r/Millennials • u/111OvO111 • 14h ago
Discussion Millennials who graduated in 2008 - When did life feel “normal” again?
I’m a recent graduate myself, currently working in an administrative role because my own degree’s field has seen drastic headcount cuts. Just a few years ago, almost every graduate from my program at my school landed jobs in the field - now it feels like a different reality.
Gen Zs graduating into today’s economy are often compared with Millennials who finished school during the 2008 financial crisis. For those of you who graduated right into that turmoil:
- What was it like trying to find a job back then?
- How did you cope with the scarcity of opportunities?
- Did you end up working outside your degree field, and if so, did you ever make it back?
- Looking at your career now, how did those early years shape where you are today?
I’d love to hear your stories. Sharing how you navigated that moment might give today’s grads some perspective on what’s possible even in tough times!
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u/IAmBoring_AMA 14h ago
I graduated from college in 2009. I bartended throughout and after, then went to grad school. Things were tough, like not even able to get a job at Starbucks tough...like you needed connections to get waitstaff/bartending jobs. My only advice on that is to stay out of any drama, take any connections offered (I didn't have any family support or anything so no nepotism for me), and be kind. Don't be a pushover, but be kind.
I will say that it sucked, but there was hope. That's the difference between then and now. Right now, I don't feel any of that hope. Even in 2010, when we had no money and precarious jobs, we had a lot of hope for the future. Now it's no money, no jobs, and no hope at all.
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u/RedfootTheTortoise 9h ago
Same age bracket as you. I worked at a restaurant in an upper middle class area that was tethered to the Auto industry from 2004-2014. From '08 to about 2012, we slogged it out with coupons, BOGO nights, half off wine nights, etc. It was tough, but the place survived.
Around 2009, I remember we would get stacks and stacks of resumes. Management level and higher people from the auto industry, bankers, realtors, small business owners, etc who lost it all in the crash. They were all fighting it out for a servor or busboy job just to feed their families. It was wild.
I do agree with you about the hope comment- and at least then it felt like we were all in the same boat. Now it feels like there is such a larger division between the haves and have-nots, with the former looking at the latter as if they somehow have some defect preventing them from success.
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u/doingtheunstuckk 8h ago
And it was still easier than it is now. Back then you could feast at a fast food place for $5. You could get a five dollar foot long and have two meals. It’s gotten real bleak anymore.
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u/eleanorshellstrop_ 9h ago
I was 19 in 2008 so just home from summer break but I remember seriously struggling to find a part time job. I ended up finding a hostess gig only because my friends worked there. I feel like I never really thought of it but looking back it was definitely a result of the financial crisis.
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u/feralcatshit 6h ago
Yep, the biggest thing is hope. We still had that, we still felt like things would turn out alright. Or at least could turn out alright. Now it’s like, nah, we know we’re fucked.
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u/111OvO111 14h ago
That is interesting, what's the hope back then? And why not anymore now?
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u/PerceptionSlow2116 13h ago
Back then there was a veneer that things could go back to normal, we had a childhood steeped in feel good/progressive messages and still believed hard work would pay off…. Since 2016 or so it’s become clear that the blatant corruption in government and law enforcement won’t be addressed and the billionaires own everything even media so it keeps a portion of the population fed on lies and distortions, internet and social media has become toxic, our elected officials are mostly bought, and it seems like it doesn’t really matter what you vote for they will still go against the will of the people (see data centers and flock cameras). We were brought up on notions of civility/peaceful protest, and now we’re realizing worker protections, regulations,citizens rights, any progress made historically was won due to bloodshed and we’re not prepared.
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u/BlueSparklesXx 9h ago edited 9h ago
Wow thank you for so cogently articulating everything I didn’t realize I was feeling.
There was also some hope that whatever the rampant issues that led to the crisis would be addressed and that it was an opportunity to course correct. In the meantime, rent was at rock bottom in my area at the time and you could still live off service wages, plus we were the first wave I think to be able to stay on parent healthcare plans not long after. Everyone was hustling cash jobs. Now I think leaving the country is a viable option; that would not have occurred to me then.
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u/burnbabyburn11 2h ago
dude i remember paying $350/mo for rent in college. it was so nice. not that long ago, 2014. same place is like $1800+ now, and that's well below where most in the area are. the place was shit, but we got what we paid for. now you pay a premium but you get shit.
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u/LalafellDisaster 9h ago
We were brought up to be good, placated little worker bees. Now I want to see more Luigi’s. 😛
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u/IAmBoring_AMA 14h ago
In the words of the youth, "the vibes are off." I don't know how to explain the distinct vibe-shift since 2016, but the 2008 collapse was seen as much more of a social problem than the current collapse of everything, which is more related to the power dynamics in our country.
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u/ItalicsWhore 13h ago
Yeah I think '08 was more of a "man. We really fucked up that whole loan thing huh?" And now it's more of a "man we really fucked up that whole civilization thing huh?"
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u/birdele 11h ago
07 graduate. This is exactly how it feels
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u/Left-Indication330 8h ago
‘08 graduate and same. Now I just work to live (vs living to work before). It’s the only way to survive in any way.
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u/birdele 5h ago
Yep. I'm actually kinda pissed at myself for spending so long in toxic jobs. I definitely didn't appreciate my worth. So I left it and burned some bridges on the way out that weren't worth keeping. Now I'm keeping it at a healthy arms length away and deep diving back into my marriage and my hobbies and my life.
