Entry Level Limbo

I have been seeking an entry level job. I have a BS in Chemical Engineering but no relevant job experience to go with it, just my summer jobs which did give me valuable experiences but unfortunately were not directly related to my field. I have found many websites that are supposed to be specifically for finding entry level jobs but I think there is a disconnect. For some reason most entry level jobs seem to require 3-5 years of experience in some very specific field, which is contrary to what I always thought an entry level job was. To me, and entry level job is for someone who probably has the education for the area of expertise that the job is in but is lacking the real world experience in the field they are trying to enter into. The entry level job is supposed to give this person experience in the field, it's probably relatively low paying tedious work but you have to start at the bottom. Few of the "entry level" jobs I find posted meet this criteria. Maybe my definition is wrong, so I did what I normally do when I have a question, I googled "the definition of entry level." Here is what I found:

From yourdictionary.com - Entry Level: adjective, designating or of a job or position offered to an inexperienced person, that usually pays low wages but provides training and experience and the prospect of future advancement
From thefreedictionary.com - Entry Level: adjective, Appropriate for or accessible to one who is inexperienced in a field or new to a market
From merriam-webster.com - Entry Level: adjective, of or being at the lowest level of a hierarchy
From dictionary.reference.com - Entry Level: adjective, of, pertaining to, or filling a low-level job in which an employee may gain experience or skills: This year's college graduates have a limited choice of entry-level jobs. (Yes that is the sample sentence given by dictionary.com when you look at the definition of entry level, definitely adds to my already astounding optimism.)

Well, based on these definitions I don't think that my own is completely off mark. I really wish that employers used these definitions as well. I spend a lot of time wandering through websites seeking the jobs that I am qualified for and I really wish that when I say to limit the search to entry level positions that the results would be entry level positions, meaning ones the require less than a year of experience and not ones that want me to have 3-5 years in something highly specific. I have wasted a lot of time reading through the job descriptions for supposed entry level jobs only to read the list of requirements and find that I am no where near qualified.
I know that recent college graduates are finding it hard to find entry level jobs and I am not the only one. The problem is that employers are now just using "entry level" as code for we want someone with experience that we don't have to pay a lot to. Employers don't seem to want an inexperienced college graduate when they can get an experienced employee for the same price. This doesn't surprise me, but it is short sighted. Employers may be able to get experienced employees for cheap now, but what are they creating, a group of current college graduates who are unable to get that magical 2-3 years of experience but it saves money now so screw the future.

Well, I am stuck. I have a BS in chemical engineering but no experience to go with it which means I have no hope of getting a job but without a job I can't get that experience. I am so sick of constantly trying to explain my situation to the previous generations. They decided they wanted a job and they went out and got one, therefore I must be lazy and doing something wrong because I am not employed. I came across a lot of comments and blogs that where thought provoking to me as I did some research for this post so I certainly will be commenting on the generational disconnect in a future blog. In the meantime I will continue to search for the elusive entry level job that does not require experience that at this rate I will never have ... and don't say volunteer I so tired of the response to lack of experience being to volunteer. I am broke, I have college loans, I can't volunteer. I don't expect to have a job that makes me happy, or makes me a lot of money. I just need a job to provide me with experience and pay me enough so I can live in a tiny apartment, eat ramen noodles and at least start to make some payments on my college loans. I don't think an entry level job is too much to ask, if they still existed.

I think that my real concern is the disconnect between what many of us were taught in college and the reality of the current business world. It use to be that a company was willing to take a recent college grad with little to no experience and train them to know what they wanted for them to be an effective employee at the company. Now, companies know that employee retention has declined. They don't want to waste their money to train the employee that is only going to stick around for a couple years. They can get the more experienced employee who already knows something about the job for the same low price and won't waste as much money in the training. I don't know how new college grads can compensate for this. Even an internship isn't a lot of experience, it's only a few months of work, not the years of specialized experience that I see employers asking for. No recent college grad is going to have a huge amount of experience, I always thought that this was what the entry level job was for. I thought that I have a useful degree and potential to be a good employee at a company so somebody would want to hire me and yes I would have a lot to learn but I'd be working hard and not being paid that well but that's how it goes. I didn't expect a job to be handed to me but I expected there to be options out there. I know there are the companies out there that are still taking us recent college grads but there aren't enough jobs out there for all and the competition is so incredibly fierce. There are just way too many qualified people also applying for every job I apply for and I just don't have those connections to get me noticed.

Between college and industry, they need to figure out something that will take us out of this odd limbo that so many of us find ourselves in. I've got the degree but I don't have the 3-5 years of experience to get the entry level job, but if I can't get the job then how do I ever get that experience. Well, since I am still in limbo I guess I'll just keep writing and drawing and applying to many jobs I will never hear back from.

My Experiment in Cryogenics

I just read an article from The Onion, "New College Graduates to be Cryogenically Frozen Until Job Market Improves." As a recent college graduate (I haven't been out a year yet) I found it hilarious, and sad, and terrifying. I went into college in the fall of 2005. I was happy and even optimistic much to my surprise given my usually cynical nature. I was going to pick a useful major, work hard for four years, and try to mix in a little fun when I could too. I was going to figure out how to balance it and graduate with my BS in Chemical Engineering and then I would have a career. Little did my freshman self know what was in store for me. I had the pleasure of seeing the economy and the job market sink lower and lower as my graduation date approached.

