Some thoughts

At this point in my life, everything is up in the air, and economically our country is in a dark place. I’ve heard multiple opinions on the subject. Some believe that we are pulling out of our recession and we will be back to “normal” employment and GDP levels in the relatively near future. Others believe that where we are right now is the new “normal”, and it will take some new development or global event to raise our economy to the levels it was at in the 90’s. I don’t know…well, nobody knows what the correct view is. As dark and discouraging as this recession has been, I can’t help but feel slightly excited knowing that I’m living through a very ground breaking time, economically speaking (remember, economics major here). Here are some things I’ve noted recently:

One common thread that keeps popping up in conversations that I’ve read online and ones that I have had with friends: “The job market has changed over the past five years, and it’s harder than ever to get into a career right now.” Most of my friends are around my age, so we are all in the same boat when it comes to job searching and a career. That is, most of us have part time jobs, we have recently graduated from college and we are anxiously pursuing any leads we can find. Some people have described their current job seeking experience as “fighting the mob,” and I’d have to agree with them. Jobs are scarce, and the unemployed are plenty. I recently joined the professional networking site LinkedIn, which is basically just Facebook but for job hunting/professional networking. I’ve joined some groups and am expanding my network, all in the hope that a position will turn up that might lead me to my career job (which, in case you don’t know, is economic research/policy analysis). The discussions taking place in those groups are all pretty much the same: what has your job hunting experience been like? What are you doing to try and stand out in this market? Does anyone know how I can get my foot in the door in such-and-such field? Lots of people are responding to these posts. Some are from experienced business people, explaining what they did when they were entering the job market or how they got into a certain position. Others are from people fresh on the scene sharing ideas and information they’ve gleaned from multiple interviews. All in all, this proves something to me: we are in the process of figuring out this market and adapting. Even though my generation is dealing with an economy and job market the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Great Depression, we are adjusting and learning and trying to gain a better understanding of what it’s going to take to get a leg up in this economy.

That’s a positive sign in my book.

Making my way

Funny…my first post of this year ended with how I was going to be making many decisions in the coming months and about the changes that were going to take place and how I would write about them. I believe I also said I would blog more. Well, that didn’t exactly happen. Seems that when things get really busy for me I drop all documenting activities and just get what needs to be done, done. My fiancée, on the other hand, has the opposite reaction. When things get busy for her she writes either as much or more on her blog than she usually does (in my opinion). Oh yeah, my girlfriend is now my fiancée. That’s one of the big changes that have happened since last I wrote. We were engaged the week before we graduated, at a vineyard about an hour and a half north of Greensboro called Elkin Creek Winery. If you love wine tastings, or have never been to a winery in your life (as I had), I would highly recommend that you take a trip to Elkin. It’s a beautiful vineyard with some great wines and amazing people. Oh, right, I also graduated from UNCG with a Bachelors of Arts in Economics! Finally, I’m done with my undergraduate career. This last semester was extremely hard, but I pulled through it pretty well and was given an outstanding undergraduate student award at the Bryan School graduation ceremony.
Graduating from UNCG was very emotional in the moment, when I was standing in line next to the stage waiting for my name to be called. Everything I had done, everything I had accomplished over the past four years seemed to sweep by me in an instant. Then my name was called, I shook a few hands, grabbed my diploma (which was just an IOU with a nifty cover, which stated that I would get my diploma later), had my picture taken and then sat back down amongst the other Bryan School students. It was a very fast paced day. I graduated, went to dinner with friends and family, and then crashed at my place, preparing to move out the next day as well as see my fiancée graduate. My undergraduate years feel like a separate life now. Even when I think back to my graduation it feels like it happened a long time ago. I’ve been living in Greensboro with my fiancée for about three weeks, and I’m just starting to get used to life outside of academia. Not sitting in class for hours out of the day was something that I quickly adjusted to, but it’s the lack of constant stimulation that’s hard to cope with. I’m trying to keep myself in German and other things, but it’s hard when you don’t have grades and a GPA driving you (I know I complained about the while GPA thing a lot, but it does come in handy once in a while).
I’m currently working part time in Winston-Salem, and also trying to get a job with RTI, a research firm in Cary, NC. RTI does, among other things, economic and social policy research, which I think are two intensely interesting topics. I’m crossing my fingers right now, hoping I can get in. That would be the position that I’d need to start building my career. It would be great. But if it doesn’t work out, that’s ok, there will be other opportunities.
But it would still be really cool if I got it. 
Although being a graduate can be extremely stressful at times, it’s also very satisfying knowing that you’re starting to make your way in the world. Side note: You know at your high school graduation when the speaker said something like “Now is the time that you enter college and go out into the real world and blah blah blah.” Well, in my opinion, you really don’t get into “the real world” until you graduate from college. I thought I was on my own when I moved to Greensboro and started taking classes here. But the last few weeks have taught me that I still have a lot to learn about the world.
Anyway, there’s a lot more I could write about, but I’m going to stop here. I’m not going to end this post with some saying about promising to write more, because I don’t seem to keep those promises. I’ll just write when I can.