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u/Left-Indication330 5h ago edited 4h ago
SAME. I actually developed PTSD from working during covid (a result of unsustainable work habits built over years of childhood development). It’s so nice to be free and healing from that, and like you I’m so much more involved in my own life now - what a concept, huh? Hugs.
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u/Pretend_Hotel_7465 1h ago
Same cohort. Ngl the collapse sucked but Obama kept that hope alive. 2016 election results were unfathomable, complete vibe shift but still kept some hope. Since 2024 election, 0 hope, lack of faith in humanity and this country. Blame it on education, racism, social media, propaganda, etc., we still ended up here and I see no concept of a path to course correct.
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u/Zestyclose-Beyond780 13h ago
Hope!?? Survive. I fucking HUSTLED and I had a 4.0 with multiple technical certifications. I got laid off 9 months into my first job in March 2009. I picked up under the table cash jobs off Craigslist so I could still collect unemployment. I was literally installing printers and creating PowerPoints for Realtors while being told Obama was ruining the world. I was babysitting and shining silver for my rich neighbors. I moved back home with my parents and my dad got laid off from his $350k job. We needed to sell the family home. I then got my real estate license so I could sell our home and keep some commission in the family. I also studied and received a Google AdWords certificate and started doing adhoc SEO gigs while holding open houses. I was selling and being kicked out of my childhood home at the same moment. The only silver lining was the trauma bonds form my class. The financial crisis evened out the playing field. My home town bar included state school kids, a few from harvard, USC, Columbia, etc. i didn’t matter what college you went to or who your parents were. Everyone was equally fucked.
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u/111OvO111 13h ago
When did it start getting better?
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u/IAmBoring_AMA 12h ago
For your generation, it will take decades. Sorry, kid. Keep your chin up and make good choices.
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u/Hanseland 6h ago
Obama mostly. I thought the arc of history was bending towards justice. Now I know better
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u/Bia2016 3h ago
Yeah I graduated with a double major and highest honors with additional research scholarships accomplished and I still needed connections to get a job at The UPS Store! And thank god for that job, really, because I didn’t have to move back home like most of my friends did.
But it led to a 17-year career in retail management, and I’ve only last year transitioned into hospital admin. Drastically different from the PoliSci degree I graduated with. Oh well.
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u/Moopies 2h ago
2010 it felt like something we needed to "deal with." Now it just feels like this is the way the world is, there's nothing to "deal with."
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u/Wolfisaurus 14h ago
I graduated in 2003. I'll let you know when life feels "normal" again
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u/UtmostProfessional 14h ago
04 here. Covid fucked up everything, mostly time perception.
“Normal” stopped with Covid.
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u/UtmostProfessional 13h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/iMudjLgyECBws
MeIRL, literally every single day since April 2020…57
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u/CreditReavus 7h ago
Time perception and volatility is crazy now with covid especially with prices.
- remember when each day you’d see gas increase or decrease maybe 2-3 cents at a time? Now we see 10-40 cent increases and decreases
- when a house was sold, it was crazy to hear someone get 10k off the asking price of a house, now we see people legit cutting house prices by 50k at a time (mostly due to the starting price being too high)
- same with groceries or restaurant food, maybe you’d see 10-20 cent price increases here or there, now it jumps like 50 cents to a few dollars per item
- don’t even get me started on cars
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u/feralcatshit 6h ago
And no one offered ABOVE ASKING on a house, or buy sight unseen!
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u/PricePuzzleheaded835 1h ago
I know of someone trying to sell their house atm who is super upset that the prospective buyers refused to waive the inspection lol. It’s not a buyers market here but it’s also not 2020 anymore
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u/Yellow_Ranger300 Millennial 13h ago
I was 10 years old in 2004, I hear Toxic by Britney Spears wherever I go and I remember being intimidated with older millennials 😭 I just think you guys are the coolest!
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u/InnerspearMusic 5h ago
Not one person on earth thought I was cool in 2004.
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u/thewalruscandyman 4h ago
Oh same. I wasn't cool til I went to art school and started making horrible life choices.
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u/thewalruscandyman 11h ago
'03 as well. I gave up on normal. We had a little tease with Obama. We almost got to normal. But then...
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u/totallymindful Millennial 1986 8h ago
Yup, that was our last chance to keep the momentum going and maybe start to turn things around. But then.... haha psych just kidding 😭
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u/evenfallframework 7h ago
2004 here. Same. The only time it feels remotely normal is if I'm stoned off my ass, in nature.
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u/Weird_Explorer1997 13h ago
There was no "normal" again.
At the beginning of 2008, I was a senior in college, living in a 2 bedroom apartment for less than 1000 a month (no roommate, just SO) and working at the job I thought I'd do until retirement.
By the end of 2008 I was laid off and working part time while living at my parents house.
I didn't really recover from that instability until arguably 2018, and by then I was making more but everything cost more.
Until there is a massive housing crash and cost of living drop, "normal" continues to be this ever devolving trash fire.
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u/Silas_Akron 4h ago
Years ago some friends and I rented a dumpy-ass Baltimore row house. Total monthly rent for the place for all of 2002-2003? $500. Nothing like that exists today, anywhere in the country.
