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Unemployment Stories, Vol. 28: 'I'm Inclined to Simply Disappear Into Silence' (http://gawker.com/5986713/unemploymentstories-vol-28-im-inclined-to-simply-disappearinto-silence)

As we spend the day arguing over a satirical tweet (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article2284169/Fury-The-Onion-brands-year-old-Oscar-nominee-Quvenzhan-Wallis-c--shockingtweet-says-deserve-better.html) about a Hollywood awards show, more than 12 million Americans remain unemployed (http://www.deptofnumbers.com/unemployment/us/). Millions more have dropped out of the labor force entirely. The upcoming sequester deal could cause sharp cuts (http://www.freep.com/article/20130224/NEWS15/302240201/Without-adeal-unemployment-benefits-could-be-cut-by-9-4-) in unemployment benefits. Each week, we bring you true stories of unemployment (http://gawker.com/hello-from-the-underclass/), from the unemployed themselves. This is what's happening out there. The other Hollywood

I am a twenty-five year old woman living in Michigan and I don't see the point in living. I did everything I was supposed to do: I graduated from high school, I went to university. I got my bachelors and I worked hard. I love to work, I have a strong ethic for it, and I'm at my best when I'm busy. But there is so little decent employment out there and I wonder what all that time and money spent on school was worth. I got my degree in Film just when movies were starting to get big in my state. "The Hollywood of the Midwest," I heard it called. The timing was serendipitous and like most young people I felt I was destined for great things. But those film jobs were scarce and competitive hiring only so many people in state and no one seemed interested in a fresh grad. It has been many months since and after an internship and a deferred paying job I didn't see a cent for, I'm back living with my folks. I'd go elsewhere for work, but I honestly can't afford it. I'd take the terrible, boring jobs so many of my contemporaries accept without complaint, but I'm so depressed over my state in life I can't seem to find the energy to care enough to survive. I have been so very lucky and blessed to have parents that support me both financially (though I wish so hard I could finally be totally independent) and emotionally. But my dad (very reasonably) said he won't continue to help after I turn 26. I know it's supposed to give me initiative to get my life together, but even with this date looming I just can't find the energy to care about self-preservation. Lately the guilt sends me combing the web in the wee hours, searching for a soothing solidarity so finding these volumes of Unemployment Stories is like a hand reaching out to grab hold of. But I still feel worthless. Useless. A waste of space and life. And the response to my bemoaning is almost always some variant of "I have no sympathy for you." It's like no one wants to listen and frankly I'm inclined to simply disappear into silence.

The Great Depression, part two

Over the last 10 years I have had 7 different jobs all which I have been laid off from or fired due not fitting in with the culture of the companies ideas. I have always worked hard and have tried to impress the powers that be so I could move up in the company. All I have ever wanted is to take care of my wife and kids. It never really worked out, for some reason I seemed to always be picked out of a group as the first to go if there was a firing or lay off. I never understood that, because I always tried my best never missed work never messed around, but never really buddy up with the powers that be. Each time I got laid off or fired my confidence became more and more non existing. Now I have a part time job that doesn"t pay that great and my world is crashing before my very eyes. I am helpless to stop it. Nobody will hire me for jobs that I used to have and I have to fluff up every resume to look like I know what the hell I am doing. I have always struggled to find out who I am and what I want to do, I think this comes from being adopted and never knowing really where I came from. I never had a father figure in my life to show me how to be a father, a husband or a provider. I have been winging it my whole life. My mother was divorced twice and was always chasing my older brothers since I was the good and responsible child. I was alone and had to fend for myself. I struggled through high school like most kids, but never really thought I was college material because everyone always told me so. The only one who believed in me was my wife so four years into our marriage I had a college degree. I was working part time for a marketing company through college and they hired me full time when I graduated. It was a great time in our life my wife had just got her master's and I got my undergraduate plus daughter was about to be born. My mother came down from Utah to watch daughter while we both worked. I was promoted at work to a field manager shortly after that. It was a great time. Then we were having rolling blackouts throughout the summer I had no Idea that companies where going through difficult times. It was my first real job at thirty years old. Then in the late summer early fall I was laid off from my job. I had no idea this was coming, I just got promoted. So this was the first time in my life that I was out of work. I had always had some type of job. Seven months I had no work and watching a new baby life was different but I was working through it. I got a job working for a manufacturing company as a sales guy traveling all over the country. I loved it

