Why a BA is Now a Ticket to A Job in a Coffee Shop

[LooseWilly]

22. You kind of did say kids today are... not tough

I graduated from college during the HW end-of-term recession. I did some volunteer work in Mexico and became fluent in Spanish... and then came back to the states to wash dishes (a job I got because of a family connection with the owner of the pub) and then eventually... I was changing people's kitty litter while they were out of town, delivering their dry cleaning, and changing the water for their fish- and that was the job that gave me health insurance.

During the dot-com boom everyone one of us made money. The lucky ones knew someone who managed to slide into a company job with some pull while the competition they would usually have had for those jobs were out "panning for gold" trying to hit it rich with the next great IPO.

Those with that kind of luck (knowing someone who slid into a company job) could "fine tune" their skills and get hooked up with a job.

I spent a decade working 2 hours a day, 7 days a week as a chauffeur, or working 8 hours a week as a freelance reporter, or... working as a retail wine department head (who says drinking isn't a marketable skill?)

You can talk about "grit" all you like... but from what I've seen it's all about knowing someone who's in the right place at the right time. Or not.

If you don't know someone who's got the power to bestow a job upon you... barista or wine-department-guy or graveyard-shift stock dude is about all you're gonna be looking at.

On the other hand, I've seen some half-competents hired/promoted right past me in various of my crappy jobs just because they were known to those of influence.

Grit is what you use to survive the coffee shop job... luck and connections are what lifts you up.