Stale Content Alert!
This post was written a long time ago, and my views have almost certainly evolved since then. Please keep that in mind while reading, commenting, or sharing.
I am not currently a happy Spencer.
For a month or so, I have been trying to find a job. It’s summer and I’m about to be a college student; there are things I really need to pay for and pay off. Among the items at the top of my list are a new bicycle and a number of accessories for it, as well as various items for my computer, new clothes… the works. I could definitely use a bit of an income, for a number of obvious and logical reasons.
Unfortunately for me, it feels as though there are a million and a half things stacked against me. For starters, I have no experience. I’ve been so busy being a high-achieving high school student in the last four years that I haven’t actually had time to hold a job. This is problematic by itself, but when coupled with the current state of the economy, it’s downright nasty.
The economy has been in a bit of a rut for, oh, a year or so. There are fewer open positions, and employers are looking more for experienced workers. As an inexperienced worker looking for an open position, I’m shafted, as it were. I check job listings on Craigslist every day, and the opportunities are miniscule. Nobody is looking for inexperienced workers anymore. There may be open, entry-level positions, but I’m having a hard time finding them these days.
Well, there may have been open, entry-level positions. As it stands, it’s just about the beginning of June. Most places have hired their summer workers already. My aunt, who manages a grocery store, says they hired their summer help a week or two ago. Time is working against me; unlike other students, I’m going to leave in the middle of August on a sort of orientation backpacking trip, and when I get back, it’s Orientation Week. If I got hired today, I’d have less than six weeks to work. If there are any employers who haven’t already hired their summer help, they’re probably looking for people who will be around longer than the middle of August.
I’m so incredibly defeated by this. I need a job and I want a job. I want to earn some damn money and be able to pay for things. I want my parents to get off my back about it. I want this whole damn thing to work out; but at the same time, each day that slips by cuts my chances even more. If I don’t get hired soon, there will come a point after which searching will be futile.
And then what?