Job Fair

I was asked by my current employer, a private college in town, to attend a Career Fair not far from the campus that was being held at a local high school. My mission: try to talk a few people into going back to school and maybe take a resume or two for open positions at our campus.

With our current state of the economy constantly in the news and on the internet, I was not suprised to see that there were quite a few local businesses looking for help despite current layoffs and other threats to employment.

What I was not ready for, however, was the number of people with college degrees that would be waiting in line to talk to these businesses... many of which were only offering $9.00 an hour jobs. The line of job hopefuls who had just been laid off from careers in retail, banking, advertising, and real estate stretched more than 200 people long. Many of these people were wearing business clothing that cost more than what the business presenters were wearing.

I spoke with quite a few people today regarding their career experiences and where they came from before this unfortunate situation... and very few were looking to go back to school. I spoke with people that were laid off from a job they worked at for 20 years, and even others that were stopping at every booth to submit a resume, regardless of the type of job being offered.

I know what is going on in my world, and I am very much aware of the implications of this current economic situation. However, today was the first time that I realized exactly how lucky I really am to be in the position I am in.