We live in a transient society. People change city to city and job to job every year, sometimes even more often. Most people are now facing not only four different careers, but at least as many changes in residence over their "working" lifetimes.
Speaking as a person who has lived in five cities over the past 10 years, occupying five apartments, three dorm rooms, three houses and one garage during that time, I say the more moves the merrier.
Now, since I graduated from college in 1992, I've been operating on the non-career track. In that time, I have designed motorcycle maintenance manuals, pasted up the pages of the Kansas City Star, slung books and java at a bookstore/coffeeshop, sold thousand-dollar jazz records to rich folks at a record store and worked other sundry jobs. And those are just the ones where I've been paid. I have also cranked out 117 issues of Aiding & Abetting, an independent label music tipsheet, now a webzine. I have written a couple books and have been writing in all other shapes and sizes for years.
So I'm not normal, and thus of no interest to social scientists, right? I'm not so sure. College graduates I know have been slaving away at silly jobs like bank teller, dog kennel attendant, ski dude, bartender or janitor. Many of these folks are quite envious of my jobs, because they at least sound interesting. Trust me, they weren't.
But we all want something better. Something more interesting. Something that allows us to really express ourselves. That's why we went to college: to get qualified for the really good jobs. And we're kinda hacked when it turns out one of the best jobs available turns out to be shift leader at Wendy's.
Not to knock the full emplyment theory, but my generation will always be stuck behind the sizable demographic rear end of the baby boomers. My loving parents and all the folks who followed them. I know people with Masters degrees who are serving up coffee with a smile at McDonald's because there aren't any Ph.D slots open at colleges. The main reason for this trend, so my friends have been told, is that colleges simply don't need professors these days. Indeed, many of them are trimming back what they have. Just when a new influx of students is about to hit.
I won't comment on how "liberal" university systems are jumping into the downsizing fray with aplomb. That is simply too appalling to mention. I'll just note that the folks who count themselves Gen Xers (as much as I loathe the term) are going to struggle like hell until their parents die. A pittance of an inheritance will follow, but once they're 60, we can finally work in the job of our dreams. Until our children downsize us once we turn 61.
The ultimate irony in all this? Journalism is considered a lucrative profession among college students these days. Ignorance? Stupidity? Nope, the kids are all right. The opportunity to make $20,000 a year right out of school is looking damned good right now. And if you work it right, changing newspapers once a year or so until you're 30, you should be up near 40 grand by the time you might want to settle down.
I mean, Burger King doesn't have a plan like that, does it?
Whatever. As every president has learned, there's very little that can be done to change the economy and the forces of capitalism. Sure, we could go out and commit mass patricide, but that would just put more of us in jail (which, to be honest, is a better career option than many grads I know are facing). The solution is to not expect so much, vote against contemptible greedheads who ply us with false promises, and imbibe the occasional mood-altering substance.
Nothing drastic; just life.
Jon Worley is negotiating with a large chemical manufacturer to purchase a lifetime supply of lithium.