seeing new places meeting new people. I was making 55,000 a year! A big step up from where I had been. It was hard work always being held accountable to a guy who was younger than me and smarter than me. He had a Harvard MBA and let everyone know it. I was up to the challenge. I work there for almost two years. The company was struggling due to the fact there were two different bosses and two different visions. So the company was sold to another company within our industry. I survived the first rounds of cuts, I lasted a year there. The headquarters was in LA and we were stationed in Orange County, so after a year they let everyone go. Another setback and we just had our third baby. Life was great but disappointing that I was out of work again. Meantime my wife was working and really enjoying being a mother and having a life outside the home. This time I was out of work for almost a year and a half. I got job at Qwest software a really great company here in also Viejo; I was now making a little over 65,000 and finally thought my dream job was here. It was close, I love the people and the company culture it was ideal for me. I worked there for a year and a half, always got along with my co workers and bosses. Then it happened again, I was laid off. This was getting depressing; I mean what is wrong with me. Is it the economy? Or is it really me and I just enjoy telling my wife I am out of work again. As the depression gets more and more severe I fall into a fog that I can't get out of. I hate myself for not being the provider that I should be, I am mad at my kids for reminding me that I am home watching them instead of working and supporting them. I am angry with my wife since she is cold and distant and un-empathic towards my feelings and depression. She wants me to take medicine I refuse, she wants me to go to a therapist but I don't want to, but when we go she doesn't want to go anymore because the doctor is not ripping me the whole time. They actually tell my wife she needs to work on things. This infuriates her and then stops going. It was my entire fault and these doctors are too blind to see it. When I got laid off at Qwest my dream job I was so depressed that I could care less who I hurt or what I said. I mean I was really hurting and nobody cared. My wife wasn't always mad at me, she never told me how sorry she was that I was hurting so badly nor did she comfort me in my darkest hours. My mother never talked to me and when she did it made me mad because she would think it was all my wife's fault. Nobody from the church came over and said how can we help or what can we do. I was alone and hurt and depressed. Not a very good environment for the wife and kids. I was always angry, I mean nobody would talk to me it was all bottled up and I was explode when I couldn't take it anymore. I was miserable to live with never knowing when I would be set off. All I ever wanted was my wife to help me and to understand the pain I was going through. My lashing out was the only way I could get her attention. I was dying a slow death and nobody cared. I was screaming for help but it was like seeing a couple fights in a store and everyone watches but does nothing. I was out of work for almost two years. Any normal person would have ended their life and been done with it. In the last two years my wife served me divorce papers twice and filed a restraining order against me and change the locks to the house. Told me it was over and I was dead to her. This is all the while that I am in a depression that was so bad that I was sleeping in the streets for two months. Did I deserve my wife to take action; yes something had to be done to get me to realize that I needed to change. I was at a crossroads in my life. What will history end up writing about me? Was I going to give up and just end it or was I going to change a fight for the family that I love. I decided to fight, I decided change the way I acted to take my medicine and to treat My wife like a princess and the wonderful mother that she is. It was rough at first she didn't want me around she didn't want me near her. I cried everyday just wanting her to accept me back into the fold of the family unit. She wanted me to move, she wanted me out of her life. I fought it because it was worth it. I never wanted to go back to the way I was before. Finally I got a job selling copiers door to door to businesses. It was a tough job, but it was income and I was happy for the work. Things were going well between my wife and I, we went on family vacation and had the best time ever. Our relationship seemed to be healing. Then over the summer, I got fired for not selling enough copiers per month, like I said it was a tough job but I was willing to do anything to make it work. So back to no money and the pressure on my wife, and more depression to follow. Although I keep taking my medicine, it is rough. I am wondering what the hell is wrong with me. We fight more; we bicker about the stupidest things. I am so paranoid that every time that I see her talking I think she and her friends are conspiring against me. Don't get me wrong I understand why my wife doesn't

want to do this anymore. Either do I, but I can't and won't give up on us. I understood why she wrote me a letter for the third time in a two year span telling me she wants out. You would think that I would get it, hey stupid she wants out of the relationship. I can't something bigger than myself is driving me to stay, to not give up... Nobody talks about how bad the economy really is, all the media portrays is the life styles on the rich and how everyone else is doing fine in this economy. Nobody talks about what is really going on in the country that we are living in the same times as our grandparents, the great depression part two, although this time it is harder because you have everyone in the world instantly telling you that it is your fault for not being a better provider. If you can't make it with support from family and friends, then there is no hope.

