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I have been unemployed now since the beginning of 2008. After sending out hundreds of applications and resumes with only a handful of interviews I have given up looking for work. I have felt this way for a while and have tailed off in the number of lengthy applications I have submitted.
At 32, I am still young, so age shouldn’t be the issue. I am presentable with a good demeanor and have a bachelor’s degree in a desirable field. So what is the issue?
I could blame the economy but that just seems too easy, almost cliche. I am in the Midwest and we have fared better than most areas of the country in terms of job availability. My brother has been able to find work, albeit a lower paying position. I believe the problem lies with my work history.
Right out of college I started a small company and ran it successfully for many years. I was in tune with the financial meltdown and its impending nature in 2007. Knowing that I did not want to run this company forever I decided to put it up for sale while the market was still good. By this point the company was a local necessity and I knew I could get a good sum for it, which I did in early 2008. I couldn’t have been happier. I figured that I would take the money and invest it in my future while I looked for a career outside of entrepreneurship but inside my degree’s field.
I eagerly starting looking for a new career by spring 2008 but quickly found that the job market was stagnating. I didn’t think anything of it; I just figured I would ramp up my efforts. I looked and looked. Then I started applying anywhere and everywhere, still nothing. After years of this I am at my wits end. I keep running into a situation where I am overqualified for lesser jobs and under experienced for most the positions in my degree’s field, because of the company. I have had interviewers tell me that they want someone with more experience and others tell me that with my education they feel I would leave as soon as I could.
So what am I going to do? Well, I quit. I have realized that I will need to be my own boss again. That’s right I am going to start another company. At this point it’s my only option and one that suits me, even though I know that it’ll make me perpetually unemployable. This time I will do something I love, something that people need. Now I just have to figure out what that is.