I am new here! I hope everyone is dealing with this great depression better than I’ve been!

Those that still have jobs – just be appreciative that you still have a job. I am a professional and have lost my job almost 7 months ago and have done everything under the sun humanly possible to secure a new position. It’s been an extreme challenge for me! I am mostly upset because it’s not like I am a F*** up, stupid, sitting around doing nothing. I graduated with 2 BBA degress from one of the top 20 schools in the nation. Worked in my field for 4 years right out of school and was continuing to further my education while I was employed. Now, I have no job and no money. I am in my mid 20s. I support my disabled mother. I feel so low and a total loser that i can’t provide for my family. I am so used to being an over achiever that me being jobless is like the end of the world for me. I have been living on unemployemnt and some days I run out of money before the next check comes. That is when i would make sure my mother is well fed with good food and I would just eat instant noodles to get by and waiting for pay day. Anyway, I am not trying to play victim, but I feel so alone in this. I am known to be stong, confident, a social butterfly, even vain at times, but now I am known to be MIA. I am too ashamed to tell my friends that I’ve been laid off for this long. They would keep inviting me to places and I would make up so many lies and excuses why I couldn’t go. I would give anything to get back into the work force again. Even if that means taking a $30K paycut!

Why is that so many people are brainwashed into thinking that their current job is the best job they will ever have?

Most entry level jobs are crap. If you are starting to lose your mind and feeling crappy then by all means…QUIT.

Screw this recession. We shouldn’t have to go an early grave because we’re afraid. There could be another job out there that is ten times better.

One question to pose to the “group:” There’s a lot of talk about doing what you love, but what about what you’re good at? Specifically, what if you’ve only found one thing that you really excel at (career-wise), but that career doesn’t pay a lot of money, and sometimes doesn’t even pay a living wage?

Now, obviously, everyone had a range of talents, some discovered and some not, but I feel like out of everything I’ve tried, the only thing that I’m really, truly, awesomely good at is being a stage manager for theater. But it’s hard to break into and even if you do, it’s doesn’t pay well. Should I pursue it anyway, or should I work on jobs that I don’t really like, and that I’m only marginally good at? It seems like some people were just meant to do certain things.

My approach right now it to have streams of income. If there’s another thing that I could say I’m good at, it’s writing, and I make a bit of money from that. I guess if I just do all of the things that I’m good at, in little chunks, maybe all together they’ll add up to enough money to live on. But the whole idea worries me. Sometimes I wish I was an engineer or something more stable… rather than what can be roughly described as “liberal arts talented.”

When I quit my last job, I was totally fed up. I hated it and everyone kept asking me “where are you going to work?” or “what are you going to do?”. When I responded with “nowhere” and “nothing”, they couldn’t understand. Maybe 2% of the people I worked with were able to understand my reasons for quitting without another job waiting for me. Everyone else was too pre-occupied to worry about money, security, and all that other garbage which keeps them up at night.

If you quit your crappy job now, you’ll have much more energy and enthusiasm to find a new job. You’ll be much more upbeat and much more focused to find exactly what you’re looking for. You have to realize that working in a crappy job drains so much energy, it will prevent you from finding your ideal job.

In the end, you’ll understand that work is work is work. It’s not worth destroying your health and relationships for that.

1) You can learn things and pick up new skills from any job, even if the job is totally unrelated to your “dream job.”

2) Work hard and stand out as an excellent employee. Your boss and coworkers could be your future references and networking contacts.

3) Challenge yourself. Even if the work is boring, setting goals for yourself and striving to meet them gives you a reason to keep going.

4) Look for opportunities for advancement. Since I started working at my job, I’ve discovered potential career paths that I never considered before.

5) Learn about yourself and what kind of job you really want. My “dream job” now is very different than what I thought it was when I was in college. I actually suspect that if I had gotten the kind of job I was seeking when I graduated, I wouldn’t have liked it much.

6) Remember, if it were supposed to be fun, they wouldn’t have to pay you to do it. I think a lot of people — especially college students and recent grads — make the mistake of thinking they will find a job that they will really love and enjoy doing. I think it’s important to find a job that interests you or gives you some occasional enjoyment, but every job has its ups and downs. Even those who love their jobs have bad days sometimes and have to do a few things they don’t like. The main reason to have a job is to make money to provide for yourself (and maybe your family) and allow you to do things you really enjoy.

