You Have a College Degree: So What?

As I was looking through a friend's pictures from last weekend's Halloween festivities, I came across a photo of a guy dressed in a cap and gown with a cardboard sign around his neck that just read: "F*cked". How very apropos. If the past couple of years have taught us anything, it's that the value of a college degree has diminished, and having one certainly doesn't guarantee finding a job.

But it's not just the lack of jobs and heavy competition that contribute to the dire state of our economy. Our spending habits and how we manage our finances also have a lot to do with this crisis. Last year, I produced a show with Vanguard producer/editor Sean Puglisi about how people in our generation are living in these current financial times:


Maxed Out (Video)

And this past spring, fellow Vanguard producer Lauren Cerre and I went to Argentina to see how the country came out of its own financial crisis not too long ago:


Thank You, Recession

It's now November 2009, and just a couple days ago we hit the one-year mark since Barack Obama was elected President. I still have the newspaper that Vanguard producer/editor Yasu Tsuji and I bought at the corner store near our office the day after he won the election:



President Obama just signed a measure that provides aid to the unemployed and expands a home buyer tax credit to stimulate economic growth. But at the rate things are going, we're going to need much more than that: the country's unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent in October--reaching double digits for the first time in 26 years. In the last month alone, employers dropped 190,000 workers from their payrolls. With numbers like that, it's no wonder we're applying for unconventional jobs that are very far from what we studied for in school. Every week, Christian Science Monitor contributor David Grant compiles a list of the week's top jobs, and below is last week's collection. My favorite is #1: I wonder if there will ever end up being a course for THAT in college:

1. E-mail Czar
Employer: Village Voice Media.
Wages/salary: Not listed.
Details: Needs a candidate who will “eat, sleep and drink email” and
increase Internet subscriptions from 750,000 to 2 million. Ideal candidate
will be a “goal driver, possess strong creativity and revenue producing
marketing ideas and the strongest of communication skills.”
Location: Phoenix, Dallas, Denver.

2. Entry Level Sales - Master Cutlery
Employer: Master Cutlery.
Wages/salary: $40,000-$50,000
Details: Salesperson will be challenged to identify new accounts, reactivate
inactive accounts and grow existing business for a company best known as a
manufacturer and distributor of “top quality swords, tactical and hunting
knives.”
Location: Secaucus, N.J., (pop. 15,931, median family income $72,568) hosted
the 2009 WNBA draft in April.

3. Deputy Columbia/Snake Salmon Recovery Program Manager
Employer: Bureau of Reclamation
Wages/salary: $80,402-$104,525
Details: Responsible for assisting in “administering and implementing the
Pacific Northwest region’s endangered species activities.” The position’s
primary responsibility is to “oversee implementation of actions required by
Biological Opinions and related documents for Endangered Species Act listed
species, particularly anadromous salmonids
Location: Boise, Idaho, (pop. 203,818, median family income $64,519) is home
to the Basque Museum, the only one of its kind in North America.

4. Animal Food Preparer
Employer: San Diego Zoo
Wages/salary: $11.42-$12.93 per hour
Details: Essential functions of this position include the preparation of
food for the bird collection, chopping various fruits and vegetables,
handling insects, fish and other food items as well as washing bird trays.
Selected applicant will be required to maintain live forage items such as
mice, lizards and insects.
Location: San Diego (pop. 1,264,263, median family income $72,407) is home
to the University of California - San Diego, whose mascot is the “Triton.”

5. Auto Dismantler
Employer: Tolpa’s Auto Parts
Wages/salary: Not listed.
Details: After the “cash for clunkers” program, auto parts store needs
immediate assistance to meet government required mandate of 180 days to
crush all vehicles.
Location: Remsen, N.Y, (pop. 1,958, median family income $41,042) is the
home of world-class luger Erin Hamlin, who won the 2009 World Luge
Championship, the first American to have done so in 16 years.

6. Brain Trainer
Employer: Learning Rx
Wages/salary: $15-$20 per hour.
Details: Are you sharp, smart and quicker than your peers? Need trainers to
work with adults and kids 4-5 days a week during afternoons and evenings.
Location: Chester, N.J., (pop. 7,282, median family income $133,586) was
once known as “Black River,” although the Chester Historical Society attests
that no one knows when the name was changed.

7. Professional Superhero
Employer: 7 Promotions Inc.
Wages/salary: Not listed.
Details: Looking for an Account Manager to add to an “illustrious team of
overachievers” at one of the “fastest growing privately owned sales and
marketing firms in Westchester County,” Conn.
Location: Danbury, Conn., (pop. 78,575, median family income $76,492) was
where singer Tracy Chapman spent her youth and graduated from high school.

If any of these jobs pique your interest, here's the Monitor page with full links, as well as links to past weeks' lists.

This week on The Real Recovery - a Current News investigation into unemployment and the end of the recession - the focus is on college graduates. If you have a story to tell - come get involved.

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