I just can't believe what they're doing to young folk in America - making them go into debt for a college degree, then their employment prospects can be so freaking rocky with the GIG shit and offshoring and going on. How are they expected to ever get ahead?

IT SUCKS.

I'm just waiting for the day we take over. Hopefully we will make better decisions, however, there are plenty against their own interests.

I think they will do just fine

not protest voting third party again?

Kidding, but as quickly as technology is advancing with AI I have no idea how it will impact the job market.

No, retirement is not in my future. My boomer siblings are retiring but the decade difference in wage stagnation, student loans, etc make a difference.

The boomers are the last generation that will get to "enjoy retirement."

We work hard and get thrown under the bus every single time.

I’m also gen-x, the very tail end, and fully expect to work until I die. I think we’ll still get social security, so at least we’ll have that bit of income each month. Hopefully.

Lots of us lost everything in the 2008 crash. Then we lost our jobs when we were in our 50's and had to use savings to get by until SS.

So lots of us get SS and work a part time job to make it.

Nt

It sucks. We have to figure it out for ourselves I guess.

That's exactly right

Yet another Gen-Xer screwed by everything.

Lol, what?

Did my autocorrect get it wrong? Well sorry, but I don't give a shit. It's the facts that matter.

That’s not a word.

You could comment on the merit of my discussion or pick apart my spelling.

Um. Ok.

and I can't spell worth shehite. Your point?

Other than my spelling error. Got it.

This is why grammar, spelling, and punctuation are important. People tend to discount those who have poor grasp of those.

Look at any number of DU posts laughing at deplorables who can’t spell. It’s a sport here; therefore one would expect we can do better.

It’s rather illuminating that you’ve not corrected your headline.

Bye now.

Bye to you. Sick of this petty shit. I'm just assuming you are a troll.

Every forum has it's cranks and assholes. Not to worry though. The vast majority of folks here don't act like some freeper who got lost on the way to redstate.

And the point of your thread is an important one. Something this country is going to have to seriously address. Hang in there. I've been through tough situations like that too in my career. Things sometimes break for the good when you least expect it.

Of which I am clearly one.

It's means it is

Its means belonging to it.

Can you show me an example? Just one?

I simply think it's bullshit.

Dearie me.

Are you my English teacher mother? What is your deal? You must be a troll. Holy shit are you annoying. You want to correct this? I think you are a Russian bot douchebag. I'm sure there is a grammatical error in there you can be a douche about so go for it. Is this good enough for you? Fuck off. I think that is plain enough for you. People my age are really suffering and all you do is laugh. Way to go.

I was a terrible speller as a kid. But I also went to undergrad on a full ride academic scholarship. And then decided to go to grad school and that's where I can't get rid of debt. But obviously I'm stupid because I misspelled one word.

Been working as a professional since you were eight?

That poster didn't claim to be a millennial.

Is it necessary to mock? It is crap like this that keeps me from posting much on here. I guess that you have never made a mistake.

It is my generation of baby boomers that screwed up this world. I owe you an apology.

We shouldn’t dish it out if we can’t take it.

And please, “millineals?”

No, I can’t even.

Aren't we supposed to be the compassionate group here? Oh, I forgot...we Democrats are too nice....I will take that any day.

And thinks they’re too good to work retail...sorry, that’s going to be mocked.

Ability to spell doesn't necessarily correlate with intelligence, ability or academic achievement. It's certainly not predictive. Again, your point? Do you have anything to add to the actual conversation?

I happened to get a 4.0 and finished my masters in one year. So I must be super dumb.

The way you're working so hard on this disruption routine I'd swear you're jealous of the op's comments.

Thank you.

Seeking privatization.

I hope it continues.

Masters in management. I worked in higher ed for 10 years, got burnt out after working for a couple of for profit schools. But I'm now looking for education or marketing.

I spent a lifetime in higher ed and if there's one thing I know about my colleagues it's that they love to talk about themselves and their work. I personally met with people in your situation a few times over the years. I don't recall hiring any of them but I think I probably helped them clarify their goals and gaps.

I'm working on it. I interviewed at a college not too far from here the other day. I didn't get the job, but they did invite me for other jobs I would be better so I will keep applying there.

a school and am currently back in school- technical college, paying as I go. No more student loans for me, still paying on the ones from 10 years ago. I'm lucky because my husband has a good retirement plan but I don't count on that either.

