An Editorial Post - Over-educated & Unemployable?

"So, did you end up over-educated and unemployable like you said in the yearbook?"
-Gretchen Speck, Wonderfalls Season 1 Episode 1

I was talking to a friend today about some articles I'm writing and magazines I've queried recently and she suggested I write an article about having a Master's Degree and being underemployed. After thinking about it, I realized that it's not really the sort of thing I'm interested in fully researching and trying to find sufficient stats and figures to support a magazine article - but as a pre-weekend editorial, it could be interesting.

One of my favorite shows ever only lasted 4 episodes before being canceled from FOX was called Wonderfalls (fortunately, the full 1st season was released on DVD). The show centers around a young woman named Jaye Tyler who, after graduating from Brown with a degree in philosophy ends up moving back home to Niagara Falls to live in a trailer park and work retail in a tourist oriented gift shop. While at work one day, a former classmate (Gretchen Speck) comes in & while talking to her asks the quote at the top of this post, to which Jaye's deadpan reply was "Yep, went to Brown, got a degree in philosophy, now I work here..."

Jaye's reply is similar to mine when people ask what I do. I have both, a Bachelor's (Psychology) and a Master's Degree (Public Administration) from one of the top rated public universities in the US. My graduate program was a top 15 ranked program in the annual US News rankings. Currently, I'm driving a tractor-trailer for a local trucking company and have a part-time job driving buses for the university I graduated from. An acquaintance and I were talking on Monday, sharing trucking 'war-stories' and suddenly he paused and said "Wait... you have a master's degree... and you're driving a truck??"

So, what happened? When I started undergrad in 2004, education seemed the optimal path. I spent most of the preceding 3yrs driving truck over-the-road and knew I didn't want to do that for a living. Finishing undergrad in 2008, I realized that I wanted to make a difference. Work for the Government - preferably at a local or state level - and try to make things a little better. I started grad school in 2008 and watched as the economy got worse and worse with each passing month. Numerous governmental agencies and all levels of government began to realize that the economy was tanking, tax revenues were down & they still had a number of obligations to pay - bonds, employee retirement benefits and still trying to provide the services necessary for their constituents. Every morning, one of the first emails I read is the daily news from the ICMA (International City/County Management Association) and in the past few months - there have been articles virtually every week centered on how some governmental entities are saving money through restructuring / eliminating employee retirement plans or flat out eliminating positions. One of the reasons individuals take the lower pay associated with working in the public sector is for the job security & retirement packages.

With that said - what happened? More specifically, in my individual case... Well, since last October, I've applied to over 50 positions at all levels of government. In that time, I've managed to get 3 interviews, and haven't had any progress beyond that point. At present, I have over 20 applications in that have not progressed beyond the "Application Received" stage. While I try to remain cautiously optimistic for the applications I have in, I still go through state & municipal websites weekly to look for new openings to apply to. Yet still, none have borne fruit.

As I said before, I drove tractor-trailers for nearly 3yrs before going to school. I never gave up my Class A CDL & retained my skills for driving. A buddy's family owns a small trucking company & I fell into a part-time position with them while in my last year of grad school - part time to make some extra money. No other job prospects have lead to me taking on more and more hours there. Just barely paying the bills, erratic hours, inconsistent pay, unrewarding work - it's not where I anticipated being after $100,000 spent on education.

Like so many others that find themselves underemployed / unemployed, I find myself frequently depressed about what I'm doing, questioning my path through life, wondering if things will ever improve & live in a never ending battle of trying to figure out how I'm going to pay each months bills. Over-educated & unemployable? At least for the time being, anyhow...