Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
As a 25 year old who graduated a year ago, I have experience in this.
It is definitely area and field specific. Connecticut sucks for decent jobs. I'm fortunate enough to have gotten a decent job, but then again it is a contractor position with no benefits. I was lucky to know somebody who put in a good word for me. I have many hard working friends with degrees who are working part-time jobs. The wonderful state government can't balance the budget here, and for pretty much 2-3 years now there has been a hiring freeze across the state. Now they have taken back state raises and are threatening layoffs. In my dad's organization (He works in education) they have just been told they have to cut $70 million from their budget. This is in an organization that is already understaffed and full of dead weight (80 year old people who don't do anything and won't retire). With all this going on nobody is hiring, and if they are it is temporary contractors like my position.
Gone are the days where you can start off by getting your foot in the door and working your way up. Lots of the "entry level" positions around here aren't entry level at all and require 5-10 years experience for entry level pay. I was fortunate enough to gain 5 years of IT experience working in the data center at my college. I worked full-time while going to school and was able to learn a lot and become my boss's go-to guy. Before I graduated my boss wanted me to work there full-time and begged his director to open up a position since two other people were retiring the same year. The response was "It isn't in the budget", and they didn't refill the positions for those two people who retired. My old boss currently runs the data center by himself.
Sure, anybody can work at Burger King and I have a friend who is, but these places are also smart. They know that if they let you work over a certain number of hours they have to give you healthcare, so instead they give you terrible hours. This particular friend works two part-time jobs and still works less than 40 hours a week. He is the shift lead at a Dunkin Donuts as well, but that doesn't come with any increase in pay. Dunkin knows that if he quits because he doesn't get a raise, they can easily fill his spot.
There are obviously two sides to every story. I have seen the lazy, the incompetent people who apply for one job and whine because they don't get in. I also know many hard working and well-educated people who can't find jobs. My father gets e-mails and phone calls every other day from people he knows asking for a job.
So at what age do we start putting "the elderly" to "sleep"? With you around, Sparky, I'm glad I'm self employed.
