Thu 08 Jul 2010 – 14.34
There is a minor scandal brewing over a New York Times article entitled “American Dream Is Elusive for New Generation“. To sum it up: a young man went to college, but is not back with his parents, unemployed. It’s a story that is all too familiar in the 21st century. The new plight of the aspiring middle class. And the whole fucking point of this blog.
The controversy is pretty one-sided: the liberal-leaning commenters, who ordinarily like to share in a bit of middle-class whining, skewered this young man for being spoiled, lazy, complacent, greedy, etc. Oh, did I mentioned he was offered a job with a $40,000/year salary, but turned it down for the pursuit of something better?
I don’t know where to stand on that criticism. Clearly, a job offer is a sure way out of unemployment, and even at that salary, out of your parents’ house. But I absolutely know the terror that can follow when a young person, at the start of his or her career, is “stuck” in a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad job. It’s almost better to be unemployed at home — at least you don’t have a landlord breathing down your throat.
Readers, where do you stand? Are we college graduates spoiled for living at home and taking a less urgent approach to job hunting? Should we all “suck it up” and work menial unskilled jobs? Is there a cosmic injustice for a college-educated man to be delivering pizzas, or is it just a sign of the times? Did you live at home with your parents after graduating? Well, 60%+ of American graduates share that fate, so don’t feel bad.
Read the Article, and share your thoughts.
posted by Scott in careers,education,life,personal finance.
Thu 06 May 2010 – 14.12
29 Years have expired. One more year until I am no longer a twentysomething. Cue the appropriate depression.
I am of a certain sect of people who simply cannot celebrate the passing of time. Birthdays, New Years, and I assume Anniversaries are not moments for celebrating, but for longer. Pining for lost time, wasted opportunities, and youth, which is fast slipping away. I wish I didn’t, but I see each year marker not as a chance to appreciate my accomplishments, but to dwell in my shortcomings. I only see goals unaccomplished and dreams unfulfilled.
I treat birthdays as my own personal Yom Kippur. A time to atone, and ask forgiveness. A time to reflect on all the stupid shit I’ve said and done, and failed to say and failed to do. I look back.
29 is an odd year. It’s scarily close to 30, and so much so that we generally think of it as 30 minus 1, not 29. A prime number too, which makes me nostalgic for 23.
I once remarked that by 30 I’d like to be a husband, a father, and a homeowner. Yea, that’s not going to happen. A year out and I’m barely dating, barely employed, and barely making rent. Perhaps if I had picked a different profession, or a less-ambitious lifestyle. I went to school with folks who did that, or are on pace to.
What’s going to happen to this blog in 12 months? I don’t know. Stop asking.
Humbug. Sigh.
posted by Scott in life.
Blog Resources for Twentysomethings
Fri 19 Mar 2010 – 15.07
From the always-lovely Kristen Fischer, author of Ramen Noodles, Rent, and Resumes: an after-college guide to life, comes a quick glut of blogs relating to life as a twentysomething. These are, apparently, from 100 Blogs That Should Be Required Reading In College, from OnlineDegrees.net.
And to make my life easier, here is a straight up copy of her curation of the list.
- 20 Something Finance: Read this blog for posts about the worth of your degree, managing credit and debt, investment tips, and even retirement, so that you can start thinking about how you’ll save after college.
- Grad Money Matters: This blog understands that you’re well-educated but that you might need some extra help when it comes to PF.
- Lindsey Pollak: Lindsey Pollak is a career and workplace expert for Generation Y, and her site features videos, articles and more resources to help you establish yourself in the workforce.
- My Path: This career networking site also features a blog and videos about getting a job, retaining your edge, and more.
- On the Job: This is the blog for Anita Bruzzese’s syndicated column. Recent posts include “How to Move from Temporary Work to a Full-Time Gig” and “5 Ways to Avoid Freaking Out About Networking.”
- The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: If you’re thinking about freelancing or managing your own creative career after college, read this blog from expert Michelle Goodman.
- Newly Corporate: Read Newly Corporate to get an idea of what your first entry-level job may be like.
- College Student Blog: This blog has information about growing careers, planning your job search, and living frugally.
- Sweet Careers: Read this blog for all kinds of tips about job search etiquette, career planning, interviewing, researching successful companies, and more.
- Career Rocketeer: Find practical and conceptual job advice on this blog.
- Entry Level Living: Learn about all kinds of entry-level work, including nonprofit jobs, entry-level jobs in New York City, and more.