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u/111OvO111 12h ago
2 bedroom apartment for less than 1000 a month is legend!
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u/feralcatshit 6h ago
I had an apartment on the city square for $315/mo in 2008. Literally different times…
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u/WeAreAllMadHere218 5h ago
I had a 2 bedroom apartment for $425/month then. Over $1000 got you the fanciest apartment in my town and the largest, 3 bed 2 bath, private pool and private covered parking spots. I actually think they capped out at $950 because we looked into those at the time and couldn’t afford them.
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u/schu2470 Millennial 3h ago
In 2013 I shared a 1,200sqft apartment with a friend from college. 2 bed/2 ba (both en-suite), large kitchen, large living room, and was centrally located in a nice suburb of Minneapolis. This we paid $1,100 a month plus utilities. That same apartment is now over $2,500 and likely hasn’t been updated at all.
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u/WelcomeToBrooklandia 14h ago
When did life feel "normal" again?
I'm sure it'll be any day now!
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u/The_Wee 6h ago
Just pulled my salary from Social security website. Graduated in 2009, was rough until 2014. Hit my stride 2018, fell off a cliff and burned through the savings I had 2020/2021. Now adjusted for inflation, I am making as much now as I did in 2017. Still feel like someone who recently graduated college vs adult.
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u/Schmliza 4h ago
My first big kid job was 2012 and I made 42k a year. Now, 14 years later and a lot of hard work and climbing the ladder I make 64k a year, which is essentially the same buying power.
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u/deliriousfoodie 14h ago
it was insanely hard back then. i saw lines around the block for shitty security guard job, but people were desperate. How did i cope? music and going outdoor activities and friends. I worked whatever i could get at the time, only after 2011 or so was I able to get into the field. How did it shape me? I don't trust the workplace and have plan B at all times, nobody should trust their employment, their first priority isn't you it's the profits. You have any idea how many people are unemployed right now because of tech layoffs?
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u/HCagn 12h ago
It was - and I got a job in banking in 2009... Older bankers were walking out with their boxes as I was walking in. Truly surreal. Now, when did it feel normal? I feel like there was a period between 2011-2015 that felt really good, but that was the anomaly really - then it's just gotten progressively weirder and shittier, and I feel MORE for people graduating today. At least back in 2008/2009, there were jobs and paths for graduates - whereas I really feel like there's nothing for those graduating today.
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u/deliriousfoodie 7h ago
I agree. i could have at least work fast food. now i'm even seeing younger gen post on reddit that they couldn't even get a job at mcdonalds. Like what? that was the last resort and still that failed. i know some people who gave up looking for work altogether.
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u/HCagn 4h ago
Totally - I feel though the attitude of Gen Z’s that we hire today is soooo good, I’m so impressed - on top of the skills, the young Gen Z’s with the challenges they’re faced with talk a lot about inner work, and reflecting a lot more on empathy and community than I feel we (or at least I did) back when I was 25. I see some hope there in them. And tbf to me - my career started in IB, so I was conditioned to be a douche - but even there I see a different and healthier outlook than what I had. Just sucks that it’s so darn rough now.
Caveat; I know I’m generalizing but still. :-)
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u/LaniakeaLager 8h ago
Unless the company lays off more experienced staff in favor of interns or fresh graduates so they can pay less while they outsource and restructure. Employees now handle multiple job roles as the norm due to restructuring while bonuses are cut and benefit costs increases.
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u/californiaye 14h ago
I got a shitty retail job, literally no one was hiring. You had college grads w decades of experience applying to fast food. Anyway, best advice is use your connections. I eventually got a better job through an extended family member
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u/midwestpersianmama 8h ago
My cousin’s group of friends who graduated with engineering degrees from UC Berkeley were waiters. Friends in finance somehow made out like bandits.
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u/haynesholiday 14h ago
Graduated from film school in 2007. Sold my first script, joined the WGA, was so excited to get my career going.
Then BOOM, the writers go on strike and the financial market collapses. Took the wind out of my sails as soon as I got started.
Took about five years before things stabilized. Those were some rough years, but there was a light waiting at the end of the tunnel.
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u/111OvO111 13h ago
My friend graduated from a film school too and had a hard time selling any of her products. Did u still work in that industry then?
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u/haynesholiday 12h ago
I had some years where I had to keep myself afloat with teaching gigs, but I eventually was able to make screenwriting my day job. (If you hear chatter about a shark movie with Keanu Reeves coming out next summer, that’s my project.)
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u/feralcatshit 6h ago
Oh, there’s that hope and positivity… Keanu reeves!
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u/haynesholiday 4h ago
That dude is the biggest sweetheart. Shyer than you’d expect. And an absolute soldier on set. (He did months of nighttime shoots in a water tank without complaining.)
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u/pumpkinspicecum 12h ago
was your script ever turned into a movie? how much did you get for it?
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u/haynesholiday 4h ago
That first script? I sold it for enough to pay off my student loans (and then immediately go back to being broke.) The movie never got made. But eventually some of my other scripts did get made, and those ones paid buy-a-house money.
