Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Being unemployed truly sucks. The lack of money and the embarassment of telling people when they ask you what you do. Having days open to do nothing but read uninspiring job listings, work, then re-work your resume and begin to question the purpose of your life. Going to job interviews and knowing that you could do these jobs with your hand tied behind your back and you still don't get it. Being told that they were intrigued but are going with another candidate or in another direction (meaning not any direction towards you. In fact, in the complete opposite direction. At a run) . Having a degree from a prestigious university and realizing that nobody gives a shit. That having an arts degree makes some employers think you are incapable of answering a phone or typing or using a computer (because clearly I never used those skills in four years of school). Listings for data entry jobs that want 5-7 years experience (who wants to enter data for 5-7 years?) Alternately looking for the perfect career-type position and settling for anything that pays (short of waste disposal plant and employee at an abbatoire). And one of life's biggest cul de sacs: they want you to be experienced to employ you but how do you get experience without employment?

The book I just finished called Pounding the Pavement by Jennifer Van Der Kwast is about all those things, meaning the lows and the lowers of being sans emplois. It's well-written and truthful but I found the characters quite shallow and the main character Sarah a bit annoying. She does somthing really stupid about 2/3 of the way through the book and I really wasn't all that surprised when it blew up in her face. For better or for worse, I saw a lot of myself in Sarah. We both have liberal arts degrees from nice Unis and we are in many ways our own worst enemies. I just hope I'm not that annoying.


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