The Job Market (and why every bit of experience counts)
The news these days is depressing to say the least. KansasCity.com reports, “Adults with college degrees are now working in minimum-wage jobs traditionally held by teenagers.” The national unemployment rate is at about 10% while states like Michigan have topped 15%. You can’t turn on the television anymore without seeing something about bailouts or the economy.
And it’s not just the media, it’s coming from everywhere. Even the graduation speaker at my school this year felt it was necessary to talk about the economy, as though graduates need to be reminded that now that they’ve finally finished school they’re entering one of the most difficult job markets in decades.
I will be graduating this coming spring, and I’m biting my nails and praying for the economy to completely turn around in the next year. But let’s be honest, I can’t really count on it getting better. The only thing I can do is work hard to make myself stand out as the best person for the job. I was never super-involved in high school or college, but the current economy has me thinking that maybe I should start looking for ways to look good to potential employers.
I’ve been interning like crazy trying to find out everything I can about the workforce right now. I’ve worked at a radio station, for a non-profit and now for a buzz-marketing firm. I’m also trying to familiarize myself with what employers are looking for right now. What are the skills, computer programs, commitments they’re looking for? What kind of experience do they want to see? I plan to spend the next year working as hard as I can to make myself look good.
That’s a big part of why we started the Shift Mob. For instance, what if you could say that you participated in five different projects, without having to commit to a semester long internship? You could tell potential employers that you blogged for one company, designed flyers for another, researched competitors for another and helped out a non-profit all in the span of a couple of weeks. I want people to have fun with their shift and learn new things about themselves and what they like to do. But I also hope that the Shift Mob will help give people that little extra something when it comes time for job interviews.