Such a creature as me

Let me preface this by saying my story is not as compelling as the others I have read in your articles. I still feel I should write about it, at least as a therapeutic exercise. As of two days ago, I am 24. I graduated high school with fine grades and was attending a 2-year college for my associate's degree when I had a minor health scare. Well, not so much a health scare as a slow decline in my physical state. I had become deformed over the past several years because of some malformed vertebrae in my spine. The result was a severely kyphotic back (hunchback) and a bowed chest. I realize I've gotten a bit off track here, but bear with me. I stopped attending school out of shame for my appearance. It seemed that everyone around me was normal and there was just no place for such a creature as me. I was only a couple of classes short of my AA, but I was not going back. So I started applying to jobs. I figured if I could get some income going, I could at least finally move out of my parents' house. I applied all over town and never heard back from anyone. I didn't have any references or work experience so I was never seriously considered. I wasn't too upset though, because I have never had any interest in going outside. I always see normal people and become immensely spiteful. I realize there are many people far worse off than I am, but those aren't the people you see when you have such a condition. You see the people who are making easy progress through life, buying houses and starting families. It becomes harder and harder to make an effort to apply when you know you'll just be starting at the bottom again, always working towards what they got years ago. It's easier just to wait until the pot reaches the boiling point and let yourself cook.

Working those connections

I'm writing this; in its place, I am not writing my final essay for grad school. I was moved to write after realizing that I was budgeting even my words for the day. I just turned 27. I did everything "right": went to college, graduated with minimal debt, studied in an area that was professional (accounting, CPA track). As if that mattered in 2008, when no one was hiring. Or 2009, when I graduated into what seems now like an endless room of people my parents' age waiting for a callback. I had four years of professional experience, but that did not matter. I had paid my dues after solving every little problem for attorneys as a file clerk. Suffering actually nets you nothing, which was especially awful when I couldn't collect unemployment. I was an intern at a Big Four accounting firm; there were CPAs in line for accounts receivable jobs. And holy hell did things turn bleak. Through social media I had built a vast network of potential business contacts. And I really mean that, despite what people think of the Internet and its noise. I knew commercial real estate agents in California, lawyers in New York, used car dealerships in Texas and medical specialists in Utah. Freaking Utah. I lost touch with some of those people, and I no longer hear from many of them. It wasn't simply a recession, where you couldn't get a job at Walmarts. In the years since 2009, it's as though some of those people died. Prospects abroad dried up and blew away and only the local connections I see face to face existed. I had never heard such silence. I worked those connections to the bone, and it did pay off: I landed a parttime job with "fulltime" responsibilities, less pay and no benefits. But it was something on a resume I had been building since I was 17 and goddamnit, I wasn't going to stop that now. That job was so awful, the environment so toxic, I can only say this: the high point of that experience was a potential cancer diagnosis. If I was going to die, I thought, I could just give up. No one could blame me for not having insurance; no one could ever say that I hadn't tried. And seriously, tried at what? As with everyone in my generation, there's an ever-present voice in the back of my head yelling at me for not doing better, or "trying harder" (what the fuck does that even mean?) or struggling with the guilt of loathing a job but being unable to not work. I didn't have cancer. I lost the job to an employee's child who was going to work for free. She was more than welcome to it. I have since nearly finished a second bachelor's and am applying to grad school. I am so afraid of looking for work again. I am terrified of what I am going to find when I try to get out of my parent's basement. I have no idea what I am going to do when I complete this program with ever more debt.