- Career Rookie: Get advice for finding and landing jobs and internships here.
- College health guide: This resource on Revolution Health includes mental and sexual health tips and healthy living guides.
- Em & Lo: Sex, Love and Everything in Between: This blog for women has dating advice, sexual health news, funny stories, an advice column, and an ask the guys section.
- Life Optimizer: Find study tips, advice for staying positive and improving your focus here.
- You Already Know This Stuff: Get practical advice for finding success professionally and in your personal life.
- Imagine, Connect, Act: This is the blog for Idealist.org, the international volunteer project network.
- Hack College: Find lost Word documents, be productive during Spring Break and learn fun drinking games on this blog.
- The College Solution Blog: This blog covers a range of topics, from budgeting to college life, to doing better in class.
- My College Guide: Incoming freshmen and college students will find helpful tips for preparing for interviews, remembering your notes, dealing with stress and more.
- Say Campus Life: Recent posts here feature a guide to college majors, tips for spotting a scam school, and career tips.
- College and University Blog: Get higher education news, relationship advice, fitness tips and more.
- College Guide: Washington Monthly’s blog keeps tabs on what’s going on at schools around the country, and new trends in higher ed.
- Campus Grotto: Find money tips, job search information, campus trivia and more.
- ONE Campus Challenge: This blog tracks the competition between universities to see which student body “has the most effective global poverty-fighting campaign.”
- College Candy: Find real-life stories, quizzes, relationship tips, money advice and more from this hilarious — and sometimes raunchy — blog.
- Life Without Pants: Learn effective, productive ways to live life according to your own rules.
- Quarterlives: Head to Quaterlives for entertainment, health, personal development and career news geared towards 20-somethings.
- Gradspot: Turn to Gradspot when you want to learn how to cook, move into a new home, write a resume or start a new workout routine.
- The Lemon Life: The Lemon Life is another post-grad website full of articles and resources about dating, working, and living on your own.
- Think Simple Now: In addition to some personal life stories, this blog has tips for reading faster, improving focus and more.
- The Happiness Project: Read this blog everyday to remind yourself of all the reasons to be calm, confident and happy.
- Graduated Learning: Life after college: Find tips on buying a house, saving money, using social media, and more.
•• via Ramen, Rent, Resumes »
posted by Scott in education,health & fitness,life,personal finance,relationships.
Fri 26 Feb 2010 – 14.21
This crap has been going around the Internet for a while, but I thought I’d report on it. Pew Research has cooked up a little online quiz where users may determine for themselves how “Millennial” they are. That is, how much they have in common with us, the generation born after 1981. (nevermind that some of us in that age range already have kids in middle school!)
I’m 86. Probably would have been more if I had a tattoo or if I had played video games in the last 24 hours. Dunno if my parents’ marriage negatively affect my Millennial-ness, but that’s also a question.
Go take the test for yourself »
A study from The Oracle in synthesizes these and similar results, concluding that Millennials are more liberal, more confident, but less employed. And presumably more depressed. Or maybe that’s just me.
posted by Scott in careers,education,health & fitness,life.
Wed 27 Jan 2010 – 15.31
Scott is joined by Craig Ward and Lisa Edwards, English graphic designer/typographers in who are now living in New York. Together they eat ice cream, drink tea, complain about customer service, and discuss life as an expat on both sides of the Atlantic.
Sorry, this episode is unedited, and includes no theme music, bookmarks and, you know, editing. I may add that stuff in time, if there is demand for such (hint hint)
Grey New York
Shakespeare Cafe
PG Tips
Ghostbusters Tour
Hook and Ladder 8, TriBeCa
Friends and Seinfeld, filmed on a soundstage in Burbank
Häagen-Dazs
Keith McNally’s show(s), XO and Ham Radio
Campfire Noises
Early episodes of twentyhood
How the UPS website should look
layoffs with UPS, bad experiences at the UPS Store
Chinatown(s) and the death of Little Italy
The Lower East side’s rich history
Studio Culture by Adrian Shaughnessey and Tony Brook
This Ain’t No Disco, website to see design studios
Leave your comments below
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Download Episode 039 (.mp3, 1:03:47, 79.2 MB)
posted by Scott in life,podcasts,relationships.
Thu 07 Jan 2010 – 15.52
There is a feeling of rage mixed with exhaustion mixed with disappointment that comes from realising your own job prospects are dim. It’s almost a state of mind, where you view yourself in the third person, weighing events with both rational and emotional views, yet not being able to govern yourself with either faculty.
