kamakawida

Having recently graduated with a Masters degree, having a rich multicultural background, work experience, multilingual, multi-talented, fast learner etc. It seems near to impossible to land a job without a 5-10 year experience or very good connections.

For the past few months I have been sending out tons of queries and applications to everything and anything that I would have a chance at landing. Even if the positions are not aligned with my area of expertise, and so far zero responses. Yes obviously I am lucky enough to be able to get a very basic part-time job for the time being but thats not what I have studied for, nor my passion and it especially will not pay off my loans..

Sometimes I wonder whether this whole education system is worth it because at the end of the day its a piece of paper stating that you now “know” something, when in fact employers increasingly do not specifically look for that any more. What they look for is work experience which is a much better tool for gauging the potential of a future employee.

So as much as I learned interesting things during my studies in the academic field, I am pretty much useless to any employer because I lack the experience. So my options are limited. Either I take a non-paying internship (even this is hard to get into these days and anyway there is noway I can afford to do so) or take some basic job that has nothing to do with what I have studied nor what I am passionate about, or then just keep on crossing my fingers for lady-luck to give me a boost.

I know many young graduates face the same problem, and I am fortunate enough to have a roof above my head and food on my plate for the time being but honestly, how do you expect our generation which will soon become the leaders of tomorrow to handle big global challenges and hurdles if the system in place weeds out the educated, capable and passionate just because they are non-privileged?

This infuriates me to the point where the subject I have studied for years now (solving conflicts, development, human rights etc) does not appeal to me anymore because there are limited ways of getting anything done because of bureaucracy, privilege and nepotism. Should I just do what most people are doing today and just focus on matters of self-interest? I don’t know honestly, in fact if my education has taught me anything it is that, the more you learn the more you realize how little you know. So yeah I don’t know anymore.

But what I do know is that my mind is fresh, open, ready to tackle anything and my passion is still burning so what ever I decide to do (whether or not I find my needle in a haystack) I will succeed in it. I also know that any employer, and I know this will sound very self-righteous (but I need any confidence I can muster at this point), that they would be lucky to get me on their team.

Anyway I’m not giving up so lets see how things turn out!

On that note, if anyone who reads this has a job opening hit me up! 😉