Freshman year: I was going to succeed after college, I was one of the few people in my family to get a college degree so I knew what an advantage it would give me. Sophomore year: classes were harder and I realized I wasn't going to be at the top of my class but I was still decent enough and someone was going to want an average chemical engineer, right? Junior year: Classes were really hard so there was little time to think of much else though I did notice that it was a lot harder to get an internship and didn't get one but I knew that I was a hard worker and good learner and would still graduate with a valuable degree so what was a summer spent working in a grocery store compared to that. Senior year: the economy finally decided to all out kick it and half the employers that were supposed to show up on our campus that year just decided not too, I did some interviews but it seemed everyone was on a hiring freeze. Then we bailed out the banks, and the stock market came back, and we were told the economy was recovering. The people who say that don't seem to have talked to anyone that graduated in my year. I dreaded going back to my college for homecoming, I must really be a slacker to not have gotten a job now that the economy is fixed right? Then I went to homecoming and was greeted by many of my fellow classmates who were rarely employed, underemployed, not using their degrees at all for their jobs, and living with their parents. I was considered lucky because I have been living with my boyfriend's family instead of my own.

I know I am not alone. However, knowing I am not alone doesn't make me feel any less like a useless waste of space. It seems that my degree qualifies for very little since I search for entry level jobs and most somehow require at least three years in some very specific area of with some type of training. I seem to be competing with hundreds of applicants for anything I apply for. Any time I think I have even the smallest chance it is crushed. I have given in to the fact that I will never achieve what I could have if I had been born a few years earlier.

Now I face the terrifying prospect of battle against all those that will graduate in May. They will be fresh and new and companies will take them over me and my fellow classmates who have been out of college a year and unemployed or working some random job just to get by. They will not have a year long gap in their resume being held against them even though employers only have to read the headlines to know why it is there. I fear that our year will simply be skipped, no one seems to have any interest in making sure that we someday will find employment. They keep patting themselves on the back because the unemployment statistic is not even decreasing but at least remaining constant, well I am not even counted in that statistic along with so many others.

I had hoped that someone, somewhere would want someone with a chemical engineering degree. I know I am lacking in experience but I am willing to learn whatever I need to on the job. I had always been told that it was more important that I could get along with people and communicate effectively and that experience was something I would gain once I started working. Now there is no lack of older and more experienced workers vying for the same positions as me and no one seems to be willing to give me that magical one to two years of experience I need to have any chance at gainful employment.

I don't need to be cryogenically frozen. This past year of my life has been me frozen in time, and unfortunately college loans don't freeze just because I have. I have lost this year and I'm not going to get it back. I try not to feel completely hopeless but it has been a long year of being broke and feeling useless, it has left its mark. The politicians and companies in control are simply going to pretend I don't exist and continue to shout that things are getting better despite all the indications because it is easier to pretend that things are getting better than acknowledge the dire situation we truly find ourselves in and strive to make it better.

A Moment

I am stuck. I use to write a lot, the stories just happened. Now, I am out of practice and it doesn't come as easily to me. I keep imagining this scene but that is all I get. I can write about this moment in time but I can't get beyond it. There is not plot, and the characters don't even have names. I don't know what comes before this moment or after. I just know that there was this moment in time for these two characters but I can't seem to get beyond that moment. Here is what I've written so far:

He glimpsed movement from across the clearing. Thinking it strange that there might be anyone else in these woods, he ventured closer. He realized that the surrounding forest was devoid of its usual noises. The customary chattering of the birds and animals was gone and in its place an odd silence. He traversed the leaf-strewn ground as quietly as he could. There was a deep chill in air, beyond what would be expected on a crisp fall day. He crouched behind a tree and finally laid eyes on the creature that had so disturbed his forest.

She had her back to him. His first thought was to wonder who would wear a gown of such a shimmering white while wondering in the woods, She meandered alongside a spring which had been reduced to a trickle in the absence of rainfall. He could see the fabric ripple with every breath of the wind and the hem brushed along the dried grass. Her feet were bare and tread the ground with barely a sound. Her hair was dark as night, yet shone with an odd luminescence. It cascaded to the small of her back. The tension had grown in his legs from crouching, to relieve the strain he fell back on his heals. There was a horrendously loud crack as his heal snapped a dry twig. Her head snapped around to look in the direction of the noise, in the direction of his hiding place. He drew in his breath, then released quietly as he could. He felt his heart race and thought it impossible that anybody in the vicinity could not hear it pound its agitated beat.

Now he could see her face. Her skin was oddly pale and gleamed as though touched by moonlight and glowed in contrast to the dusky forest surrounding her. Her eyes were an odd icy blue that he had never seen before and were now focused in his direction. Her lips were pale and drawn tightly together. She had stopped walking and was now standing there facing him. He felt his chest tighten. He thought of running but knew that she would see him. He knew the forest but he had never seen anyone move through it the way she did. He knew that no amount of running would let him escape those piercing eyes. She took one slow step in his direction and he felt his heart pound, trying to escape his chest. She began striding toward him. He could not keep looking into those brilliant eyes so instead he watched her feet as they made each confident step. As she drew closer, he noticed with astonishment that as she walked she left a coating of frost on the grass she tread over.

She stopped a few feet in front of the tree he had hid behind. He felt a chill run throughout his body as he felt compelled to rise. He stood and stepped from behind the shelter of the tree trunk. Now he was caught in the full force of her eyes. She closed the gap between them and whispered, “Now what do we have here?”

He couldn't respond. There were no words. His mind was blank. There was nothing except for those eyes that held him motionless.

“What to do with you,” she murmured to herself.