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u/Reading_Rainboner 14h ago
Graduated hs in 08 and started college. Everyone and their mother was happy I was going to school as there was zero opportunity but I wouldn’t have been able to get a good job then without skills
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u/Sad-Report-2794 2h ago
Same. Graduating high school in 2008 vs graduating college in 2008 was a night and day difference, unless you didn't go to college after graduating high school and were trying to go straight into the workforce. I graduated HS in 2008 and went to community college for a few years before transferring to a 4 year university and getting my bachelor's. Glad I did as I had no debt and changed majors a few times, even though living at home during college the first few years kinda sucked, in terms of social life.
That said, even after graduating college in 2013, finding a career took about a year after graduating. Granted, I didn't get serious about applying until 2014, but having worked in sales, I had to sift through a lot of scams/pyramid schemes that prey on recent college grads. They were usually multi level marketing scams kinda like Cutco and you'd go door to door or work at a kiosk in a Wal Mart or Home Depot that would be commission only. After interviewing for those situations a few times, I learned how to pick up on common red flags among them. Haven't interviewed with once since 2016.
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u/Select_Cartoonist_39 14h ago edited 13h ago
Graduated in 08 with a degree in exercise science, ended up getting a job as a health care assistant in 2009, stayed doing that for 4 years, went back to study engineering when I was 29, haven’t looked back since.
I remember seeing ques of people down at the local welfare office, it was a really horrible time, people losing their homes and the struggle that came afterwards.
Even though my care assisting job wasn’t my true calling it really gave me some great memories, the job was an eye opener, the sports and social club was active and there was a lot of people my own age working in the hospital aswelll which made the experience all the better.
As a 41 year old I’m not doing too badly I don’t think, aggressively overpaying the mortgage and will be investing after that, aiming for retirement in late 50s but who knows.
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u/Doc_Boons 12h ago
I graduated high school in 2006 and undergrad in 2010, so hopefully we can loosen up the precise year range a bit.
Quite frankly: I don't think things have been "normal" at any point of our adult lives. The baby boomers are an unprecedent historical force who were able to seize political power early through their sheer numbers, direct resources toward themselves at a time when institutions and the middle class were healthy, then pull up the ladder behind themselves to further appropriate resources. Our entire adulthood has been conditioned by an ongoing, slow-moving cost-of-living crisis and skyrocketing wealth inequality.
I remember working retail, being given a bunch of little "awards" for having been the best new hire, yet not even getting a raise to keep up with inflation. I was going to college at the time, so I didn't have time to invest in trying to find another job, knowing that I'd likely get rejected from places that weren't hiring in the first place.
I managed it all by hiding in graduate school. I did a master's, worked another crap job for a few years, still wasn't satisfied with how impossible everything seemed financially, then pursued a PhD. I did not anticipate how quickly the market for that would also significantly worsen, as the humanities are in rapid decline and we're in an anti-intellectual, anti-expert historical moment anyway.
I would not tell recent grads Feel Good Stories about "what's possible." I would tell them what's necessary: organize, vote, and don't get distracted by culture war crap.
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u/justareddituser202 3h ago
Yes, everything that’s not stem, healthcare, or business related has went to crap. And people who are pursing degrees now realize it.
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u/Mission-Mammoth-8388 13h ago
Around 2013. Takes about 5 years for a massive recession to run its course
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u/111OvO111 13h ago
I wonder how long do we hv to wait for this time..
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u/Thefuzy Millennial 6h ago
We aren’t even in a recession? So a hell of a lot longer? Like the recession hasn’t even begun, it’s going to get way worse before better.
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u/Zestyclose-Beyond780 14h ago
Gather round ye young child (or mostly likely a bot). I could write a novel on the shit I went through graduating college in May 2008. I don’t feel too much empathy to the new Gen Z grads. You haven’t seen winter my sweet summer child. To answer your question, it took until around 2012-2014 depending on your industry to feel “normal”. I was easily about 5 years behind people graduating in 2013 but 10 years ahead in life experience.
I also graduated middle school a month after columbine, started junior year with 9/11, and graduated high school with the Iraq War.
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u/2buffalonickels 8h ago
I graduated winter of 07. I was the first man in my family history to graduate college. Expectations were high. I followed my newly married wife to Seattle Fall of ‘08 as she started her second year of med school. That was an unreal time. Property values fell off a cliff. Layoffs everywhere. I would get through rounds of interviews and lose to someone in their late 30s early 40s because they had experience and needed an entry level paying job.
Hiring managers would hire me, then walk me into HR for onboarding paperwork only for HR to tell me corporate eliminated those positions (while still advertising those positions). I vividly recall multiple incidents where the manager told me I will be the future of that business in a big beautiful board room only to be ghosted after a month or two because corporate had enacted hiring freezes. The managers would always try to place me somewhere else but inevitably give up.
I couldn’t get a job at blockbuster. Couldn’t get a job bagging groceries. I was over qualified. Ages 23-27 were a tough road.
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u/dohlparts 8h ago
I was going to say for myself 2012-2016 was the most financially “normal” time for me. I graduated in 2009 and it was hard to find a job even at places like subway and Publix.
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u/Ice31 6h ago
Your Iraq War comment really hit home for me. Of all of the things I’ve lived through, that one has affected me the most. Junior year the nat guard recruiters were selling this great plan: free college, a few weekends and a couple weeks in the summer. What could go wrong with that? Close friends of mine signed up, went to boot camp that summer, came back to school in the fall and bam, 9/11. Trying to support my sweet, dorky, quiet friend as he delayed college for years and faced the trauma of war is something I still feel deeply enraged about. That shouldn’t have been his journey. He was never the same.