What can be done when you’re laid off, facing an impossible job market and ruthless competition? How can you come to grips with your own self-worth when the world around you says you are worthless? And how does one pay rent?
Recently, a friend relayed to me these feelings, in not so many words. She had been laid off from a job she didn’t exactly like, but now faces the task of finding something new. Being a middle twentysomething, it is difficult to assert expertise in a given field, but holding a degree (in her case, a Master’s too), you can’t market yourself as a penniless learner.
I, and she, have both found ourselves previously in such terrible job situations that we’d rather have no job at all. In my case, I quit this job in favour of the generally unfavourable lifestyle of a freelancer. In hers, she was laid off as a gesture of professional half-mercy, finally cutting her free from a job that was more trouble than anything else. (although the pay was good). But neither of us are eager to jump back into a job that we know isn’t brilliant. Or rather, we can’t tolerate that level of frustration again at such a critical time in our lives and careers.
Being a working twentysomething is a powerful thing. We are energetic and eager to learn, we don’t have personal baggage (mortgage, kids) so we can move from city to city, we don’t mind the late hours and enjoy making connections with co-workers, we’re plugged into the latest technology and can spew knowledge of all subjects in a manner unlike our parents. We have a lot to give. But in return we do have some requirements — simple requirements — for a fulfilling, or even tolerable, worklife.
We need to be taught. Resourcefulness can only bring us so far, especially when we are new to a field of specific role. We need to find a rhythm, even if that rhythm is a sort of managed chaos that may come from certain professions like journalism, (or blogging). We need to be led, for there is nothing worse than a spiteful boss who is constantly monitoring you, telling you what you’ve done wrong. We wouldn’t mind an industry-appropriate salary and maybe even a day off. And we need to know that there is, in fact, a tomorrow — that every step brings us forward. These requirements are somewhat philosophical, but with these in place the rest is just details.
What do we do now?
Should we just quit our jobs and hide out until the economy gets better? Should we travel or live on a farm? Should we move back with our families and write a book? Should we go back to school? (I would advise against that, though, unless you’re studying to be a nurse or engineer)
In the 4+ years since finishing grad school, I haven’t been able to shake these feelings. I haven’t managed to find the instant answer to finding workplace happiness and the general answer to career happiness. I don’t have iron-clad advice for weary friends and I don’t know how to un-fuck myself from the current situation. The feelings persist.
And yes, the title of this post is inspired by the James Taylor lyrics to “Shed a Little Light”… there is a feeling like the clenching of a fist / there is a hunger in the center of the chest. …
posted by Scott in careers,education,life,personal finance.
Fri 18 Dec 2009 – 14.27
Why am I only finding out about this now? There’s an entire website devoted to tracking bloggers in their twenties. I imagine the site lets us all be social, as we’re generally a talkative bunch. And by talkative, I mean horny.
20 Something Bloggers — the bloggers with the most to say »
I’m gonna go poke around and see who I can discover. And yes, I’ll probably try to get some of them on the ‘cast.
posted by Scott in life,this website.
The Multigenerational Workplace
Mon 07 Dec 2009 – 12.50
At Thanksgiving yesterweek, we got to discussing the bizarreness of work. At the table were seated no fewer than three family members who are, you might say, less-than-gainfully employed. My laid-off aunt and uncle have both reinvented themselves recently, and I, of course, have been mucking through the freelance world for far too long.
But the topic soon shifted from job seeking to job doing. As the youngest person at the table, the conversation became and odd referendum on my entire generation — and theirs. We concluded what many business writers are already saying: managing the multigenerational office is going to be an immense challenge for businesses in the 21st century.
To an extent, workplaces have always been multigenerational. Apprentices and Masters usually slotted into the age groups of sons and fathers, respectively, and the entry-level workers have often been remarked for their freshness compared to the veterans. “Do you even shave?” and that sort of thing. But in decades past, one’s working life was generally considered to be a single generation in magnitude — 30 years or so — and one would look to retire around 50, 55, 60, maybe 65 if they love what they do. However, the Baby Boomers put an end to that, and as more Boomers pass 60, they have no plans to retire. Instead, their children are joining them at work, not as novelty guests, but as co-workers.
posted by Scott in careers,life.
