Congratulations Graduates! Now try to find a job

The commencement speaker congratulated the graduates but said they would be
going out into a world where there are no jobs.

He was right in one respect. There may be no jobs in the fields which the graduates majored in, however, there are jobs, most of which are beneath what the graduates are qualified for and what they expect to be paid.

It’s not a new situation and 50 years ago when this writer graduated from Fresno State, there were also no jobs. There was work, however in those days, when a young man graduated from college, he was classified A-1 for the military draft.

Like all other graduates, we expected to get a good job right out of college. In fact we returned to our home stomping ground New York City to find work. When we went to the employment agency, the first question asked was “What is your draft status?”

Our reply was a nervous “A-1.”

Then the employment agent set aside the book with available jobs and looked for something temporary.

“We have a job as a summer camp instructor,” she said. “Or they need part-time restaurant work in a summer resort.”

“Don’t you have anything in my field?”

“No, not at the moment. Maybe after you serve your two years of active duty,” came the answer.

We took the summer camp job in Connecticut, working as a water front director. This was the same kind of work we had done for the past four years in college.

We were depressed and wondered why we ever came back to New York. The bright lights would be far away at the summer camp.

By the end of the summer the draft caught up with us and called us back to California to enlist. We went to basic training at Fort Ord and once again they asked what we wanted to do in the military.

Our major was Social Science and we wanted to work for the state department. “Do you have anything along that line?” We asked.

What they had in mind was not what we had in mind. They sent us to medical training school in San Antonio, Texas. A nice place but one that got about as hot as the San Joaquin Valley in the summer time.

We didn’t know why they picked medical work because we hated the sight of blood. Still we completed the first eight weeks medical corpsman course and went on to advanced medical training.

We were sent to Korea, where most draftees ended up in a medical battalion much like M.A.S.H., but not so much fun. There were far more medics then were needed and most of the time, the new comers got  guard duty.

Then by chance the personnel department asked for someone who could write and knew how to use a camera to take the job of  base reporter. Anything to get out of guard duty, so we jumped at the chance.

And that was how this reporter got started over 50 years ago.

After being discharged from military service, we were sent home and once again faced the prospect of no jobs.

Every employer wanted someone with experience. The only experience we had was as a summer camp water front director and a  news reporter in the military. So we tried the newspapers in California to see if anyone could use a reporter.

We landed a job on the Orville Mercury as a cub reporter at $65 a week. It wasn’t much, it certainly wasn’t in my major field, but it was a job.

Now times have changed. Jobs are just as hard to find and maybe even harder.

Newspaper jobs are as rare as dinosaurs, but if that is what your heart is set on, then you might end up sweeping the floors or throwing papers. Don’t worry about the pay. You just spent four years paying to get an education, now you need an education in the real world. Experience is what you need.

Whatever your field of endeavor, try to get your foot in the door. Interning is good, even if there is little or no pay. The pay will come later, or it may not. What you are looking for is your niche in life.

Once you find it, never turn back and never give up. The greatest gift for anyone, is a job that he or she has a passion for.