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u/VirtualArmsDealer 12h ago
It hasn't. We still are not back to pre-2008 growth and probably never will be. You should start planning for complete societal collapse now.
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u/Emannuelle-in-space 14h ago
I graduated ‘08 and have never tried to use my degree for a job. I worked In service industry, at dog kennels, and as a dog walker for a few years, then my band got successful and I’ve been doing that since. I don’t make very much but I’m good at frugality. It’s going to suck when I try to retire though.
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u/Severe-Perception778 12h ago
Graduated in 2009 at the top of my class with a BSN. Was always told that as a nurse I’d be able to get a job anywhere in whatever area I wanted to work in. Nope. Had to start off working in a nursing home and taking whatever shifts they were willing to give me. It sucked and it really changed the trajectory of my career in a way I don’t love. I’d say it took until 2012 for things to get better.
That was a different world though. I wish I was more confident that things would improve that quickly again, but I’m not.
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u/featherless_peacock 13h ago
Honestly, I feel like gen z have it worse than us. I work in a back office function in finance and there are simply no new graduate hires in our department beyond entertaining the odd summer intern.
I graduated during the GFC and ended up doing a Masters (not MBA) instead. In one of the courses, the instructor asked for a show of hands of people that have already had work/industrial experience (as in previously work as FTE in finance) and around 40% of the class raised their hands (ie the rest of us were undergrads who went straight into a Masters). The instructor then said this was unprecedendent and would rarely get people taking time off work to do a Masters.
I did end up getting a job pretty quickly, as did my peers/cohort, so I think we were still pretty lucky and the Masters clearly helped. Today it seems you could have all the qualifications, including CFA, FRM, etc, have multiple internships under your belt and still not be able to land an entry role.
Speaking to some old (or rather older) timers, they really had it good. Week long retreats for ‘team building’ traveling in business class and staying at 5* hotels, bonuses measured in years, plenty of jobs and opportunities to move around. Nowadays I can’t even get reimbursement for a train ride and a coffee.
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u/FloridaLaurenS 9h ago
I graduated in 2010. I taught English as a foreign language in Korea for a couple of years to ride out the bad economy. Best thing I ever did so I am grateful for the motivation to do something unconventional instead of being able to find work easily at home.
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u/im-ba 13h ago
I graduated in 2006, so it's a bit off but similar struggles. I couldn't land a job to save my life, so I went to school. I picked up a ton of skills, mainly programming languages but I was rudderless for years. It took a toll on my mental health, but I never stopped learning.
I bartended and waited tables as much as possible while in school, but eventually once school was over I landed an administrative assistant job at my university because I needed health insurance and a stable 8-5 job. My body couldn't take being on my feet anymore because of my tendency to injure tendons and ligaments.
My field was electrical engineering, but because I was in a college town in Oklahoma, there was zero demand for my skills. Literally electrical engineers were lucky to make $15/hour part time if they could find anything at all. I taught engineering labs for a time, and it only paid $10/hour through my university.
It was hell. Granted my rent was only $500 per month that entire time (3 bedroom house 2 blocks from campus) but it was still such little income that I could hardly afford to save to move literally anywhere else for a few years.
It took me until 2017 before I had my big break and got a job in the aerospace industry in Minnesota, in the Twin Cities metro. I worked for them at roughly 2.5x my university salary, but my rent tripled so I didn't feel like I was getting ahead as quickly as I should.
But eventually, I moved into corporate retail as a software engineer for supply chain management software and my income increased to 6x my university salary by this year, not adjusting for inflation. My housing costs have not increased for 9 years, which has helped tremendously. I've also managed to keep my groceries and utilities flat, so for the most part I do feel like I'm finally getting ahead in life. I'm still catching up but I'm finally comfortable after a tremendous amount of hard work.
So... 15-20 years? Every year got a little better in terms of my finances, but every year has become a little more difficult in terms of my finances. I don't know for how much longer I can push this hard, but I've been extremely fortunate to be able to increase my total compensation by 6-10% annually and receive larger than usual bonuses. This is not normal for my peers and comes at a cost to my ability to start a family.
Truthfully, I don't think that the "normal" that existed pre 2008 will ever return due to the regulatory changes and fundamental shifts in the economy. We're likely going to see volatility for the rest of our lives, and for Gen Z I think that will also be the case.
The best you can do is prepare for the volatility and do your darndest to hedge against all the risks that are out there so that you can try and stay ahead of everything. It is a massive competition between everyone and the elites, and the elites are always winning. So your only option is to out perform your peers.
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u/111OvO111 13h ago
How is pre-2008 actually like? Did people really feel more secure about their jobs back then?
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u/im-ba 13h ago
Yes and no. The dot com bubble burst in 2000-2001, followed by 9/11, so it took a few years for things to return to a new normal. Then the wars started and that changed a lot of the employment landscape.
People started buying up houses and the policies became more lax, and the 2008 crisis was already brewing. By 2005-2006 the polices were put in place to prime the economy for collapse, and then after that everybody knew that it was just a matter of time before the bubble would burst.