Thu 15 Oct 2009 – 18.56
Imagine that one day you’re working at a successful magazine, making $50,000 per year, and living the life in New York City. A twentysomething fantasy for many. But then suddenly you’re laid off. Now, with the market for journalism shrunk to a caricature of its former self, you’re forced to scrape by with freelance gigs and unemployment checks in search of a job that may or may not exist. Stinks, doesn’t it.
This isn’t fiction, it’s the story of Amanda Ernst, a twentysomething former magazine writer and editor of FishbowlNY, a blog about advertising, media, and journalism. Amanda recently went under the microscope and talked about her adventures on NBC’s Today Show, even disclosing figures to help align her struggle with viewers who may be suffering the same drama in their lives. Read the chronicle of events from her point of view on FBNY. (for her efforts, Amanda was blog-slapped, lightly, by Gawker) The result, in this case, is positive: Amanda survived, and is doing alright, although it definitely didn’t happen automatically.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Amanda Ernst discusses losing her job and coping with the financial strain
The thesis is fairly well-known: if your income suddenly drops (especially from getting laid off/fired) you need to restructure your life accordingly. Drop the expensive gym membership, cut back on lattes, quit buying fancy clothes, and of course keep track of all your spending so you know where every penny ends up. I’ve discussed personal finance at length, and even recorded a podcast episode about the cost of living.
But the struggle for employment and the fight against idleness stress more than the wallet, they tug at the very fabric of our existences. At least, they should for most of us twentysomethings, who are trying to establish ourselves in the world, trying to make sense of our careers and relationships, as well as finances. I suppose it’s like Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs — after we satisfy our ability to eat and sleep, we start looking for more, and that usually means we need a satisfying work life.
This is the topic constantly discussed on the Chief Happiness Officer blog, which I highly recommend. For a more academic, but heartily interesting, perspective on work and life, check out the new book from Alain de Botton, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. And if you’re one of these Internet bloggy people, try this post from Serena Renner, a co-worker of Amanda, no less.
The great sea of the economy may be swollen and unsteady, but it will calm in time. But no matter the condition, twentysomethings will look out onto the horizon and wonder what awaits. Our careers, and our lives, are in constant motion, with waves and tides that will surely shake us loose when we least expect it. But isn’t that part of the fun.
For an amusing diversion from the often-depressing existence of twentysomething unemployment (or perhaps, non-employment), check out this article which outlines in most pityous detail, the plight of the upper class, who are struggle to pay all those private school tuitions, and whatnot, in this sour economy. Lifestyles of the Rich and Needy »
Perhaps a solution to it all is to work a different job literally every day. I know that folks change jobs more frequently in this, our new century, but this is taking things to the extreme.
posted by Scott in careers,coffee,education,health & fitness,life,real estate.
In Puerto Rico. Contribute Your Thoughts.
Fri 31 Jul 2009 – 14.50
Yesterday’s post wasn’t entire a whisper thought of the season, it’s timed to my vacation to Puerto Rico. Those who know me will note the irony that I, who has been famously out-of-work for the better part of 3.5 years in running this blog, is taking time “off” from whatever it is I do.
I’m heading to visit my family, and to see my parents who live there during summers. Also, this will be the first time in 5 years that both my sisters and I will all be on the island at the same time. We’re also hoping to stay in a hotel at least for a little while, which will serve as a sort of vacation from our vacation. (trust me, after a few days at my parents house, you begin to miss the comforts of home … like hot water, reliable electricity, internet, and not having roosters crowing ALL FRIGGIN DAY right in my ear.)
But I’m also hoping to sit down with my laptop for a while. Not to surf the web, as usual, and poke around with podcasts, but to write out the first draft of an e-book I’ve been planning to a while. I’m going to write a sort of manifest for the 21st century workforce — things to be aware of, things to be angry about, ways to improve your work life, etc. etc., but I could use your help.
If you have any opinions on work — the good, the bad, or the ugly, please shout it out. If you work in a remote office, or you’re crammed into a cubicle just like your father and his father, let me know. Is your job awesome? Is it terrible outdated and backwards? Do you hate big stupid corporations or do you love how often you’re allowed to use the word “synergy” on a typical day? Let me know your thoughts.
Write your opinions and thoughts in the comments. Tell me what you’d like to see addressed, what tips you wish you had, what tone and manner you’d most enjoy reading. If you don’t want your comments to be public, send it over to twentyhood@gmail.com
Thanks in advance for the input.
posted by Scott in careers,life.