Posted At: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 11:24 PM

Posted To: ASAP - Sound Off

Subject: Kristen Gelineau's "Just give me a chance" hits home(less)

My fiance's mother sent me this article in the mail, and as I read it I started to cry because I knew that I was not alone in my expirience. As soon as I finished, I had to write in.

I, too, have a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and have been homeless because I was given rejection after rejection while my savings dwindled. As I type this, I am currently unemployed and looking for any work--currently part-time, holiday retail work--to help pay the bills.

I've intereviewed with several papers and received high marks on tests, but despite qualifications, time after time I am passed over for more expirienced writers and editors.

Since my graduation in 2003, I've held the following jobs: cashier at a CD store, number cruncher for a credit union (not such a beloved job for one who prefers words to numbers) and manager at a big-box retailer. during college itself I made ends meet as a slop jockey at the campus dining hallw ith others that shared my plight

Unfortunately, the bottom line is that six years, two cross-state moves and four menial jobs later, I am no better off than I might be if I had not gone to college at all At times, this makes me very resentful. I became very angry. In what sort of world, what sort of country are university graduates--supposedly our country's best and brightest--forced to sell all their belongings and sleep on the floor of a bare apartment? Or, as Kristen wondered, is the problem with myself?

So far my story does not have a happy ending, just happier uptwists. I am engaged and living with my college sweetheart, a third-grade bilingual eucator. Two people living on a teacher's salary is hardly the dream either of us had when we first embarked on our educational pursuits.

No amount of networking and skill can make up for that fatal catch-22 that seems to befall journalism students the hardest: no one will hire you without expirience; expirience dearly needed from getting that first job.

In the meantime, I have made a full-time job of freelance and volunteer work in between a job search in which I am competing with high-school dropouts for the chance to stand on a frigid street corner in a pizza costume and hand out flyers. JournalismJobs.com bookmarked on my browser, I continue to search. Wish me luck.

June Olah

Olympia, WA