What industry? You ask?

Juvenile justice. Working with young delinquents in detention setting. So sad, unfortunately, but business is booming. Maybe people should consider studying social work!

Frankly, this is the sort of dilemma I’d like to have; right now I’m working only part time in a job far from my desired profession.

I almost got hired by a newspaper company during my last semester (this last fall). I didn’t get the job. Weeks later, they started doing layoffs. By then I had been hired by a different company (where I safely stay, and actually love it). It only struck me recently how lucky I was that I didn’t get that job. I would have been laid off before I had even graduated from college. What a way to start my career.

It will be hard for anyone to find their dream job in this economy, so what you really need is some lowered expectations and a new outlook. Look for jobs that may not pay as well but have a good benefit package (or have one at all), a stronger industry (health care/insurance/discount stores/car repair), etc. In a year or so, you can make that leap into your industry of choice. For now, just go for a job that doesn’t make you want to slit your wrists every day.

I agree with Dan @56. When I graduated from College, I was a soc/english major and an avowed marxist-feminist. But, alas, the only job I could find was as a sales assistant in a brokerage office, yes, the bowels of capitalism! However, in a few months I was able to convince the higher-ups that they should let me use my real skills: I started writing letters and other documents that did use my writing skills, and, of course, I was daily using my sociology skills to figure out what was going on in the office and how best to deal with customers.
Now, it’s true I didn’t stick with that job, and eventually went to graduate school, but like others mentioned, by also developing a lot of outside of work enjoyable experiences, I managed to be happy despite not working in my field at first. In fact, sometimes these days we look back on those days when we just did our jobs and went home and didn’t think about them again as a really nice time. When work bleeds into life it can get overwhelming, no matter how much you love it.

I left a lucrative consulting job (that I loved, in my field) to do Peace Corps and thought that my career would take a hit — it took a little while to find a job afterward, but when I did it was perfect for me & I had almost doubled my pre-PC salary.

After living in Africa for 2 years, I gained great perspective on what it is I actually “needed” and my view of money has helped me embrace a frugal lifestyle.

Also I was surprised to see how many volunteers were there explicitly to advance their careers (which were related to international development, agriculture, business, teaching, public health)

PC is good for you only if:
* You have no dependents
* Your only debt is student loans (which can be deferred)
* You have a college degree or significant work experience

A couple other things:

Internships — graduating from college is not enough to land your dream job. If you are in school and do not take advantage of internships you are cheating yourself & your future!

Whomever said go back to school needs to think twice — student debt NEVER GOES AWAY, even w/ bankruptcy and if you can’t make money from your first education investment, what says you will with your second?

I’ve since learned that this is pretty common, at least for entry level workers.

I never really believed this advice. Then a few weeks ago I got really frustrated at applying for jobs I was uninterested in that were advertised (as well as the multiple unadvertised ones that my networks sent me). I decided to figure out what my passions and skills were and how to apply them to today’s needs. For me that means applying my research and marketing skills to greening businesses. And wouldn’t you know it, I have multiple opportunities at a much higher salary now that wouldn’t have existed if I hadn’t stepped back a bit and thought about my passions and interests.

(I would second the ‘have some savings’ part, though – at least one of my opportunities involves being written into a grant which won’t be awarded for 2 months.)

1. Have your career plan

2. If you’re in a job that doesn’t fit your career plan — it will work out. It’s NOT the end of the world. Work like mad to keep your current job — it’s gold. It’s going to keep you going until something better comes your way. Also work like mad to make your next opportunity.

3. Don’t forget, if you’re just getting started, you are going to start at the bottom. The rest of us did. That’s where you’ll start. You may not be doing what you want. Suck it up and do it anyway until something better comes along.

My first job out of college was as a secretary. Hated it. Made peanuts. Moved on when I could. It took about 10 years to achieve a “comfortable” salary level. Don’t expect the world to work differently for you. If it does great, but then you’re going to have to go out there and do something remarkable to short cut the career curve.

