Assembled pregnancy testers for cows
Sold encyclopedias
Worked as an editorial assistant for a little bit more than it cost me to get to the office
Washed Limousines on the weekend
Wrote and signed a letter to a customer apologizing for being stupid (under direct orders)

and a whole lot of other things. Nobody owes you anything. You probably know that but you have to own it too. That’s when you can just go into that low paid, unappreciated gig and get out of it what there is in it and nothing more. You do have to make your own future, but you have to live in your own present as well. It is what it is and it will leave it’s mark on you. How that turns out is partly up to you.

Do you time where you must and keep trying. You will get to the other side, but nobody knows how yet. You just will.

That being said, there should be no entitlement regarding employment and a livable wage.

Yes, as a nation we should focus on policies that move us in the direction of full employment and and wages sufficient to support a life, not just an existence, but in the grand scheme of things, the responsibility lies with the job seeker to make themselves marketable, not the other way around.

There are too many students who waste money, go to college and come out with degrees in what amounts to basket weaving, which are of no marketable value what so ever, and then complain when they can’t get a job. (If you majored in English, History, Political Science, Womens Studies, and to a lesser extent Psychology, with which you can’t do anything without a PhD, that’s you.)

Yes, college is about growing us into better individuals to function in a multicultural society and is about breadth, not jut focus, and all those other lovely sounding Liberal Arts concepts, but it’s also about preparing young adults for the workforce. If working towards being employable wasn’t a focus in college studies, then there’s the problem, and there really isn’t anyone else to blame.

Those who I have some more compassion for are those who pursued a solid professional or hard science degree and still can’t get employment.

We need to work as hard as we can as a nation to move ourselves in the direction where employment with a liveable wage is attainable for all, but this needs to be a high level goal, not an entitlement, or we will start slipping down the wrong path.

My comment about looking back and pushing aside projects that were less glamourous, wasn’t to imply that I didn’t get things done, because I always got all of my work done, rather it was an honest comment about how I would do things different with six more years of professional experience under my belt. I think we all could all pinpoint moments from our first jobs and say I would have handled that situation differently given my experience now. With time grows maturity and experience and that was all I was trying to say.

I’m not always proud of the way I feel, and I think I state that clearly, but I did do my best to give an honest and open answer and that in itself on the topic was difficult to do. Thanks for reading and look forward to hearing your feedback on additional posts.