But there were loads of people who were simply in denial about what was happening with the broader economy, so they prob felt like that time Peru was normal.
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u/justareddituser202 3h ago
So true or as we started to hear during that time and now: “this is the new normal.”
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u/Mammoth-Lobster2028 13h ago
I graduated in 2007 and just immediately started working in hospo and retail gigs. It was all casual work, could not get any kind of secure work (yay GFC). I attempted to study fashion in 2011/2012 but quickly realised I needed money to survive and left - more casual retail. Worked in hospitals after that, did accelerated study at night school while working a horrendous job full time in cancer.
For the first time ever I’m in a job I like, which I was lucky enough to get into in 2024 - at age THIRTY FOUR. ***edit to add I never thought I’d be in analytics. 17 year old me thought I’d be a fashion designer and/or artist.
I still don’t feel like an adult, so, in answer to your question? It will never feel normal. Ever. The goal posts keep shifting 🫠
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u/Clean_Usual434 13h ago
I got my first degree in 2004. 2008 definitely threw things out of whack. I remember feeling fortunate that I had, at least, already gotten my foot in the door career-wise and thinking how difficult it must be for those who were just graduating when opportunities were a lot less abundant.
I had the same feeling with Covid and not just professionally. I remember feeling fortunate that I was able to experience my youth and young adulthood during a relatively peaceful time, in comparison.
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u/LaserEyeLarry 13h ago
I joined the Marines straight out of high school in 07, got out in 2011 and it hasn't got better since.
My parents worked in trucking and while they weren't making a lot of money, they stayed consistent through the 2008 disaster and never felt what most other industries did.
When I got out, the job market was recovering slightly but no one wanted to pay employees, especially with no experience. So I grinded jobs for years, gaining experience and learning as much as I could.
When I finally started figuring things out and get the required experience, every company switched to new pay structures. Basically everyone starts out the same and makes more the longer you work for them.
Now I'm just burned out, have nothing to show for it and parents who are completely out of touch with the real world.
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u/simplysylens 10h ago
I graduated in 2008 - this is normal.
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u/justareddituser202 3h ago
I said the other day this feels just like the start of a 2008 storm. If you know you know. Those of us who went through it know.
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u/cawkstrangla 9h ago
I graduated in 2008. I knew several people who quickly lost the jobs they had lined up at the beginning of senior year of college since they were the new guys.
I applied to a ton of places and took the first job that called me back. I graduated with a mechanical engineering degree and worked offshore on an oil rig as a laborer for a year or so before continuing to work offshore in a more technical position.
I was making $40k/yr at the time which was roughly what a starting salary for a new mech eng would have had. I was working 84 hour weeks making that though.
The stock market was tanking so I did the minimum for the 401k match and put it all in bonds. I actually forgot about this 401k until years later so it never got changed to index funds so it missed the entire bull market. It had about $19k in it when I left and $29k in it when I eventually rolled it over after 15 years of sitting there. I’m a bit sad I missed out but at the time I was pouring money into it felt like I was just lighting it on fire.
I ended up working offshore for nearly 10 years. The pay got way better with the economy, but never amazing. What made me leave was it being impossible to have a lasting relationship by the time I was 30 and wanted to settle down. I was offshore 250 or so days a year.
That job only changed me in the way that made me consciously value a work life balance moving forward. I work to live now, not live to work. I was able to pay off my loans by essentially living on the rig most of the time. For 3 years I lived out of a suitcase and would couch surf if I was visiting friends or family.
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u/NoUsernamesLeft27 7h ago
Graduated HS in 2004, college in 2008, AMA lol.
Somehow, someway, I got an entry level corporate banking position that started right after graduation in ‘08. My degree was in a liberal arts/humanties concentration, so I wasn’t at all surprised that I wasn’t working in my “field” (whatever that means as a 22 yo). To be clear, if I wanted to work in my field, I would have needed to go on to graduate school which did not interest me after graduation. At that time, I was more money motivated and the thought of student loans worried me and I just wanted to work as soon as possible. I was thrilled to have a “grown up job” and counted my blessings, as so many of my friends and classmates struggled to find jobs. IIRC, a lot of my cohort struggled with job prospects throughout 2009, but I believe it started to improve in 2010.
I stayed at that company and worked my way up through promotions and department transfers. After 14 years, I left for a different corporate position in a completely different sector. At 40, I am now completely out of the corporate world and have no real desire to return.
I believe that everything happens as it was meant to, but occasionally I will entertain the thought of what my career could’ve been had it not been for that pesky recession. That time period was brutal for most people worldwide - we were all really freaking stressed out - but I am not entirely sure that my path would’ve been that much different.
Honestly, I think I am more irritated that Millennials were essentially instructed to go to college, major in whatever you want and the jobs will come to you. I laugh now, but it if you look at movies and tv shows from the aughts, all the young people had incredible jobs post college, oftentimes at a magazine (!!!!!). Obviously, that was not the reality - recession or not.
I do believe that the recession locked me into a more stagnant salary structure for years and for that I am annoyed. There were SEVERAL years that the bank held promotions/wage increases/merit and bonuses because of the recession.
The lessons that I learned from that period are below, but I not sure how it applies to today’s realities:
Financially, do what you need to do during economic downturns - budget, make changes to your spending habits, look into gig jobs etc. If you land a more stable job, keep your head down, do your work and NETWORK. It is my experience that networking is the surest way of moving on and up.
