No luck so far in trying to fulfill anti-Manchild Project #3. The economy remains just as stagnant as all outward signs of my life. Still with the parents, still largely unpublished, still single, and still unemployed. Oh, I could talk about what I'm writing and thinking up in my lively inner sphere, but that's for my other blog. Luck remains against me. After each time I interview, I find I am beaten out by somebody with more experience. How can I compete with that? In the 1930s of course, we had a plan to give young people experience despite the state of the economy. That one in the White House though, has never really given the problem much thought. This is the support he shows for the youth who once voted for him.
Times are tough all around, but for us Millennials, they're much worse. If things ever get better, we won't have any kind of ship that will lift us when the tide comes in. But the problem is destructive at present as well. Millions of young people have had the best years of their lives stunted because of the casino Wall Street ran with the economy before 2008. We reaped little benefit from the risks they took and we are collectively paying the cost. It's probably only a matter of time until our country begins to experience this or something on a greater scale. None of it will help of course, the response will not be to help assuage youth unemployment and anger, but to double down and build up the police state. This will be what Cameron does in the UK. I can picture a massive influx of consultants from Detroit, Chicago, LA, and Baltimore advising the Prime Minister on how to keep his poor (and Black) people busy under a police state to prevent more rioting.
But that's the historical perspective, the big picture, the Hegelian way to view things. What about the intensely personal, Kierkegaardian way? Thinking like an existentialist completely responsible for my fate, I have first declared myself my own Minister of Labor. With this portfolio filled with plenipotentiary powers, I have been going to the Arlington Employment Center. It's a useful place tucked away by Fort Myer. The only issue I have is that it is quite difficult to get to if you don't own a car, which is a situation many of the unemployed face. I suppose the office space was available and they took it without realizing where it was, or what it would be like for Arlingtonians trying to get there. Perhaps it was a way to inconvenience people in Arlington equally.
Nevertheless, they have helped me improve my resume and showed me other places online to look for work. I even have a case worker now. From my experience going there so far, one really sees the emotional and social toll unemployment takes on people, especially in the long term. There are times it feels like we are all in rehab, feeling guilty for apparently being addicted to our joblessness. We gather in circles and talk to one another, either around tables, or while waiting for an event to begin. People speak with reluctance about what has happened to them and having an interview is viewed like an attempt at being sober for a week. For some strange reason I am usually the youngest person there. Maybe the quarter-century club comes in during the afternoon.
Ugh, I'm going to be 26 in less than seven weeks.
Perhaps I am not applying for the right kinds of jobs, but given my experience, I'm not sure what I can do. While I certainly think I could be a college professor or a best-selling novelist, that's not something I can just apply for tomorrow and get. Mostly, I have been seeking openings in the administrative field. I have broadened the search for possible paralegal work. If there is an editing job, I look into it as well, but there are not too many entry level opportunities for that, nor for doing research. I've been told repeatedly I have a fine mind, but everyone prefers such metaphorical organs finely tested and aged instead of fresh.
It seems that in the old days people were given tests and quizzes to figure this issue out. Maybe people still are, I can't recall ever taking one. All I know is that I have seen them referenced in the Simpsons and Office Space, which means they were once common enough to be a cultural touchstone. I've tried looking for ones to take online. The results have been varied. This one seems pretty outdated. One question presents a list of websites and asks which one I use the most. Myspace is listed, but not Facebook. It is like a lot of the other other tests out there. It is just a way to get you to sign up for debt-inducing education schemes.
The quiz here says I'm creative, but doesn't suggest much other than designing signs. One from AOL is based on the Meyers-Briggs model. I have taken the original personality test before and it said I was an INTJ. This one claims I am an INFJ. I trust the INTJ finding more, but possible jobs connected to the INFJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging) include teacher, lawyer, counselor, therapist, and artist. A little too broad a category, I'm afraid, and nothing I can apply for right now. Meanwhile Career Path gives you a color to work with and mine is yellow. It means I'm good for administrating. I should look for jobs such as accountant, compliance officer, historian, financial manager, administrator, auditor, researcher, office manager, and computer scientist. I wish I could apply to jobs and cite my color in place of degrees, licenses, or long-term experience.
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