Retail Therapy

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Recent studies show that only half of college graduates have jobs that require a degree. Since the great recession hit four years ago, unemployment for graduates with liberal arts degrees is up 9%. It is no wonder 85% of new college graduates move back in with their parents. For many in the millennial generation, an independent adult life is on hold. For our series 20 somethings, Michele Malkasian explains how it feels to have a college degree, but a job that does not require one.

Graduation…A time to celebrate your academic achievements in higher education… To join the professional workforce…and arrive in the real world. But what if you don’t have “that job” upon graduation?

I graduated from USC nine months ago and I’m working at a department store…retail. I saw graduation as the day I would have it all figured out. On the contrary, despite my ideal fantasy, I’m right back where I started.

Ok, so it’s not that bad, but I’m still trying to come up with an acceptable answer to the looming question of, “What are you going to do now Michele?” I go to grab a drink with my friends Alyssa and Katie at the Yard House. Turns out their situations are a lot like mine. Katie has a job at the pool, she wants to work for the government someday. Alyssa had hoped to be in med school by now; she’s working with me at the department store.

Alyssa: “I was so happy to get my diploma and I was excited for the pictures to post on facebook to prove that I had graduated, which sounds awful, but I was like this is my proof because I don’t have a job to show for it right now.”

Katie: "They all want to know if I’m in school, what I majored in and all that good stuff and then I tell them and they look at me like ‘oh and you’re teaching swimming in La Mirada because why?”

Katie: “It just sucks, and my relatives, speaking of people that don’t understand, were like ‘why are you working in retail, you went to school’ and I’m just like, you know what, there’s no jobs out there, this is the best I can do and it pays well!”

Waitress: “I don’t even tell people where I graduated from because immediately they assume, you must be a failure in life, nobody wants you.”

Our waitress joins in! Turns out she’s a USC grad too. Her tray is full of drinks for the next table, but she stops.

Waitress: “I mean, if you would have asked me how I pictured my life in high school and like what I wanted to do, like, I was going to be this traveling journalist, and I was going to report on all these soulful things like aids in Africa, and I was going to change people’s lives and I was going to be like this powerful strong woman and like, you know, eat guys’ souls for breakfast, like independent, just beautiful, skinny and…none of those things happened..."

The other day at work as I’m ringing a customer up I tell him where I graduated from and shaking his head in confusion and asks, “Is this where you saw yourself after graduating from USC?” For the rest of the day I was thinking, have I really “ended up” at a department store?! I know people who have degrees, who work retail while they figure out what they want to do, and then 20 years later they’re still working retail.

In these times, it’s hard to keep your hopes up. I think a lot about what Katie said when we were out for drinks…

Katie: “The fact that this economy is horrible and there’s no jobs makes it so much worse. Makes me even more freaked out. I have no idea what’s going on and I’m really stressed out.”

Me too, Katie. Hopefully things will be looking up soon. As of now, Katie is thinking about grad school, Alyssa is still deciding if she wants to apply to med school, and our waitress is interning in the PR department of Morgan Stanley anxiously awaiting a possible full time position.

What we’re all doing now is a stepping-stone to bigger things. One day another customer told me, “treat everyday as a networking opportunity, and don’t worry, you’re on the path to success”. Turns out she’s a dean at Cal State Fullerton. Maybe she’s right. Maybe one day I’ll be the traveling journalist who eats guys’ souls for breakfast, in the meantime, at least I have a job.