Dear diary

Today, after being unemployed for three weeks and one day, I have decided that I have no future. I have no future because, I had plans and goals that have yet to be realized despite how creative I try to be, despite how many cover letter drafts I write and resumes that I revamp. I am bright, articulate, driven, motivated with decent experience and a graduate degree and yet these three confidence draining weeks point to the fact that I have no future. There is so little that I can apply for out there and even a smaller number still that I get interviewed for. Patience was never one of my strong suits but, I didn't think that after working since I was 14 and going to school for most of my life that I would not be able to land a position that required education above some high school.' I have applied to, on average three jobs a day since 11/14/2012 and have gone on a total of three interviews; two of which were for jobs that I applied for in early November. One of which, was a job I had held earlier. No one calls you back after you have donated your time to an in person meeting, no one cares. I had interviewed for a job on Friday 11/30/12, a job that just feels right. The company is growing, I have a networking in and the office is so beautiful that it just speaks to me. I keep checking my phone in hopes that, they call back soon. They telephoned Monday to ask me a question regarding our conversation. The human resources director could not remember whether or not I left a prior position to pursue my graduate degree or left after receiving in. I still can't decide if that is a good sign or a bad. Hopefully, a good one meaning they cared enough to want to have all of the facts right. I spoke briefly to my networking in and he says that as far as he knows, they haven't made a decision yet. I am going to send out formalize thank you notes in addition to the thank you emails that I have already sent. I am hoping that it sways them. I never thought that at 25, I would feel as though everything is so bleak I've searched for almost three years now to find a job in my graduate degree field with no avail. I have however spent plenty of time in retail looking for a way in and up. I did make it to department manager for a large retail chain and to assistant store manager for a smaller one. But still, I was hoping, for more based on interpersonal skills, experience and school. No such luck. I call it luck because ambition and motivation have failed. It is exhausting to be driven and go nowhere, although, I assume that would make me a great NASCAR driver. Just keep driving until the race ends, go fast, go hard. You still end up going nowhere. They say try this job website or that. They say network. I have regularly gone to networking events since graduation in May 2010. I smile, I firmly shake hands and I give strangers my business card and resume. Not only that, I give them a piece of my desire to land a career. Floating from retail positions, only builds my resume in one direction. They don't see that I have counseled, trained and developed a team. When they see retail, they picture me with a name tag, behind a cash register, getting yelled at by some middle aged slob because I didn't fold that shirt to her liking before putting in the bag. Here is what you should see, someone bright and ambitious. Ask me about my experience in the Academic Judiciary or as Treasurer for Student Government. See my presentation skills, in my stories about being a Teaching Assistant and running training seminars for the staff and for other building leaders. Understand, that although I fit the birth year definition of a Millennial that I am not shiftless or lazy or living off my parents with a big entitled grin on my face. Understand that the customer services that I have learned from retail, translate to being able to placate delicate situations and show that my interpersonal skills are among the better out there. Read my cover letters specifically tailored to each position that I apply for. See that they are not only position specific but tell stories that my resume cannot. See the story about working with autistic youth or volunteering for an arts council and homeless shelter. See what I see in myself and you will see why not interviewing me wasn't a mutually beneficial decision. But, perspective employers can't see that, no matter how pressed my suit is at networking events, no matter how calm, informed and articulate I am during interviews. And because they don't see anything in me, I am starting to doubt myself and once that doubt fully creeps in, I truly will have no future.

My daughter's unemployment

This is not my unemployment story, but the toll that my daughter's unemployment has taken on me and her. I was lucky. I got a master's degree and had job security for life. A job in 30 days after graduating. My daughter has a master" degree in Library Science and is underemployed at a library that seems to be hell bent on proving that no one who works there and then earns the degree will get anywhere. She works part time. She has been working on a computer certificate and is in an internship for web design but still no offers of employment or any recognition from her employer. It is disheartening to hear more fortunate family members behave as if she is not trying hard enough. One member told me"well she isn't getting any younger." She must apply to 20 jobs a week for the past 3 years. It has made me depressed an anxious about her future to the extent that I can barely sleep some nights. I think about the waste of her talent. She graduated with honors from college and a high GPA from high school even with learning disabilities and ADHD. She was bullied throughout grade school but still fought her way through. Still no reward only criticism. I want to avoid family and friends whose children have had more luck. One friend especially rubs it in. I have lost faith in America. My father was a WWII vet disabled in the Battle of the Bulge (but he still worked all his life) and why did he do that - so his granddaughter could be treated like scum and passed over for employment.

Previously The full archive of our "Unemployment Stories" series can be found here (http://gawker.com/hello-from-the-underclass/). [Thanks to everyone who wrote in. You can send your own unemployment story here (mailto:Hamilton@Gawker.com).]
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Author is participating Indiscriminate Dumb Baby (

(/posts/477044340/reply)

29 participants DJHads (http://djhads.kinja.

