Look Mom, I Graduated! Now What? Revisited

About a month ago I came across a tweet from @jenny8lee on twitter looking to write about recent grads dealing with the challenges of today's economy by reinventing themselves and creating careers (I'm paraphrasing as this was about a month ago which in the Twitterverse is like an era). I asked my smart, well educated, entrepreneurial daughter to reach out to her. She shared her email with me, and it struck me how much it said in a couple of paragraphs. So, with her permission I'm posting it here.


Hi Jenny,

My mother, a follower of yours on Twitter (@SCJoson), actually put me on to this (insert unprofessional "lol" here). She informed me that you were looking to interview recent college graduates in "situations" and I, among thousands of others, can definitely identify with that! I'm a 2008 graduate from Douglass College-Rutgers University, with 2 bachelors in Economics and Latin American Studies; I interned and part-timed for 2 years at a global investment bank while going to school, as well.

The verdict? I have a beautiful piece of paper that says I'm smart, another piece of paper that says I have experience, and a monthly notice (more paper) that arrives to remind me how much I owe the government for helping me obtain the first two. Interviewing, and schmoozing (I believe we call this networking now) got me a lot of nothing, so after about a year of that, I moved on. I have my own blog since 2010 and have been working independently for the last 3 years in that Latin Urban music industry doing everything from web design and public relations to promotions and producing (insert "etc." here). Until recently, I was working at Starbucks serving all those who have the jobs I studied 4 years for, alongside aspiring actors and dancers of course. Don't get me wrong, Starbucks is a great enterprise and I loved my co-workers, but I gladly took that "dead-end" job to have some sort of medical insurance, a steady income and free espresso.

Perhaps my case sounds interesting enough to explore, and even if it's not, I'm still really glad you're concerned enough with the issue to seek out candidates to dissect.

Maybe it's really not us, it's them.

My daughter has always been an entrepreneur. From the time she was in middle school she was making things and selling them, or doing people's hair (see my earlier post about proms). She has been able to get by in this economy while her fellow Economics grads were taking jobs as bank tellers (still honest work, but a slap in the face after four years at a university), or worse finding no jobs at all. She started a business, but not every young person has the gumption or ability to do that. So for this young generation pouring out of our universities each year: Now What?

The original 2009 Look Mom, I Graduated! Now What?