I graduated in 91 and spent the next 6 years working DEAD END Jobs. Eventually, I got my class A cdl while working part time at a bar(cook/barback/doorman-—the grunt jobs) for extra cash.
After several years of pulling double duty with two jobs, I saved up enough money to BUY the bar. I’m not at all rich but I don’t starve.
Nobody gave it to me, I had to earn it. So shall these new college grads. Most of us will start at the basement and crawl our way up the rusted,rotten, ladder of success doing tasks we NEVER imagined we’d be doing but we do it anyway to achieve the American Dream and the Dream is NOT at all like Hollywood describes it.
From what I’ve read on FR, my story is one of many.
Yup. Graduated in ‘90 with a computer engineering degree, spent the next 1.5 years doing telephone-based tech support. Market sucked then too; wasn’t dead-end, but was “underemployed” given the degree. In no way did I blame the degree, in no way did I whine and moan; that was the reality of the job market at the time, I got what I could and did what I could with it.
A degree is Gladwell’s “10,000 hours” packaged and certified; it’s no guarantee of anything. If suitable jobs aren’t out there, having a piece of paper won’t create one.