Downwardly Mobile
OVER THE PAST THREEYEARS, the number of entry level jobs open to graduatingseniors has sunk byclose to one third." U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, 9/21/92
LET'S GET ONE thing straight: I realize that, as a graduate of Dartmouth, I belong to a very privileged class of people. That said, why the hell is it that the only steady employment I've been able to find six months after graduation is as a security guard? I was a B-average English and philosophy major with writing awards, the product of a culture that tells its people, "You can do anything." Now our economy has been so badly damaged that there is little for us to do except wait tables, guard buildings, or stay in school.
I stopped conversation at one friend's house when I was asked what my college degree had done for me. When I told them, you'd think from their silent reaction that I'd announced I had six months to live. A secretary where I work complained about "those college kids who come in here waving their degrees and expecting to get a job." Another friend of mine argued with me over the idea of universal health care. I was in favor; he was not. He has health insurance; I do not.
How bad is it? At a party last August I met a friend of a friend who was working as an editor for a legal publication in Boston. "In fact," he said, "I have to leave early tonight. Tomorrow's my last day at work." THERE IS A GOD, I thought, but before I could ask him where to send my resume he added, "They advertised my job in The Boston Globe last week and we got more than 200 resumes."
I marveled at the cruelty of Fate. "Ever since I graduated from Dartmouth," I said, "I've been running into numbers like that. I wonder what it takes."
"Dartmouth..."the friend-once-removed said, pondering the ceiling. "I think I saw a resume from somebody who went to Dartmouth. It had a really quirky cover letter."
I froze. "Where do you work?"
"Pioneer Publishing."
"I wrote about Dan Quayle in my cover letter."
"YOU'RE THE GUY!!!" He grew animated, promising to pull my resume out of the pile and get me an interview. I never got that interview, but not because my benefactor did not keep his word. It seems the company had lawyers and Ph.D.s to choose from in order to fill this entry-level position.
I could have done that job. I could do a lot of jobs. But there's nothing for me to do.
"A RECENT LABOR DEPARTMENT STUDYfocusingon the 1960s found that1 out of 10 college graduates was working at a jobthat did not require a college degree; today, that figure is at least 1 in 5..."-U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, 9/21/92
"ACCORDING TO A RECENT CENSUS REPORT, 75% of males age 18-24live at home." TIME, 5/20/91
"ABOUT 1.4 MILLION PEOPLE will graduatefrom college and graduateschools this year, and theU.S. has lost 2 million jobsin the recession." Time, 5/20/91
