’d rather rent a condo or an apartment until I can afford to buy and live in a city where I don’t need a car. But you can’t get very far in this country without following the established rules of the credit-rating system. You can’t make big purchases without a satisfactory credit history.

Money doesn’t buy happiness but, in our society, I think being debt free and having financial security are necessary for inner peace and an emotional sense of well-being. When it comes down to it, I think all that the average person really wants is financial stability and to be able to afford basic necessities — not to become wealthy. I did not save as much money as I should have from my previous job, and that I regret tremendously.

Saving money isn’t easy when you have a job and it’s practically impossible when you’re unemployed.

When I look at the wall in the living room of my house, I see three framed diplomas that look exactly the same except for the years and names. They are Bachelor’s of Arts degrees from the University of Delaware and they belong to me and my two older sisters.

My dad used to be an employee of the University of Delaware, and the benefit of not having to pay tuition was the main determinant for where we went to school.

Now that I’m through with college, I often feel the whole thing was pointless because it’s just another piece of paper and, like the high school diploma, you don’t come away with applicable skills for the workplace and you learn things you will never again have to use.

But, ultimately, for the average person, a college degree continues to be a basic requirement for anyone who expects to earn a decent salary in their professional career. As much as I feel disappointment and frustration that employers don’t value college degrees as much as they did twenty years ago — as more and more people have them and certain job markets have become saturated with the same kind of credentials of higher education — it’s still necessary in order to “climb the professional ladder” and, overall, to get ahead in life.

If you’re a computer genius, have exceptional business savvy, or are very well-connected in an industry, then maybe you are an exception to that rule.

I try not to regret anything in my life, but there are things that I could have done differently. Perhaps there were summer jobs positions I could have seized that I did not. I do not regret having gone to college, as it allowed me opportunities to grow and learn in unexpected ways. I was able to escape a somewhat conservative hometown, become politically involved, and interact with people as passionate about their convictions as I am.

Through the semester study abroad program, I had the opportunity to submerge myself in another culture, came close to mastering another language, and acquired a sense of independence and self-confidence that I would not have found in the hallways of my crowded high school.

My most important learning did not happen while I was sitting in a classroom.

Though it’s often said that picking the wrong major is not going to screw up the rest of your life, I think that in my case, because my major — Italian Language and Literature — does not reflect my career aspirations, I’ve had to work even harder for relevant experience in a field that was only my minor — English Literature.

I do plan on getting a Master’s degree at some point, and I don’t regret not having gone straight to graduate school after college. I want to take the time to be one hundred percent sure of my career choice and that it will yield useful, applicable skills for whatever job that may follow.

Finding the money to go ahead with that plan is another issue.

Hopefully, after a few years of relevant work experience in the publishing industry or policy research, options for financing my education will expand. My goal is to avoid taking out a loan at all costs. It won’t be easy, but I believe it’s possible. I know that having a graduate degree isn’t going to guarantee me the job of my dreams, but I may be more likely to succeed in the face of such intense job competition if I am armed with strong credentials.

On the other hand, in this economy, for so many people it has not made a difference in their ability to find work or has proven to be a hindrance to finding employment because of the risk of being considered overqualified.

I was not well prepared for life after college, and I don’t think anyone is. Sorry John Mayer, but there IS such thing as the real world and our generation, the stuck generation, has yet to experience its long term rewards.

Even without this wretched economy or the changing nature of our job market, I know that isn’t supposed to come easily or quickly.

Did I expect to be in a more advanced position in my life? Yes. I expected to have a full-time job. I expected to be living in my own apartment. I expected to have my own health insurance.

I was never thinking about marriage or children or owning a home — the most important thing was always financial independence and I’m eager for my life to move on and to get there.

I was laid off from a corporation that owns a chain of medical offices in my hometown of Salisbury, Maryland, and the neighboring county. I was a front-desk receptionist and interpreter for the Spanish-speaking patients. It was a position that required a lower level of education than a college degree.

I was employed for eight months and then laid off for reasons that were never clearly explained to me by upper management. The corporation was most likely seeking to downgrade their staff, as a few others had been laid off before me within a short span of time. I was an easy target because I was one of the youngest employees, I had no children to support, and I was still a dependent on my mother’s health insurance.

I have now been unemployed for a year and four months. I know that I am not alone when I say that my experience has been frustrating. So many people have told me that because I am trilingual and have a Bachelor’s degree, I have an advantage. That might be true to some extent, but it doesn’t feel true.

It doesn’t feel true because I know there are more people attending college and more bilingual Spanish speakers, and I don’t feel as though that skill is so unique anymore. And I don’t want to be pigeonholed into jobs I’m not interested in purely because of a bilingual skill that some employers are desperate to have.

I want to work in the publishing industry. But when jobs are so scarce, it’s tempting to take a job that is completely out of your field of interest because there is nothing else. It used to be a guarantee that you would find a job with a Bachelor’s degree, but now it doesn’t seem like a leg up. Most of the jobs being offered that I might be considered for do not require a college education, just a specific skill set.

I’ve found it very rare to find available entry-level positions that require a Bachelor’s degree but do not require previous experience, with the exception of some marketing and sales positions.

I was in Boston for three months this summer for an unpaid internship with a political campaign and tried to find employment before I even arrived. I registered with two staffing agencies and conducted my own job search, but was unsuccessful with both. I submitted applications for part- and full-time work, including university staff positions, restaurant work, and cashier positions at stores like Goodwill and Staples.