(/posts/477044354/reply)

Gawker, why did you publish the letter titled, These stories go to show how many bad "Great Depression, Part Two" ??? The man is a domestic violence abuser. He admits to "exploding" in anger at his wife and kids. She got a restraining order against him. But then, because of the nature of the cycle of domestic violence, she took him back. Y ou should not have published his letter. His letter is the longest, by far no surprise, because he seems so absolutely self-focused, selfish and narcissistic and all it does is justify his abuse of his wife and children. "Unemployment Stories" is a great feature you guys do, but to give voice to this violent abuser come on. His problem isn't joblessness. His problem is himself and his constant justifying of everything. Nothing's his fault, see? Because it's just everyone against HIM. Poor man. He's probably white I'm so tired of entitled white men blaming everyone else for the abuse they dish out. He wouldn't "explode" at his wife if she only was more understanding. He wouldn't be so other way around? Hmm.) degree options there are in college. Listen, I feel for all of these people, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how you can not even get a job. When I got out of college, I couldn't get even a sniff at an interview in my field (Software Engineering). After about 3 months, I decided that a job is a job and looked for ANY job. While I was turned down for jobs like stocking shelves for being way over qualified, I had some minor bites. I was all geared up to work for Best Buy, which in my mind, was temporary. I received a call from a staffing firm. They got me an interview for a contract position and I got the job. It wasn't a development job, but it got my foot in the door and I've worked hard to get to the goal becoming a developer or engineer. I've never looked back. I've been in my field now for 10 years. Three companies later, I still get calls for potential jobs out there. There are LOTS of jobs out there. There are many things that possible come While I see a lot of explanation of why these people are work capable, it doesn't always translate to valuable. I've been on both sides

angry if he hadn't lost his job. (Maybe it's the into play when it comes to not getting a job.

I have an incredible amount of compassion for jobless folks I myself spent about 8 months "jobless" (I worked part-time at Target, so I wasn't technically "jobless") when the Barnes & Noble at which I was a manager closed in 2010, so I understand how terrifying it is. But, come on this guy is a domestic violence abuser. He admits he stalked his wife. Just have some standards, Gawker, okay?

of the interview. Y our resumes show your capabilities, but they need to see your personality and possibly how you problem solve. Get out of your comfort zone and be aggressive.

2/25/13 2:56pm (http://gawker.com/these-stories-go-to-show-how-many-bad-degree

dogmaticequation (http://we
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Just because there are jobs in your 'field' in 2/25/13 2:45pm (http://gawker.com/gawker-why-did-you-publish-the-letter-titled-great-d-477044340) your location does not mean that there are carveitlikeapumpkin(nee qu opportunities like that everywhere else. Y our relativistic views limit your understanding.
(/posts/477044342/reply) 2/25/13 3:38pm (http://gawker.com/just-because-there-are-jobs-in-your-field-in-you

Its amazing how little awareness people who have never been around abusers have for classic symptoms of abuse. I'm willing to bet it never even crossed the poster's mind. Um Ah (http://umah.kinja.co
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My degree is in STEM, but I'll never use it 2/25/13 2:51pm (http://gawker.com/its-amazing-how-little-awareness-people-who-have-never-477044342) directly. A Bachelor's (of any kind) is useless Annan_Water (http://annan
(/posts/477044345/reply)

in that way. When an employer posts a job, they are inundated with a FLOOD of resumes. So many that they're looking for any excuse to trim the pile down to size (never mind that they're morons for relying on dead trees to find talent), so if a resume doesn't list a degree or the "wrong" degree it goes in the trash. My advice would be: get a degree but do

Not to mention the utter refusal to seek treatment for his mental health issues, despite his family asking him to multiple times.

16 participants 2/25/13 2:52pm (http://gawker.com/not-to-mention-the-utter-refusal-to-seek-treatment-for-477044345)

PatentBuddy and 27 others... Stickfig13 (http://stickfig13.ki

(/posts/477044295/reply) your best to not go into debt over it. Work

"I'd take the terrible, boring jobs so many of my contemporaries accept without complaint, but I'm so depressed over my state in life I can't seem to find the energy to care enough to survive." This sounds more like a mental health issue than and unemployment issue. Go talk to someone....

part time, haul garbage, do whatever but avoid those loans like the plague because you WON'T be able to pay them off anytime soon.

