Beware the Resume Police

Every person and every generation has different burdens to trudge through. Now I don't claim to know what the world, or more specifically the United States, was like before my time, but I do have observations on today's USA. I'm 26 years old, I've graduated from college with a bachelor's degree, I worked for three years, and now I'm unemployed with issues finding a new job. Now, I did leave my last job intentionally because I did not like the job and I don't believe in compromising my own sanity for a job. All it takes is one bad day. I left the job at the end of May of 2015, right around ten months ago. Since then I've been looking for a position that fits me better, which I'm still on the hunt for. Just last week I had a conversation with a job recruiter about why I left my last job and what I'm looking for now. She asked me about my interest in accounts payable, which I have no interest in doing long term because honestly I feel like that kind of job is far below my intellect and I don't see any useful career path in accounts payable. Where do you go from there? In my estimation, the recruiter's tone changed when I told her that accounts payable isn't really what I want to do with my life. Her tone went from friendly to low key attacking me about how I've been out of work for almost a year and how I need to get something on my resume or else I'll never work again or something. I have a problem with this. I understand the importance of work experience, but I have a problem with my personal situation. I easily could have avoided this long gap of employment by not leaving my previous job, but staying in that position for another year doing the same exact things I had been doing for almost two years doesn't have much value to me except on a resume. Albert Einstein did say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This quote sums up how I felt about the job I had. Should I keep going to this job every week, doing the same work that drives me crazy and keep expecting the situation to improve? I waited for two years to see if the job would change for the better and the job didn't get better and from conversations with my boss it wasn't going to get any better any time soon. When I gave notice of my departure, my boss told me he didn't blame me for leaving.

So what does this all mean? Well, I think some archaic "rules" exist in our country, for example the gap in employment on my resume. A resume shows potential employers the qualifications of potential job candidates. The resume says "hey hiring person, this is what I've done for work and this is where I went to college." Why does it matter if I haven't had a professional job for ten months? I haven't forgotten everything I've learned or done at my previous jobs. To me, the gap in employment serves only as another device companies can use to say "no, we don't want to interview you." Looking at the interaction I had with the recruiter last week, I don't believe she gives a damn about me and how hard getting a job might be for me if I've been unemployed for a full year. I think she only cares because her job would be more difficult if she was trying to "sell me" to a potential employer. I do want to work and I don't want to make it hard for someone like this recruiter to help me find a job. My issue lies in how I got here. If I thought the best job I could obtain after college was paying bills, then I probably wouldn't have gone to college. I do believe an economic issue exists for Generation Y/Millennials with the increase in college attendees and graduates.

Sure, lots of people who go to college get great jobs and set down a very good career path. However, let us not forget about the people who, despite earning college degrees, don't find a great job right out of the gate. Unless you're a genius, someone like Bill Gates who doesn't need college to find success, the United States and I believe many other countries have adopted the ideology of college, an extended learning experience intended to foster a more intelligent work force. Here's the problem, earning a bachelor's degree now does not guarantee the same advantage it did even a generation ago. An increasing number of people with bachelor's degrees means more "qualified" candidates for positions deemed only for college degree holders. The types of jobs that have been presented to me over the past few months I believe are below my intellect, meaning I'm getting undervalued, and I think many more are in similar position. How do we as a country combat that? Go to grad school! I wonder if years from now graduate school will be the norm. Four years of undergrad, then one to four years of graduate school, and then you might be able to get a job paying bills! I mean, I know about synergy and vertical integration, what else do I really need to know?

One of the jobs pitched to me by a recruiter a couple weeks ago paid $35,000 annually. That's more than $10,000 per year less than what my previous job paid. Not to mention that the cost of living where I am now is generally higher than where I was living. I'm dumbfounded that one year of college costs more than many annual salaries of entry level jobs out there. Granted I did go to a private college, but the idea remains absurd to me. The aforementioned recruiter that began low key attacking me about getting something on my resume before a full year of unemployment asked me what I wanted to do. After the conversation ended, I kept thinking about that question. What do I want to do? Well, I know I don't want to pay bills or call people about money owed for the rest of my life. The real answer is I don't know. Really all I know right now is what I don't want to do because I've been there. I quit my job because I didn't like it and I realize not everyone can understand that or afford to take that type of action. But, given my position, I can leave my job and not end up on the street, for now at least. So you damn know I took that opportunity, not risk, but opportunity. Yes, there is risk in leaving a full time job at a stable company, but I also possess the freedom to explore other opportunities that have the very real potential to be better than what I was doing. And always remember, freedom is only a possibility if you're able to say no. I have said no to potential jobs over the past year because I'm holding out for something better. I don't see any value in going from one job I don't like to another job I won't like. Then the resume police would get on my case for job hopping, another resume sin to go along with employment gaps. What a load of shit.

Well, only time will tell if I'm doing the right thing or if I'm a huge moron. I'm not ruling out the moron part yet, but I'm definitely going to try to find the right job/lifestyle for me. I will not settle for a $35k per year job just yet. Lastly, if you've never read The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, please do, that story gets my full endorsement.