By the time my dad was 28, he was in the second year of his 30-plus year-long job. Taking inflation into consideration, compared to how much I'm making as a 28-year-old, my dad made way more than me at the same age.
This isn't surprising, as a recent report announced that, on average, Millennials make 20% less than Baby Boomers.
That's a frustrating statistic for someone like me. Despite spending seven years at East Carolina University, and earning a master's degree, I'm making less than people of my parents' generation who didn't even go to college.
In fact, I have experienced an all-too-common cycle plenty of other Millennials have faced:
1. Saturation of College Students
Like I mentioned, I spent a good deal of time in college. In fact, like many other Millennials, I went to a college with nearly 30,000 other students. When my parents attended the same school back in the late-70's, the university enrollment was less than half of what it is today.
When my dad graduated, he got a job almost immediately because he had a bachelor's in business. When I initially graduated, I struggled to get a minimum-wage retail gig. A college degree is no longer a tool to guarantee a job.
2. No Experience? No Thanks.
One of the biggest knocks I've heard from potential employers is that I lack experience—which is a fair criticism. I wouldn't want to hire someone to work on my computer if they had no practical experience on Apple products. However, if those who lack experience are unable to find work, how do they get the experience?
3. "We'll Pay You With Experience"
Well, I have found that, instead of working for payment, some Millennials, especially creative-types, take on jobs that reward you in precious experience. It's great that there are people willing to give inexperienced youngsters the practical training needed to get well-paid jobs.
While this model fixes the previous problem, there's now a new, pretty obvious problem: experience can't pay bills. It's nice to have the ability to cut one's teeth in a feasible manner, but unless you're working in the food industry, odds are you won't be able to buy lunch with such experience.
4. More School, More Problems
So after unsuccessfully making a living on experience, there's one logical path for people who have faced the frustration: go back to school. This seems like an attractive option for those able to do so. I mean, I was able to go back to school and get my master's in Creative Writing.
Of course, school isn't cheap, and more student loan debt, which means there'll be more demand for a job. But for those employers who don't see more school as experience, and therefore don't hire graduates, would mean graduates would have to compromise payment in order to become a more viable candidate. And the cycle continues.
This cycle needs to stop. Yes, it's good to look at what people can do based on a piece of paper, but people are more than a resume. If hopeful employees were actually given a chance to show what they can do beyond a single page, then maybe this cycle would be broken.