I am currently thinking about going back to trade school myself for something like auto repair or construction. Are least they are hiring, although it's hard to break through as a female. But if I could, I think it could be lucrative.

get a foot in the door. You can't outsource plumbing or electrical jobs. I am doing a program in healthcare- wish I would have done a 2 year community college in the first place. I hope you find something that works for you.

Looking into home inspection. It pays well and if you can get in with a realtor you are golden.

isn't worth it unless you do commercial appraisals.

Good luck.

Your post is a bit extreme, do you need help?

I'm an X'er.

I'll be lucky to get SS. My corpse will be removed from my desk when I pass over.

I apologize to you that we couldn't seem to make things better for your generation. It is now up to you to fix this mess. I'm sorry, I hope there will be change soon.

We are working on it

When I was in my twenties a lot of people my age would say, "Social Security won't be around for us." I told them then that they were wrong and I'm telling you now that anyone who claims SS will disappear is wrong.

You shouldn't be too proud to work retail. At least it works and you'll still be paying into Social Security. But if you don't work at all, yeah, you won't collect much if any SS down the road.

As someone else has already pointed out there are plenty of trade degrees or certificates you can get at the local junior college. And if you're too good for that, then you simply don't deserve any sympathy.

And no, I didn't have a fabulous career that ended with a wonderful pension. I worked ten years as an airline ticket agent, then married and spent 25 years at home raising kids. I then went to my local junior college and got a paralegal degree. I had two part time jobs, then my marriage came to an end and I decided to relocate to Santa Fe. Got a paralegal job there that I was fired from, and a kindly attorney in the practice told me honestly that I wasn't cut out for the work. She did me a favor. So I did some temp jobs until I got hired by the local hospital to do outpatient registration. Benefits and it paid decently.

There are jobs. Yeah, a lot of them are entry level but you're still getting paid.

The other important question is, what exactly is your masters degree in? Some field where there are lots of jobs? Or something that you simply thought would be interesting to study?

I get very frustrated that young people continue to go to school and get degrees that are essentially worthless. Why they think they won't have to work at the end of all that escapes me. It behooves you to research the field, see what employment there really is, and perhaps reconsider your options.

Oh, and if you don't want to do retail there's always food service.

It's a job.

And I'm not too good to work retail. I will do what it takes given the circumstances. That being said, why should I settle when society told me that if I spend thousands of dollars to get a better degree to make myself more hirable that I shouldn't be upset at the fact that I spent all that money for nothing. I have literally been told by places I have applied to that I am overqualified.so what do I do then?

Get some sort of jr college degree or certificate. Re-think your alternatives. Make what has you looking overqualified disappear from your resume.

A good way to get started would be to take whatever testing your local junior college will offer, starting with an interest inventory. That will tell you what kinds of professions your interests align you with. That is how I wound up as a paralegal, because I was VERY strongly aligned with attorneys. I had no desire to complete a four year degree and then do three years of law school, but a paralegal certificate was about two years. So that's what I did.

I failed at the job not because I wasn't a good paralegal, but because the law firms in Santa Fe don't make use of paralegals as such. They use them as legal secretaries, and my skills in that area are not so strong. Bad match between person and job market.

Your management degree, what you learned to get it, should be extremely helpful in any new field.

The bit about being "overqualified" can be worked with. You can tweak your resume. Again, the career center (or whatever they call it) at your local community college will give you lots of help here.

One of the great things about my paralegal program (and a shout out to the program at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park KS) is that one of the requirements of the first course we all had to take before we could take anything else was to get our resume done with help from the career center. Those people were amazing. I had no idea how to cast my experience in a way that was meaningful. I was able to craft several different resumes, depending on the job I was looking for. Chances are you can too.

One thing you absolutely can do is let certain jobs disappear from your resume. I did that with the two jobs I was fired from in Santa Fe, as well as several jobs from the beginning of my working life.

You don't need to do a chronological listing of your jobs, giving dates. Just give time in a job and what you did. Have a section on your skill set and related experience. I stumbled across one of my old resumes earlier today, and it's divided into the following categories: Administrative Experience, Paralegal Experience, Communications, Other Work History, and Education. The only dates I give are for the then most recent job, and the date I graduated from the junior college.