2/25/13 3:46pm (http://gawker.com/my-degree-is-in-stem-but-ill-never-use-it-directl

3 participants

dogmaticequation and 25 others...

Thidrekr (http://thidrekr.kinj
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2/25/13 2:07pm (http://gawker.com/id-take-the-terrible-boring-jobs-so-many-of-my-contem-477044295)

cepalg (http://cepalg.kinja.c
(/posts/477044298/reply)

The woman living in Michigan either needs to set her sights lowerconsider working in local TV news in some capacity (there are more than just journalists needed)or move where the action in film isNew Y ork City or Los Angeles. Michigan, in the last few years, introduced a series of very competitive film/TV tax credits, so perhaps I can see where the initial environment and they got burned when the state's GOP governor pushed to get the tax credits revoked and Hollywood immediately fled. The credits were restored from what I hear, but Michigan is likely never going to be a top destination for film production, especially when Ontario, which has a highly supportive government, stable tax credits

it's almost as though unemployment has psychological effects on people, whodafuckinthunkit.

2/25/13 2:11pm (http://gawker.com/its-almost-as-though-unemployment-has-psychological-eff-477044298)

Stickfig13 (http://stickfig13.ki

(/posts/477044301/reply) allure started, but it's a very unstable

I get it, but saying you can't find the energy to survive is either a little dramatic or 10 participants signalling something else GingerBelvoir (http://gingerb
cepalg and 12 others...

2/25/13 2:12pm (http://gawker.com/i-get-it-but-saying-you-cant-find-the-energy-to-surviv-477044301)

(/posts/477044300/reply)

To the Film grad from Michigan: Cleveland is getting a lot of film work these days. The Captain America sequel is filming here this summer and they just announced on the news last week that they are accepting resumes for work on the movie (I don't know the website, sorry, but try one of our local news affiliates - wkyc.com. That's where I saw the story). There's a lot of film work in Toronto, too. I know you said it's not easy for you to move but perhaps those areas are close enough for you that a move is feasible. I feel for you...it seems like film industry work in Michigan just dried up overnight. Good luck to you and all of the other letter writers here.

and an army full of existing industries and qualified individuals, is next door.

2/25/13 2:17pm (http://gawker.com/the-woman-living-in-michigan-either-needs-to-se

factsnotfiction (http://factsno
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Why should some businesses get special tax breaks? Politicians especially Democrats love the tout the jobs create, yet ignore the greater number of jobs lost due to the fact that other businesses have to pay more taxes to compensate.

2/25/13 2:59pm (http://gawker.com/why-should-some-businesses-get-special-tax-bre

NCR (http://ncr.kinja.com)
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2/25/13 2:12pm (http://gawker.com/to-the-film-grad-from-michigan-cleveland-is-getting-a-477044300)

whatamigonnadowithagunr

No, no no. I'm a 26 year old film female grad from Michigan and it's just as bad out few days once every few months. Despite working for free for a number of different projects in different positions for experience on top of the gigging, I still am told I don't have enough experience for an entry level would consist of making copies and doing

(/posts/477044308/reply) here in LA. I'm lucky if I get a paid gig for a

Toronto film work will require that Film Grad is part of a certain union, which is Canadian. Not a good idea. But I agree with the moving idea. Film can be fickle, and it moves a lot.

office job on a show - which pretty much 2/25/13 2:17pm (http://gawker.com/toronto-film-work-will-require-that-film-grad-is-part-o-477044308) Thidrekr (http://thidrekr.kinj runs. I've been turned down for jobs simply for being female (and I know this from
(/posts/477044309/reply) people who worked at these places). I have

The tax credits also generally require that the interviewed for multiple regular day jobs and production crew be made up of Canadian citizens and permanent residents to qualify. At the end of the day, it's solely about 11 participants propping up and supporting the Canadian can't even seem to get a job at Starbucks. The only difference being in LA would mean is that she'd be paying at least three times what she'd pay in rent in MI, and

TV/film industry. considering she's already living with her Arden (http://arden.kinja.com) 2/25/13 2:20pm (http://gawker.com/the-tax-credits-also-generally-require-that-the-product-477044309) parents I bet that's not really an option. I'm
Frank Bromley and 6 others...
(/posts/477044440/reply)

starting to seriously consider a change of career myself, grad school, and/or moving back to MI (something which I never wanted to do). At least I could get a house and the mortgage payment would be half of what I pay in rent a month. In short, if the girl in MI is reading this. Don't move to LA to be in entertainment.

