Posts tagged with employment.

Going on a McJob diet

Ian Wylie, May 14, 2009 at 11:13 AM

Summer break has officially begun. But for a productivity-obsessed generation worried about tight job markets, summertime is no break. Rather it's an opportunity to build a résumé attractive to grad schools and future employers. 

Med school applicants jet to foreign countries for volunteer positions, wannabe scientists seek research positions with high profile professors, while the corporate minded get their first taste of the business through summer internships.

A prestigious summer job is a prerequisite on a solid application. An accoutrement to high marks.  On the other hand, the thinking goes, menial labour just sucks. 

I used to disagree with this mentality. In high school, employment in the fast food industry was not a bad option. I did my time and received a decent salary.

This summer, though, I won't be putting on the old grease stained uniform and faded nametag. 

After spending 8 months in Canada's largest university, my approach to summer employment has changed.  I realized this year how hard it is to get employed in my chosen field (journalism). In such a large school you understand pretty quickly that not everyone will end up with the job they want after graduating.

Without luck and talent, a goal you've had since you were small can quickly evaporate.

Like the overachieving automatons I used to begrudge, I no longer see the benefit of working minimum wage jobs to pay for an education that thousands upon thousands of people already have. The skills I need are cultivated outside the classroom. 

So, that's the great dichotomy. I have to earn an income to pay for my education and I have to practise the skills necessary to be employed. And summertime (or, as I like to call it, four months without five courses) is the perfect time to practise.  Still, I have yet to find a way to balance the two.

Right now I'm looking at a PR job, which offers irregular work. For now, it's the closest I can get to where I want to be. My parents, though, are concerned with my lack of a steady income and flirtation with debt. But life at 19 without a healthy cash flow is easier than at 30. 

Tagged with food, summer, work, resume, earn, income, employment, wage, mcjob, minimum, fast | Comments (24) |