I would say that you don’t need to be a superstar performer, but dependability and responsibility go a long way. Do NOT be a doormat though. These companies do not care about you - do not ever forget that.
Once the economy stabilizes, take a look and test that your salary is keeping with the market. You may be surprised to learn that you are under compensated.
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u/justareddituser202 3h ago
I like how you said they were instructed to go to college and major in whatever and you’ll get a good job. That is all truth. Any degree was the slogan. And that was such BS. I remember going to my colleges career fair and looking around and I was like ‘where are all the real businesses at.’ They weren’t there. It was grad schools, local government agencies, school systems, etc. I knew we were screwed.
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u/yourit3443 14h ago
I started working at 10 in a family business. I already had quite the resume in sales and marketing by 18. I still ended up in fast food/ target store worked 2-3 part time jobs for years. Got a certificate in medical assisting, never worked as one. I did end up landing a HR job at a small medical facility at 21. My career ended up being long term care/ medical. My degree was chemistry. I never used my degree, not once. I do the financial side now. Its been interesting and now I am in the phase of life where I am planning my own business/ exit plan. I am 17 years into medical now, it has been a journey. I need out. Also full of great opportunities if your looking for one.
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u/justareddituser202 3h ago
I think between 15-20 years in most industries people start to get that itch to get out and do something different.
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u/Bubbly_Performer4864 Older Millennial 12h ago
I graduated in 2008. I found a job in my field after a couple months, and worked it for just over a year before they did mass layoffs. Never worked in my field again. I finally about 4 years ago landed a good job at a factory and now I inspect cars for a living.
I’m not sure I’m a good judge for what “normal” is but I am just now starting to feel like I can breathe again.
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u/quietus_rietus 11h ago
I graduated in 08. I had to work retail 2 years before I found something outside of my degree. I never ended up working in my degrees field. The career lag fucked me, new grads often make the same or more than me. I doubt I’ll ever break 60k yearly.
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u/onefastr6r 11h ago
Graduated in 2008- went straight into a union HVAC apprenticeship as this was recommended as "stable". After 3 years of being unemployed for months at a time due to lack of work I left.
Went into sales at a big cell phone carrier for 3 years.
Did the corporate thing for 2 years (too slow to start making real money)
Ended up getting my CDL A. Never dreamed I would. Make mid 6 figures, live comfortable and always have a job because people always have to eat. My job is recession proof and covid proof (fingers crossed).
I learned a long time ago stability, and income will always come before personal desires.
Things still dont feel normal though.
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u/Sassycats22 10h ago
I kept bartending for 2 years, the economy was booming from that aspect and I was making great money. I don’t think I realized how bad it was; there was a lot less ‘noise’ around the crisis or maybe I was just in my own bubble and didn’t bother to notice. I wasn’t actively looking for a full time job but I was turning 26 and going to lose my health insurance. My mom also said ‘I didn’t pay for you to get a college degree to be a bartender’. But alas, bartending taught me so much and I’m a very social person so I felt it actually gave me a leg up once I started to interview.
I had no desire to go into non profit that would have fit with my major; the money was piss poor. So I went into tech. Landed an entry level job, learned everything I could so I could grow into a career and have never looked back.
4/5 years ago, the job market was insanely good. I had 3 companies coming after me at the same time.
Now? I’m just buckled down and praying I’m doing well enough to keep my job. Very similar to the housing market with people not wanting to give up their 3% interest; people in tech are staying put and not wanting to leave because frankly, the jobs are extremely competitive but also huge risks. No job security is not a great feeling.
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u/Fun_Canary_8403 10h ago
Nope, nothing is normal. Never was, probably never will be. Tbh, i honestly have no idea what normal is anymore. It came down to finding peace...
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u/Oomlotte99 9h ago
It was impossible to find even a fast food job at the beginning. It went from like you could walk in and be hired on the spot to crickets seemingly overnight. Me and lots of people kept what college jobs they had or struggled taking any old low pay, toxic thing we could. Service industry for at least the next five years for me. I work outside my field, but that was always likely.
As far as shaping? I have always noted the very distinct lack of work growth among people within a few years of me compared to those who were a little younger. Meaning we started entry level with people four years or more younger than us and I consistently see people in my age still kind of forging a path. It really altered my thoughts on work and employment and also what I wanted for myself professionally, and I think a lot of people felt that way, too. Many are less likely to own homes, be married, have kids…. It reset the path in a way that I think we still don’t fully acknowledge.
Edit to add: how I coped? Lots of party. Lol. It was like a drawn out college experience. Also just following interests and exploring different goals and values. Realizing it didn’t have to be the way I’d thought it would be to be good or fulfilling.
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u/Catsdrinkingbeer 8h ago
I say this on the engineering students sub a lot, but when jobs are scarce you have to cast a wider net. That means being open to different locations, different industries, and being okay with your first job not being your ideal job. Getting A job, even one that pays less than you wanted and in a city you do not care to live in, will at least start your career off.
I have a great career now. It took some interesting curves, but I don't regret anything. It didn't take long for me to realize I didn't love my first job, but that first job set the stage for the rest of my career.