The problem is that parents and adults are still teaching their children how valuable a degree is because that's EXACTLY how it was for them when they grew up. In my father's day, when he got that engineering degree, he WAS an Engineer. All he had to do was wait for the first letter to come back

saying "yes," he wouldn't spend six years as a Don't move to LA unless you 100% have a job. Don't do it unless you want to work in Sandwich Maker or call center tech support before that happened. He was already in. And adults are still feeding children that world view from when they were in college. "Y our degree is your Golden Ticket," or "It doesn't matter what your degree is in, companies just want to see that you HAVE one and you're set," or even my favorite from my mother, "So what if you're not too familiar with some of the programs listed on their requirements section on the job posting. They don't expect you to be fluent in it, they're more than willing to teach you." ( laughed and cried for an hour) TV or the occasional low-paying (if at all) music video or commercial and pay way more just to survive. Films usually go elsewhere because it's cheaper. Take this as an opportunity to either find a different career or to work on a creative project that you want to do. But don't move to LA, I'm just as depressed and unemployed here it just costs way more. (Though the weather is nice.)

2/25/13 3:16pm (http://gawker.com/no-no-no-im-a-26-year-old-film-female-grad-from Thidrekr

It's damaging! I speak from personal experience. I graduated college in 2009 and the world could not give any less of a shit that I had my degree. I STILL don't have a job in my field, and the "worst possible scenario" I was ever given by an adult growing up was maybe a year from college to career. MAYBE. Here it is coming up on 4 years now and still nothing.

12 participants cuttydiamond (http://cuttydia

(/posts/477044305/reply)

I'm sorry, but in at least 2 of the stories these people got useless degrees and are pissed that they can't find jobs. Oh, you're a film major in the midwest unwilling to move elsewhere?

I'm going to be 29 here soon. I'm going to be Interesting, can you please hurry up with my coffee? almost old enough that the point people in their careers are hitting their second promotion, and I'm still scraping for entry level or even fucking INTERNSHIP positions. Positions that usually go to people who AREN'T OLD ENOUGH TO DRINK Y ET. nm.QuothTheRaven (http://n
(/posts/477044332/reply)

2/25/13 2:14pm (http://gawker.com/im-sorry-but-in-at-least-2-of-the-stories-these-pe

That's why I don't have a college degree. I'm interested in history/sociology. Unsure who would hire me for that degree alone?

2/25/13 4:42pm (http://gawker.com/the-problem-is-that-parents-and-adults-are-still-teachi-477044440)

I'm here mostly for the chick

(/posts/477044450/reply)

2/25/13 2:36pm (http://gawker.com/thats-why-i-dont-have-a-college-degree-im-inte

cuttydiamond (http://cuttydia
(/posts/477044358/reply)

Y ou absolutely need a four-year degree. That part hasn't changed in the slightest. It's just that jobs that used to simply require a HS diploma now require a BA. It's the same thing now, only a graduate degree is a golden ticket* *from a decent school **if you can't get passable work with a graduate degree from a decent school you're doing it wrong

That's the problem these days, all these kids have been told that they can be whatever they want so they go to school and study history or whatever because it interests them but then they have no job skills when they get out. Y ou'd be better off getting a technical degree fixing air conditioners and study history on your own time after work. 4 participants

2/25/13 3:01pm (http://gawker.com/thats-the-problem-these-days-all-these-kids-have

2/25/13 4:55pm (http://gawker.com/you-absolutely-need-a-four-year-degree-that-part-hasn-477044450) ArchibaldPhilpotts (http://arc emdroid and 8 others...

roogers (http://roogers.kinja
(/posts/477044484/reply)

(/posts/477044335/reply)

