Unemployment
I hate being unemployed. Hate it hate it hate it. The boredom is bad enough by itself, but when you add frustration, depression, and insomnia, it becomes downright soul-crushing. They always told us that networking is the key to finding jobs, but they really never tell you how to do it.
Well, guess what? I’m a recent college grad. I have no network in the real world where all the jobs are. Nobody out here knows anything about me. It doesn’t matter if my professors thought I was one of the best editors they’d ever seen. It doesn’t matter if one professor told me after the final that I could have been teaching the class instead of taking it.
And to make things worse, there are absolutely no jobs being posted right now. Even if I find something, how do I convince them that I really am what I claim to be? My last boss never seemed to realize that I had real work experience before graduation, even though it was right there on my resume. Apparently she thought it was all a bunch of extracurricular activities or something. Well, guess what? They may have been part-time campus jobs, but they were real jobs that required real skills and real knowledge.
I can do a hell of a lot more than just proofreading, but now I’m afraid that no one will really believe me if I tell them that. My last boss hired me despite my perceived lack of experience, and she seemed to think that I needed a lot of handholding and micromanagement. I don’t want any more of that. I want to find a job that’s fitting. Is that really so much to ask?
COMMENTS
3 thoughts on “Unemployment”
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Ruth
:( I don’t think it is. Real people get good jobs all the time; it’s just a matter of finding them. As for networking, I’m stumped there. I wish I had a solution for you.
cicada
You ARE one of the two best editors I’ve ever worked with, Ambrosia being the other (Ruth, I never actually worked with you, so I can’t count you). I think that Utah is a pretty hard place to find editing work, so maybe that complicates things. I can only imagine how tough this is since I’m too scared to even graduate. Also, I had a dream that Linda Adams HATED me, which pretty much screwed me over in the Utah editing scene for life.
Ambrosia
Yeah. I wish I could help you with this. I’m pretty much failing at it myself. No one seems to want editors. Oooh, except for questionable quasi-health product companies in Idaho. They’re desperate for good editors (and a few other things, I’m sure). Real life is depressing. Apparently people don’t believe in paying for skilled workers.
And yes, you are one of the best editors I know. Your Chicago kicks my Chicago’s trash any day of the week. If I ever have any worthwhile connections, I’ll be begging you to come and edit. (You know, you, Ruth, Cice, and I–we should start an editors’ guild and take over the world.)
Best of luck with this. If I hear of anything, I’ll let you know.