I was telling an acquaintance about my job hunt, which has included a communications position at a district council office (ie local government), to be met with an exaggerated, “doesn’t that just scream excitement and the high life, a district council (sic)?” First, I had to decide whether this was a “you need to do something better with yourself” or a “you have poor taste in jobs” jab. There have been plenty op-eds that discuss how older generations for whom a degree guaranteed a job may not quite understand the plight of the contemporary jobseeker, and the matter that we lower our standards to get a look in. Thing is, this person is only a year older than I am. I had to take a moment and think back to the education and work history of this particular person: mostly linear (more or less all degrees in a row, then a job in their first choice field), mostly big city. From a job-seeking perspective, we have very little in common, as I have taken a far more crooked path. This, I like to think, has at least given me an idea of how far and wide my skills stretch, even if it shows that I was perhaps not the best at the first thing I tried. I’ve decided to reject their judging me about where I apply, so the question that remains is, is it that easy, or does it only take so little time to forget that other people do not follow the same career path and progression as you – some of whom do so by choice? I know I’m not alone in having taken longer than the youngest age a (non-prodigious) PhD could be in getting to know myself enough to know where I can apply myself in a useful and gainful way. Why is this sometimes considered a bad thing?
The Real World for Young People 