I remember when I was first paid to write. It was a big moment for me. I was busy putting my “book” together and showing it to any creative director in Portland who would look and offer feedback.
At the time, I heard some version of, “No thank you, but keep trying,” many times over. It was discouraging, and a hard thing to work through. How do you keep the faith without some positive feedback and a helping hand or two? Answer: You don’t. Someone has to take a chance on you. Someone has to believe in you and help you get where you’re going.
Back when I was showing my spec book, two design shops in Portland, Oregon stepped up and asked me to write brochures for their clients, and they paid me for my work. It was a humble start, but a start is what a person needs. It leads you to believe in the next big step and in your ability to find and secure the opening you need to succeed.
For me, the opening, or “big break” as it is sometimes called, came nearly two years later at BOWG in Salt Lake City. It was a serious journey to get there, and that was just the beginning, the onboarding.
What About Today’s Students and Recent Grads? How Hard Is It for Them to Find Work?
Here is the headline from Sunday’s edition of the San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus fallout devastates job market for soon-to-be college graduates
How bad is it? We’re about to find out, but the signs are discouraging. Disney and Yelp canceled their internship programs because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And several industries are experiencing massive tumult: 77% of travel and transportation companies have imposed hiring freezes or layoffs, according to the job consultancy candor.co, followed by 64% of educational institutions and 62% of retail companies.
For what it’s worth, more than 1.3 million students are expected to graduate from a two-year or four-year college this year. These new graduates typically absorb the harshest blow: Unemployment was nearly twice as high for young workers (ages 16 to 24) during the recession of 2008 and ’09.
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