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.