The Finalists

My whole day today has been like one long and extremely cold shower. A New York Times article, a blog entry, and a PhD student are responsible for this, but to be honest, I am mainly responsible for my own shock. Let me explain.

While I had been having dreams of Barcelona (my spring break destination for a week), end of term parties, and the possibility of an early summer for the past few days, today I very abruptly came to the realisation that there are too many things to be done in too little time.

I believe I am not alone here. All of a sudden we have more essays to write, a dissertation to plan, and exams to study for. Well, let’s be honest, it’s not ‘all of a sudden’, it just feels like it. The PhD Media student who gave us a talk today on how to prepare for exams made that painfully clear. After the first five minutes I knew I had not planned enough for um… anything?

Now I am seriously wishing my days had more hours, that I could go on with only a few hours of sleep, and that my concentration powers were infinitely greater than they are right now.

And yet, all of these things seem small in comparison to the daunting prospect of job hunting because, even though getting a distinction would be nice, it won’t determine where I’ll live and what I’ll do for at least the next year of my life. So instead of carefully planning my studying strategy (or doing meta work as a friend of mine called it) I am looking for possible jobs and imagining myself in a wide range of positions (Account manager? Deputy editor? Barista? Yeah, I’ve been there, in my mind at least).

All of this as I try to push away thoughts of the credit crunch and the unemployment rate, which has not been easy lately. The New York Times is calling college graduates the new generation OMG. We’re the first to job-hunt during The Great Recession. College graduates themselves are starting to wonder Is This the Worst Year to Graduate College Ever?

Right after reading those two articles I had two reactions: At first I was terrified and thought I would never be able to join the working class which seems more and more elusive by the day. As a postgraduate student, further study is not an option at the moment. Nor is an unpaid internship, or volunteering if I ever want to pay back my loans.

My second reaction was more of an observation: both articles seem to claim towards the end that because college graduates are facing such terrible job market conditions, they’ll be so much more creative, resourceful and inventive in order to become part of the workforce. In other words, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.

If the worst of circumstances can bring out the best in us and make us more creative… that makes me a bit more hopeful. I’m still on full panic mode about school and future jobs, but somehow I’m a lot more motivated and determined to get it all done. Maybe it has to do with reverse psychology, whenever someone tells you that you can’t do something it just seems natural to turn around and say: ‘Watch me.’

Posted by Florencia in Florencia's posts, Work & Careers |