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Can she not work as a police dispatcher or 911 operator? That would at least pay more than minimum. If you take retail sales clerk and keep it for more than a year as a college graduate I start to question the ambition and outlook of that graduate. Is she really looking or is she just complaining but not really trying?
It doesn't really matter what her degree is in. East TN is the kind of place where there just aren't that many jobs. If her degree was in engineering or whatever there wouldn't be that many jobs in that area either. In places like that - jobs only open up when someone dies or retires. There is a job for a CJ major somewhere. I work at a college and am friends with the CJ program director. Graduates find jobs - but they have to search statewide or region-wide. There are only so many openings in our town.
The key to finding jobs today is flexibility and mobility. The biggest barrier I've seen for anyone in job searching is lack of flexibility in their location. You have to go where the jobs are - it's always been that way in the U.S., why do you think people were always moving west, moving north from the south, now from north to south, etc...?
I was living in "jobs paradise" Austin, TX and my situation was similar. I could stay working as a waiter and getting temp gigs or could search nationwide for a career-type job in my field. I had to move 2000 miles away for a job in my field - I didn't really want to do that but you do what you have to do. You can be the top graduate of the top school in your marketable field - but in the end there are only a couple dozen or so engineering jobs in a place like Dayton, TN and they only open up now and then.
$80K is a pretty nice cushion as working capital to start her own business or get into sales, something like that. That's pretty much the only way I could see staying in her area as an option.
Last edited by redguard57; 06-16-2015 at 08:17 PM..
That is up to each person to decide for themselves. What did she intend to do with a CJ degree? I am sure the 80K is giving her a reason to delay making any hard decisions. Is she applying for jobs that require a degree, or has she set her sights pretty low? It sounds like she enough enough money to move and survive in the midwest until she gets on her feet. Why doesn't she want to relocate/go to where the jobs are?
She originally intended to go to law school and was well set on doing that until her mother died. When her mother died, it pretty much took any desire to do anything out of her. I'm pretty certain she's also depressed, as her mother was her only close family member, and is just kind of sitting in a rut.
At least a bachelors even in CJ allows you to check off the "have degree" box when applying for generic jobs that require a degree. Problem is jobs will be very difficult to come by in a rural area of Tenn.
An ex-girlfriend of mine is 25, graduated college in 2013 with a criminal justice degree, and the only work she was able to find locally in east Tennessee was for the federal minimum wage at a clothing store. She's applied to other stuff locally and has done some waitressing, etc, but nothing serious. She's been pestering me for job hunting tips.
She's got about $80,000 in inheritance from her mother's death and is debt-free to my knowledge. She keeps wanting to apply for jobs remotely, and while there's nothing wrong with that, I can't see her getting much being in such an isolated area without sufficient skills. I've been telling her she needs to move somewhere with low unemployment and low cost of living (like the upper Midwest), get whatever job she can, then work her way up/out to something better.
There doesn't seem t be any reason to think she'll do better in Tennessee in the near future. At what point do you just make a break for it?
It doesn't have anything to do with Tennessee, and everything to do with her lack of motivation to actually hunker down and look for a real job.
If she is physically fit (or can become physically fit which should be easy for a 25 yr old) she should join the police. Police are looking to hire women, although she will probably have to move where those jobs are.
Prison guard is another option, but that usually doesn't require a college degree.
She's really too heavy to join the military at any time in the foreseeable future, and she's not culturally a fit for it.
She did turn down a parole/probation officer position in Nashville for about $35k. While not a lot, she said it wasn't enough to live on because the cost of living is high there. Months have gone by since then without the hint of another job.
She did turn down a parole/probation officer position in Nashville for about $35k. While not a lot, she said it wasn't enough to live on because the cost of living is high there. Months have gone by since then without the hint of another job.
That's a crock of cheese. She simply doesn't want to work.
Can she not work as a police dispatcher or 911 operator? That would at least pay more than minimum. If you take retail sales clerk and keep it for more than a year as a college graduate I start to question the ambition and outlook of that graduate. Is she really looking or is she just complaining but not really trying?
It doesn't really matter what her degree is in. East TN is the kind of place where there just aren't that many jobs. If her degree was in engineering or whatever there wouldn't be that many jobs in that area either. In places like that - jobs only open up when someone dies or retires. There is a job for a CJ major somewhere. I work at a college and am friends with the CJ program director. Graduates find jobs - but they have to search statewide or region-wide. There are only so many openings in our town.
The key to finding jobs today is flexibility and mobility. The biggest barrier I've seen for anyone in job searching is lack of flexibility in their location. You have to go where the jobs are - it's always been that way in the U.S., why do you think people were always moving west, moving north from the south, now from north to south, etc...?