Heck, I did such a good job at tweaking it that I got an internship with an attorney who thought, from my resume, that I had actual paralegal experience.

Anyway, do not focus on the money you spent on that degree and don't be utterly determined to get a specific job. Although, I will ask (and you don't need to answer to me, but only for yourself) did the school you got the degree from offer support and job placement? If not, why not? If yes, can you go back to them for another placement? I realize you might live a long way away, making that impractical.

Another thing you might try is to visit the temp agencies in your area. They have a very good handle on what jobs are out there. It might be that you need to take just one or two other courses and voila! Employment! When I first moved to Santa Fe in 2008, then got fired from my two jobs and it was too late in the holiday season to get a retail job, I called the three placement agencies I was registered with at least two times each week. I kept on being asked if I had accounting skills. Nope. If I'd had them, I'd have gotten work.

Being unemployed and looking for work is discouraging and debilitating. I know. I hope at least some of what I've posted is helpful.

And I see two steps many took which helped them get into a stable position--

1. They did an internship, often unpaid (which isn't much of an option without affluent parents), and impressed, and got a job offer from that organization.
2. They took a slightly-better-than-entry level job after graduation, and stayed with that company for several years, and then jumped to another big company for a better job, and stayed there even longer.


It's not what I'd choose-- I was more like you, MA in English in my case, and I wanted to be a writer, and there were no jobs in that, of course. Wrote on the side while teaching.

Another option that is available if you are in good health might be joining the military. Within a year or so, you'd be an officer maybe if you have a degree, and the pay isn't too bad, and the benefits are really good. But you have to be in the right situation for that-- without a lot of responsibilities that would keep you in one place (like elderly parents, or a spouse who wants a career). You can get a whole lot of experience and responsibility, and qualify for the GI Bill (which I think now could be transferred to a spouse or child).

Not for everyone, obviously, and there's an age limit. But you can join the army until 35 or the AF until 39, and you might enjoy having your basic training buddies call you Grandpa!

And I am female just fyi. I have honestly thought about military but my minister wife says no. Don't blame her.

I will likely end up like the rest of my family My grandmother did babysitting into her 80s. My father worked until he was 70, only stopping because he was physically incapable of it due to advanced prostate cancer. I doubt greatly that I will voluntarily retire.

But I feel your pain

Both the wife and I have well over 30 years with one company with a pension that when added to SS will almost meet our current income if we work to 65. Not counting our 401k or IRAs.

But full disclosure. We have no children which is why we have savings.

And both of us started as blue collar Union workers.

But today new salaried employees get no pension. Just and extra 401k boost. But overall they are still payed better than most.

The reason? Our company is unionized. Recently the union forced $15 an hour as the starting wage.

And here’s the deal. Our company is in no danger of ever going bankrupt. But the CEO and Board of Directors answer to no one but Wall Street.

Until we pass laws making CEO stock options illegal(as they were before the early 80s) and greatly increases the taxes on high wages it will just get worse.

Those and other policies, and outright mandates to insure a certain amount of the profits of a company go to the workers not the investors is the only thing than can turn this around.

Since the 70s less and less of company profits go to workers.

Like you said, they had to pass limiting CEO pay. This is the crux of our nation right now.

I retired from county government as an accountant.

I have a defined benefit retirement plan. Luckily I was hired before the two tier system was put in place in 2013.

I worked for 9 1/2 years as a member of the SEIU
I get a pension of $1,800 a month for the rest of my life. With Soc Sec and a working wife I am retired with enough income.

County and local governments have retirement plans and unions.

There are very many different skill sets needed.

Our county (Santa Barbara) has a web site where you open an account and list your skills. You can post a resume also.

When there are openings they go to that web site to look for applicants. It is well worth doing.

Other counties must have the same thing

I live in ct but no luck yet. Are least we are a liberal state

Last edited Tue Oct 1, 2019, 09:33 PM - Edit history (1)

Sad isn't it?

My son was born in '87...he doesn't expect to be alive after 2050 much less retire.

😭


My husband worked until he was 75, last yr.

IT shouldn't have to be this way. Yet here we are