I’ve been reading with interest over the last several months, as the time for the next college graduation approaches, figures on the number of college graduates who are either unemployed or underemployed. I recently spoke with a nurse who has been unemployed for a year because every job she applied for wanted someone with at least one year of experience. Experience she does not have as a recent grad. There is even a blog that allows unemployed people to post their entries on the experience of looking for a job and not finding one.
They all give the same refrain of going online looking for work or sending out hundreds of resumes with very little to show for it. As a therapist I also talk with a good number of parents trying to offer encouragement to children who have failed to launch because they cannot find jobs that will allow them to move out on their own and begin independent lives.
Every time I encounter this I find myself thinking someone needs to tell these people that they are approaching a new reality using old tools. Automation and outsourcing have reduced the need for workers on so many levels (when was the last time you talked with a receptionist while waiting through press this for that? And, an X-Ray tech friend recently told me there are now computer programs that can analyze X-Rays).
The sad reality is that a good number of the jobs lost during the great recession are not coming back. There I said it! The the days of sending out resumes and hoping to land that dream job may not be gone but are so competitive they can almost be compared to winning the lottery so many people now apply. And finally, the days of a college degree being a guaranteed ticket to success have been greatly diminished because there are now so many people with degrees chasing fewer and fewer jobs that require them.
First the stick and now the sugar… Having digested all of that bad news, it is time to accept the truth that you as a worker or a recent college grad are in for the fight of your life to earn a living and all the old approaches simply are not as effective. So don’t waste a lot of time sitting in front of the computer for hours on end sending out resumes.
Accept the truth that until things really improve you are going to have to network like crazy going to meetings, presentations, or simply 
meeting people who may be able to help you in finding some type of employment. I firmly believe in multiplication of effort and the more people you meet means the numbers working for you without you paying them expands exponentially. Volunteer if you must to first get out of the house and second away from that computer to begin to demonstrate to people face to face your capabilities and acquire another advocate for your cause. Consider temp work to gain pay for your services and develop the experience required for the job you hope to land. Even if the assignment is short term you at least meet people who may be willing to recommend you at a later date.
And now, the hardest truth for some, you may have to accept that you don’t have time to wait for someone to employ you and will have to create your own job. I have a friend who was in that situation because of her age and could not find employment but had a knack for creating holiday baskets. She has now parlayed that into a local business where she creates baskets for all occasions and while not rich, makes a decent living. A man in the neighborhood bakes cookies of all kinds and has a route of office buildings he visits to sell them. Another visits thrift stores, buys items that he restores and then sells at flea markets and on eBay. Ask yourself if there is something you are good at that people would be willing to pay you to do and then work to get really good at it. It sounds simple and to some degree it is but requires some hustle on your part because like it or not the landscape has changed. Sign up for a part-time class at the local community college to keep your student loans at bay and along the way start to learn how to run a business on top of that English Literature degree.