I was living in "jobs paradise" Austin, TX and my situation was similar. I could stay working as a waiter and getting temp gigs or could search nationwide for a career-type job in my field. I had to move 2000 miles away for a job in my field - I didn't really want to do that but you do what you have to do. You can be the top graduate of the top school in your marketable field - but in the end there are only a couple dozen or so engineering jobs in a place like Dayton, TN and they only open up now and then.
$80K is a pretty nice cushion as working capital to start her own business or get into sales, something like that. That's pretty much the only way I could see staying in her area as an option.
Good points. She really, really wasted that first year out of college. We weren't really on speaking terms then, but she had worked various waitressing jobs throughout college.
Granted, the economy there is flat out awful, but I don't know why she didn't realize this until like the last few months. It would have been MUCH easier to get a job as a new graduate than being two years out of the new grad app pool and trying to compete with experienced workers.
Most professionals I know from the area had to move north to find jobs, but we had a little more experience or better degrees. Still, I don't see why there is so much hesitation against packing up and leaving.
That's a crock of cheese. She simply doesn't want to work.
I'm beginning to think the same thing. What kind of job does she expect straight out of college with only a BA in criminal justice? 35K (especially if this is a civil service/union job) is good for entry level work- especially since raises in the public sector are usually guaranteed and ramp up quickly.
edit: I quickly googled cost of living in nashville vs philadelphia (where I am) and it's moderately cheaper- and Philly isn't particularly expensive to live to start out with. 35K to start is easily doable, especially with 80K in the bank.
I think treating the depression and doing something about the weight (criminal justice can be picky about fitness qualifications) is probably the first thing I'd worry about. Simply moving to another state will do nothing, as the root cause of the problem will simply follow her wherever she goes.
She's really too heavy to join the military at any time in the foreseeable future, and she's not culturally a fit for it.
She did turn down a parole/probation officer position in Nashville for about $35k. While not a lot, she said it wasn't enough to live on because the cost of living is high there. Months have gone by since then without the hint of another job.
Nashville isn't known as an extremely high COL area. $35K should have been enough to get an apartment and meet basic expenses, especially since you said she has no debt. It sounds like she is just being way too picky in her job search.
Once her money from the inheritance runs out, I'm guessing she suddenly gets way less choosy about what jobs she is willing to take.
The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment
"Here's something that many Americans -- including some of the smartest and most educated among us -- don't know: The official unemployment rate, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, is extremely misleading.
Right now, we're hearing much celebrating from the media, the White House and Wall Street about how unemployment is "down" to 5.6%. The cheerleading for this number is deafening. The media loves a comeback story, the White House wants to score political points and Wall Street would like you to stay in the market.
None of them will tell you this: If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job -- if you are so hopelessly out of work that you've stopped looking over the past four weeks -- the Department of Labor doesn't count you as unemployed. That's right. While you are as unemployed as one can possibly be, and tragically may never find work again, you are not counted in the figure we see relentlessly in the news -- currently 5.6%. Right now, as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed. Trust me, the vast majority of them aren't throwing parties to toast "falling" unemployment.
There's another reason why the official rate is misleading. Say you're an out-of-work engineer or healthcare worker or construction worker or retail manager: If you perform a minimum of one hour of work in a week and are paid at least $20 -- maybe someone pays you to mow their lawn -- you're not officially counted as unemployed in the much-reported 5.6%. Few Americans know this.
Yet another figure of importance that doesn't get much press: those working part time but wanting full-time work. If you have a degree in chemistry or math and are working 10 hours part time because it is all you can find -- in other words, you are severely underemployed -- the government doesn't count you in the 5.6%. Few Americans know this.
There's no other way to say this. The official unemployment rate, which cruelly overlooks the suffering of the long-term and often permanently unemployed as well as the depressingly underemployed, amounts to a Big Lie.
And it's a lie that has consequences, because the great American dream is to have a good job, and in recent years, America has failed to deliver that dream more than it has at any time in recent memory. A good job is an individual's primary identity, their very self-worth, their dignity -- it establishes the relationship they have with their friends, community and country. When we fail to deliver a good job that fits a citizen's talents, training and experience, we are failing the great American dream.
Gallup defines a good job as 30+ hours per week for an organization that provides a regular paycheck. Right now, the U.S. is delivering at a staggeringly low rate of 44%, which is the number of full-time jobs as a percent of the adult population, 18 years and older. We need that to be 50% and a bare minimum of 10 million new, good jobs to replenish America's middle class.
I hear all the time that "unemployment is greatly reduced, but the people aren't feeling it." When the media, talking heads, the White House and Wall Street start reporting the truth -- the percent of Americans in good jobs; jobs that are full time and real -- then we will quit wondering why Americans aren't "feeling" something that doesn't remotely reflect the reality in their lives. And we will also quit wondering what hollowed out the middle class."
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