I’ve turned down a customer service telemarketing position as well as a position selling life insurance policies because I don’t think my strengths lie in sales. I am more inclined to accept a job at a bookstore or a serving position at a restaurant, but even those are more and more difficult to get.

I never thought that getting a job at Barnes & Noble would be so competitive and would require previous experience at a bookstore. I was able to get an interview with them, but was not hired for the cashier/bookseller position, most likely because I was in a giant pool of other applicants who also have English concentrations from college and look exactly like me on paper. The only way someone can possibly stand out in that circumstance is if they’ve worked for that same company before or if they know the manager personally. You’re even competing with people who have Master’s degrees.

The biggest barrier preventing me from finding a job in the field that I want is that ever-present issue of not being able to acquire a specific kind of work experience because every job you’re interested in requires previous, specific work experience and somewhere along the line an employer must be willing to take a chance on a newbie and allow them to get their foot in the door.

I’m not sure if my current unemployment status has prevented me from being hired for postions, but the longer I’m unemployed the more suspicious I become of that being a factor. It creates an unfair stigma or assumption that you are unemployed because you are lazy and unmotivated and haven’t been looking.

I’m not giving up entirely on the field I planned to be in, but I’m having to temporarily put that plan on hold. You have to take stepping-stone jobs just to get into the industry you want to be in, let alone the job. That might have been true before the economic collapse, but I find that for our “stuck generation” it will take a longer time to climb the job ladder and get to the place we imagined we would be at by end of our twenties.

It’s important to be ambitious and go for what you want, but you have to be realistic too. I’m aware that my skill qualifications may only yield certain kinds of low-wage positions at this point in my career.

I try to have a positive attitude with regards to my future, but it’s difficult when all of the economic experts continue to have a grim outlook and the national unemployment rate is moving very slowly. The overall poor economic conditions, the slow hiring trends, and the national unemployment statistics exactly mirror what we are all personally experiencing — and that’s what makes it real, they’re not just numbers.

The process of finding a job is exhausting and overwhelming, with so many online job sites and professional networking sites like LinkedIn that must be monitored daily. Job updates flood my inbox, and cover letter after cover letter after cover letter must be specifically tailored to respond to each job posting.

When all of the tediousness is yielding no feedback, no results, it’s tempting to shut myself off from all of the chaos, to get some relief from the hours of daily web presence that are demanded to keep up to date.

Often times, all I want to do is fall of the face of the earth for a while.

But the advice I keep getting from everyone around me goes like this: “You have to keep networking, keep sending out the resumes, and ultimately keep going back to the screen, because the relief of getting a job far outweighs the temporary relief you get from stepping away from the computer for a week, banging your head on the desk repeatedly, or doing nothing.”

I definitely feel “stuck.”

When you’re in your mid-twenties, unemployed, and still dependent on your parents, it’s very easy to lose your sense of identity and purpose.

You question your qualities and capabilities. Why am I here? What do I really have to offer? It makes me feel lazy and guilty and at fault when people continually ask, “Have you found a job yet?” and the answer to that question is always, “No, not yet.” It makes it seem like I’m not looking hard enough or I’m not focused enough on the job search.

It’s always very tough confronting the firing squad of other adults, like your parent’s friends or your boyfriend’s parents. “What sites have you looked at? Where have you applied? How many applications have you put out?”

I’m 25 and at an unpaid internship. And this sounds crazy, but I feel fortunate to have gotten this internship opportunity because at my age and being out of school, businesses and employers are reluctant to hire people like me who are not enrolled as full time students at a university. I tried to get an internship through the English department at the university in my hometown but they refused me because businesses require that you be a student “for liability or insurance” purposes. I’m not quite sure what that means.

All of the book publishing companies that interest me never seem to be hiring for any entry level positions. There are unpaid internship opportunities on one end of the spectrum, and then on the other end of the spectrum the positions they ARE hiring for are that of senior editor or managing copy editor or accounting specialist — jobs that require many years of experience. Even the entry level copy editor positions posted on my hiring agency’s website require at least two years of experience.

How does one get their foot in the door if they’re too old to be hired for an internship, but without any experience in the field to actually be hired for a job? I almost feel I have to make my case as if I were switching careers because I didn’t major in English or journalism and I’ve never had an internship related to the field of radio or print publishing. And there is definitely a very small window of opportunity for horizontal job movement. It’s very difficult to change or switch career fields because it’s like starting from zero — back to square one. All the previous employment experience you’ve accumulated means nothing.

I completely agree that it’s up to each one of us to make the best of our situations no matter how crappy they are. I don’t want to be seen as playing the victim or simply whining and complaining and blaming everything on the outside circumstances, but I feel I do have a right to express my bitterness. I can’t help but feel resentment towards the idea that everyone, growing up, told us that we could be anything we wanted to be and that a Bachelor’s degree would open up the doors of opportunity. But I feel like it doesn’t make a difference anymore. I have a Bachelor’s degree and it doesn’t mean I’m going to get paid more than someone who didn’t go to college. I still don’t expect to receive anything more than $10 to $15 an hour, which is what I made during the summers while I was still in school.

The decisions made at an executive level at financial institutions definitely have an impact on our day-to-day lives and that should not be ignored. Not just young people new to the job market but retirees and seniors are being forced to suffer the consequences of someone else’s greedy and irresponsible mistakes. Another issue of frustration is that we spend so much money trying to get an education and the reward is you get to become part of a gigantic pool of job applicants that look exactly like you on paper.