I'm usually very sympathetic to these and I enjoy reading other people's stories, mostly because I went through a period of unemployment myself (exactly a year ago); now I have a decent job that I am admittedly unhappy with, so they remind me to suck it up and be grateful for what I have. BUT, these have to be some of the worst letters I have seen in this series yet. I hate it when other people get all "victim-blamey," but these letters are extremely whiny and are just inviting the "no one owes you anything" comments. And based on their inability to construct a sentence, I don't see any of them as having basic qualifications for any entrylevel position (especially the 2nd guy...)! Really Gawker, were there just not a lot of

This is so true. I'm sorry, but people over 35, stop trying to tell Millennials to just buckle down and do what you did when you were younger. Y ou don't have the level of debt that Millennials do, and the world just isn't the same. If I have to hear another smug story of "I ate Ramen throughout college and graduated without debt, I took whatever job I could get because no one told me I was a special snowflake and now I'm successful!" I might barf.

2/25/13 8:28pm (http://gawker.com/this-is-so-true-im-sorry-but-people-over-35-stop-try-477044484)

2 participants Michelle Pierson and 7 others... billc124 (http://billc124.kinja.

(/posts/477044371/reply) submissions for this volume? How did you

Getting a film degree then complaining you then you can complain.

decide these would be the letters you'd would have passed them right up. P.S. I really know nothing of film school or anything, but something tells me you can't just go to film school and then expect to find

can't get a job in your field? Get a real degree publish? Because if I'd seen any of these, I
2/25/13 3:10pm (http://gawker.com/getting-a-film-degree-then-complaining-you-cant-get-a-j-477044371)

tripsonthestars (http://tripso

(/posts/477044451/reply) a job right out of receiving your

Or move to Vancouver or LA? Or even Cleveland? Look if you have a degree in a specialty that is geographically limited, it seems to me you should be willing to move there for work.

BA...especially in MI, no matter what they were saying about the potential for jobs in film way back when. I'm from MI as well, and I pretty much ignored everyone when they talked about the potential for jobs! people saying so (or news outlets hyping the

because it was mostly older out of touch 2/25/13 5:01pm (http://gawker.com/or-move-to-vancouver-or-la-or-even-cleveland-look-if-477044451) ShaunKennedy (http://shaun shit out of all that), or, you know, people who assumed you could just get hired for a degree.

(/posts/477044490/reply) job on a film set because you have a film

Heh. In all seriousness, I did kind of doubleI was supposed to do" and then followed with "got a degree in film." If you're trying to get a job in a field that is 99% networking, you're really supposed to schmooze and bullshit with absolutely anyone and everyone in your area who is even tangentially related to the field. That said, I can't blame them because they really sound like yet another sad case who was brainwashed by their parent(s) into thinking a degree unlocks the secrets of the universe. Ralph_Holden (http://ralph_h

take when it started with "I did all the things 2/25/13 2:41pm (http://gawker.com/im-usually-very-sympathetic-to-these-and-i-enjoy newsrat (http://newsrat.kinj
(/posts/477044395/reply)

I felt the same way... I was all complaint this morning about my job, and i read these and "whelp, I have one" Part of what makes me read these is to help me both understand the position many people are in, but also make me so so so thankful that I can put food on the table.

2/25/13 3:33pm (http://gawker.com/i-felt-the-same-way-i-was-all-complaint-this-mor

2/25/13 9:18pm (http://gawker.com/heh-in-all-seriousness-i-did-kind-of-double-take-when-477044490)

NotCoolBrobama2 (http://no

(/posts/477044363/reply)

Another week. Another collection of unemployment stories. I honestly feel inclined to put in my 2 cents every week. First letter, you mention "decent employment", and I just wonder what does it exactly mean? A 90k salary? Manager of a company? Office job with great perks and benefits? Did you get an internships? Did you do volunteer work? Looks like a big fat 'NO'. In other words, what did you put on your resume - a part time position at Chilli's? That won't fly even with a secretarial position. My advice, take whatever job you can and stop complaining about getting 'decent employment'. No one gets their dream jobs as soon as they graduate. Y ou work your way up!

(/posts/477044399/reply)

I wonder if the letters getting worse means the economy is improving? Maybe there aren't so many "normals" who are desperately unemployed anymore.

2/25/13 3:36pm (http://gawker.com/i-wonder-if-the-letters-getting-worse-means-the ArchibaldPhilpotts and one other...

2/25/13 3:04pm (http://gawker.com/another-week-another-collection-of-unemployment-storie-477044363)

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