CAREERS : SHIFTING GEARS : Careers for the Ages : Preparing for Brave New World of Work Means Breaking Out of Lock-Step Notions : IN THE BEGINNING : Post-Grad Shock: Settling for Less
When Lourdes Francisco gets together with her friend, Barbara Matias, the conversation often turns to their jobs. It can sometimes get depressing.
The two recent college grads, both 25, are clerical workers. Well, sort of. Matias is a “coordinator.” But she does a lot of faxing. Francisco’s situation is more clear-cut: “I’m a secretary,” she says.
Four years at UCLA, a bachelor’s degree in psychology and some impressive job experience as a mental health coordinator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency during a riot recovery project in fall 1992, just after graduation, were not enough to land Francisco a job in her field. It wasn’t that she didn’t look.
“I sent out about 60 resumes,” she says. Several interviewers told her she needed more experience. “They told me there are people with master’s (degrees) out there that are out of a job. The competition is incredible.”
The twentysomething crowd has become known as the slacker generation--underemployed, unambitious and, all in all, unexceptional. But Francisco says that’s a bad rap. The truth is, her generation faces one of the tougher job markets in several decades, in part because of the recession and in part because the generation that came before hers--the in-your-face baby boomers--is so large.
With many of the boomers out of work, recent college graduates find themselves competing with older applicants who have vastly more experience. And those positions that are open to younger workers are often entry-level with little room for advancement. Says Francisco: “Even if I did get a job in my field, I’d be making less than $18,000 a year and doing a graveyard shift probably.” She makes $26,000 as a secretary.
It makes for a rethinking of what it means to have a “career.”
“Barbara and I talk about that a lot,” Francisco says. “You’re out of college and you expect a nice job, or at least the kind of job you thought you were getting trained for in school, and you have to settle for less. It’s really frustrating. The older generation, the people in their 30s and 40s had it much easier. “
“You need an MBA and 10 years of experience to get a consultant position now,” Francisco notes. “I know some of the vice presidents here that started a long time ago only had a BA. One of them didn’t even finish college. It’s really amazing, the change.”
When her own job search proved fruitless, Francisco went to a temporary agency. Her typing skills--and the fact that she knew the owner of the agency, who steered her into one of the higher-paying temp jobs--helped her get the secretarial job. Eventually, the management consultant firm hired her as a permanent employee.
She’s not complaining. “They treat me really well. It’s stable, good benefits, good salary. I’m just glad I’m working,” she said. “There are so many people out there who aren’t.”
That attitude distresses her father, a lawyer in the Philippines, who likes to remind Lourdes of a speech she made in kindergarten when she declared her ambition to become a doctor. Her father, who made a similar speech at that age about becoming a lawyer, tells her he “stuck with it.” Her response: “OK, this is really realistic, Dad. Give me a break.”
Still, Francisco doesn’t plan to be a secretary forever. She may return to graduate school for a master’s degree in public health. Or she may brush up on her Spanish and become a bilingual teacher. She has thought about becoming licensed to take care of children and starting a day-care center.
“But for now, this is what I have to do. I have to pay back loans; I have to make money. When I think of a career, I think I like dealing with people. Maybe I’ll be a teacher; that’s more like a ‘career.’ But I really don’t even know what that means. It’s hard to define.”