4. Save a little all along the way, so you’ll get the freedom that comes with having enough money to make risky choices.

I’ve known of teachers in our area being pink-slipped left and right because they had multiple subject credentials instead of single subject credentials. People who thought they were secure in their jobs, but with severe financial difficulties in our State (California) in the end, their credentials weren’t adequate.

With so many businesses cutting back, taking losses, and so forth…having full time work is a good thing, and perhaps this person should use this time to save and plan for the future…even if it ends up being years before they can find a new position. If things were to get as bad as the great depression, having a good, solid job is better than having none at all.

Personally, I hate my job. With a passion. I have been saving up and am shortly quitting my job, moving 400 miles back South/home, working part-time, and getting myself prepared in a year’s time to go grad school.

If you have a family, if you have crushing debt, be smart about it. But I have none of these and a fair amount of $$ saved up.

Chase the dream or you’ll kick yourself when you’re 50, wondering “what if”.

Don’t limit your potential for success and happiness solely out of fear of taking a calculated risk that many are too afraid to try.

So I lived on unemployment, enjoying my “temporary” vacation, waiting for the jobs to return. At the time, it was a luxury I felt it was okay to take. BIG MISTAKE.

When unemployment ran out, there were still no jobs, so I tried freelancing (in my field) with a little success, but as my heart wasn’t in it, eventually that dried up, too.

After a couple of years and still no jobs on the horizon, I decided grad school was in order and started down that path, despite being uncertain of what I wanted to do. Then, both of my parents became ill one right after another and I put it all on hold to become their primary caregiver.

They died in 2006.

My field is as dead as they are. So are my college plans because I wasn’t officially IN grad school yet and still have a couple of things to do before I can go.

I live in Ohio, one of the states featuring the worst unemployment and foreclosure rates in the country.

There are no jobs.

My emergency savings? It’s almost gone and I’ve gone to great lengths to stretch it this far. I’m single. I have no husband, no kids, nobody left to help. The estate has been tied up for 2.5 years because of a stipulation that the rental home they owned needs to be sold before the Will can be settled.

It’s in such disrepair, it’s not rentable at this point, and I don’t have the $50,000 it would take to make it so. Because I haven’t had a job since 2002, nobody will give me a loan.

And there are still no jobs that fit my skill set, and if you know anything about the minimum wage employers, they tend to avoid hiring college grads for fear that the employee will leave after six months of rigorous training the moment a job in their field becomes available.

Yet, somehow, I’m maintaining a positive attitude. Most of the time. But if anyone has ANY ideas short of winning the lottery, which I plan to do tonight, let me know.

Keep the job. You have one. It sucks. Treasure it anyway until things get better, THEN go after a dream.

And employers can spot the “I went to grad school because I didn’t know what else to do” tactic a mile away.

2.) Let people know you’re looking (not your co-workers or your boss though, obviously). They’ll let you know if something’s open, or they’ll keep an eye out for you.

3.) DON’T automatically set your heart on grad school if you can’t find a job you can live with. In my field (IR), the really good grad programs don’t want you unless you have work experience. And, as someone who used to work in graduate admissions, I can honestly say that it’s the students who’ve had the work experience — no matter what kind of work — who really get something out of grad school because they know how the coursework applies to them, what they’ve done, and what they want to do.

4.) If your job situation is toxic, get another job — even if it’s part time — and get out. Being at work with someone you want to murder can drive you postal.

5.) Every job has something about it that’ll drive you nuts (for example, my co-workers usually make me want to hit a wall). But look for the bright side in your work. You’d be surprised what kind of weird and valuable stuff you can learn, even in a job that isn’t “perfect”.

6.) Always be looking for opportunity. You never know what will come along and smack you in the face.

I think everyone here would agree with you. But just because the economy is bad doesn’t mean there are no opportunities right now.

The sentiment I see hear is “if you aren’t happy, look around, see what you find, maybe the right thing is out there” and not, as you seem to be implying “If it’s not your dream job then quit and worry about the consequences later”

I think most people here would advise the prudent route of sticking it out but keeping your eyes open. Sometimes things are unpleasant and you must buck up and deal with it, but part of dealing with it can include looking for a new opportunity.