On The Hunt

Why do people make it so difficult for us unemployed folk to get a job?  I've been looking for a job for the last three months.  That's three months of no income, living in New York and paying off my student loans, rent, car insurance, and putting gas in the car.  Oh.  I can't forget groceries so I can live.  Minor details.  But seriously, companies post these job ads that specify that the applicant had to have gone to a 4-year college, graduated with a certain GPA (usually 3.0 or better), 2+ years of experience, etc etc.

I don't really understand what they want.  Do they expect the best of the best to be unemployed and currently looking for jobs?  I really hope they don't expect to get what they're looking for.  The people they're looking for are already secured with jobs from before the recession.  They've all gone and looked through the job boards online before, picked out where they want to work, and are now happily (or upset, but stay because of the money) working for whatever company they are with.  What's left are the rest of us.  The kids who grew up in middle class homes whose parents couldn't afford to put them through a 4-year college, so we had to put ourselves through community college.

Now don't get my wrong, I'm extremely happy I went to community college.  Originally, I didn't want to get a college education.  I thought it was a waste of time and money.  I went to college and dropped out after a semester.  After working for a year and a half in a hotel, I decided I was going to get an associates degree in Hotel Management from my local community college.  I took out the necessary loans because I didn't have that kind of money, registered for classes, and worked my ass off to get through.  I was a C student in high school, but that was my parents money that I was wasting.  This was totally different.  I was doing this for myself, and I wanted to get the most out of it.  After 2 grueling years, I graduated with a solid 3.15 GPA (stupid Banquet Management class!!) and felt proud of myself for going through it.  I thought I could take on the field and was ready to do so, until I realized I graduated at the worst possible time in recent history.

Now back to the topic at hand.  What the hell am I supposed to do when even the lowest jobs on the totem pole 'require' 4-year degrees?  I'm looking on CareerBuilder.com and I barely qualify for what they're looking for in a Greyhound bus driver!  All because I have a silly 2-year degree.  I guess I'll just have to keep doing what I've been doing for 3 months.  Apply to all the jobs I both qualify for and don't qualify for, and wait for someone to call back for an interview.  What a waste of time and money after all.