"I Learned How Desperate People Are..."

During my job search, I learned how desperate people are these days: there were many more people than me in the job market and many more qualified.

With new employment numbers due Friday, March 4th, we at FrumForum decided that it was time to listen to the voices of the young as they face the challenges of this economic crisis. Over the next days, in an exclusive series, we will be featuring a number of their first-person stories. If their experience is yours, we welcome you to join the conversation at Editor@FrumForum.com.

I had been lucky enough to land a consulting job when I got out of the University of Chicago in 2009, but that ended after almost a year. Thus began my own search for permanent employment.

One of the first things that I learned very quickly was that there were a lot more people in this market than just me. They had been in it for longer and, despite my job experience, were a lot more qualified than I. I couldn't rely on much of a personal network, either, because most of my acquaintances were twentysomething new graduates as well. My more senior acquaintances worked for companies that unfortunately didn't have any openings.

Faced with well-intentioned people who nonetheless could offer me nothing but dead ends was really discouraging -- so discouraging that I grew hesitant to get involved in networking events or cold-calling, even as those avenues became more and more important.

Eventually, however, I was sending out so many cover letters and resumes -- applying maybe to 10 or 15 jobs at a time -- that I couldn’t tell you what any of them where until one of them actually called me back. I was just playing the numbers game more than anything, which I think is what a lot of people get reduced to. It got to the point where if an employer did call me back, it was a minute or two before I could remember what was the position I had applied for.

Ultimately, I was "in between jobs" for six months. I got my current job through a temp agency, which connected with a new business that I am helping to develop. I get to work on program and strategic management, so the issues I'm dealing with are definitely what I'd hoped to be dealing with, even if it is in a very different industry than what I expected to be involved in. I also consider my salary to be competitive and fair.

I’ve heard similar tough stories from other people as well -- and not just the young. My father is the director of a public library system in a state that is economically depressed.  He told me that recently he'd received an application from someone who had been the chief technical officer at a Fortune 500 company -- and the job he was applying for was not even a high position.

That's maybe the biggest lesson I learned during my search: how desperate people are these days. I know that most of the people I met at the temp agency are rightly using its services as a stop-gap measure as they continue their search. I am very lucky that my experience resulted in a more permanent position so quickly.

Robert Wilson is a pseudonym.

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