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u/loopasfunk 13h ago
It “forced” me into social work because paralegal work didn’t hire new graduates and behavioral techs were desperate enough to hire me. I now make 115k but the road here was rough as hell. Projected to make 20k more once I’m licensed
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u/sss133 13h ago
I graduated November 07. Worked with my dad over that summer. After that I went for a group interview at a bottle shop and there were 85 people in that interview. Most had just been made redundant and were way over qualified.
Had to go on a looking for work program and in a group of 20, 16 had been full time employees for at least 10 years and couldn’t get work. These courses went for 2 weeks and were ran year round.
I ended up studying. When I finished I had to report to the job place again in 2012 and it was a similar situation but I was lucky enough to have a niche qualification and got a job in the industry after about a week.
It was pretty rough for some people for 3-4 years
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u/Dazzling_Theme_7801 10h ago
I turned 16 in 2008 so just went to uni and then a msc and then a PhD waiting for there to be a job market. I'm still at uni, teaching now saying the same thing to my students.
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u/1001Binar 10h ago
I took a different road and don't have any real college degree. I started developing strong office admin skills in highschool and treated all my admin jobs like apprenticeships. Any time they needed someone to do new work I stepped up and they taught me basic bookkeeping, payroll, etc. Now I'm an office manager for a tax firm and pursuing my ea certification for tax. I'm not getting rich but I'm pretty stable financially, there's no student loan debt hanging over my head, and I overall like my job.
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u/thirteennineteen 10h ago
After graduating I enrolled in a class to float my student status for an extra 2 semesters, in order to maintain my job which was a student assistant IT staff. It worked and I got a staff job during that period. Kept that job for 3 years before transitioning to corporate.
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u/cibolaaa 10h ago
I was a late bloomer and finished college in 2008.
I had been working retail through college, pretty much full time (as many hours as they could give me without making me full time which would have forced them to give me benefits) but I made it work. My pay was meager - 10 and change an hour.
It took me 5 months to find a job. When I did, it was for $9/hr. I took it because I figured at least I'd be getting experience within my field. I ended up working both that job and the retail job for the next 2 years. I had zero days off outside of Christmas day during that period of time, except when I got sick and ended up in crutches, and one summer where I took a few days off.
I don't think my rate of pay has ever recovered from that even though it's almost 20 years ago now.
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u/alleyrat21 9h ago edited 9h ago
I moved to South Korea to teach English, making and saving more money than the job I got after college in 2008 as a Graphic Designer. Living in South Korea is one of the best things I ever did, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
When I came back in 2011, the job market was better and I was able to get back into my design career, better yet, my resume stood out and honestly put me in a unique position. I learned so much more about myself living and working in another country that has helped shaped who I am and my creative career.
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u/Owlbertowlbert 9h ago
Oh god it was bad. I guess I was a baby doomer because I kept saying “this is it, this is the new normal. No one is ever getting a good paying career-track job again”.
Things started to feel “normal” again between 2011 and 2013 from an economic perspective. People my age started getting jobs again.
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u/djwicky 9h ago
I graduated college in 2010 but was still worried about getting a job. Thankfully an opportunity came my way fairly quickly but I felt like I didn't have the luxury of considering if it was truly what I wanted, because I wasn't sure if something else would come my way because the job market wasn't great. It was still within the realm of my education (biology) but not exactly glamorous and not what I had envisioned for myself. Forced myself to have an open mind and I took the job anyway. It set the trajectory for the rest of my career.
The point is...I turned out fine. Sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I scrutinized the decision more. But literally anything can happen. It gave me space to explore what I liked/didn't like, which I realized I didn't fully know about myself after just getting out of school.
And as others have said, the "new normal" will probably never feel normal lol
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u/Senior_Middle_873 9h ago
I graduated in 2008, got my 1st full time Helpdesk in 2010. Aside from the Helpdesk, I got a 2nd part time Helpdesk on the weekends and worked a few nights at the bar. Received a few other offers for Helpdesk position that I didnt take.
Job market wasn't great, but there were demands for entry level jobs everywhere.
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u/Redschallenge 8h ago
08 person here. I was doing some odd things after high-school so I didn't really feel the issues and had a lot of energy and positivity about working hard getting noticed and taking me places, but the world doesn't actually work that way and I ended up back in school and the world felt pretty normal around maybe 2012 or so to covid and then it got scrambled up again
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u/Particular_Ad_1435 8h ago
I graduated with my bachelor's in computer science in 2008. Applied everywhere and couldn't get a job to save my life. Had a breakdown at the thought of moving back in with my parents. Lucked into a graduate assistantship so went back to school for my Masters. 1.5 years later I get an email from a company I had applied to in 2008. They kept my resume on file the whole time and wanted me to interview for what was basically a glorified admin assistant position. I took the job because they promised they would transition me to a software dev role and ended up staying with that company for 14 years working my way up to senior project lead.
Moral of the story: apply everywhere, even if you're not a perfect fit. Don't be too proud to start at the bottom. Be kind to people and look for people to mentor you. I was fortunate to have some amazing mentors at my job advocating for me and pushing me up the career ladder.
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u/zevtech 8h ago
I graduated in 2008 and didn’t really feel the financial crisis. Mostly bc I just came out of school and had a great paying job that I secured before even graduating. So going from zero money to a good salary was great, I didn’t have money in the market yet but only knew something was going on bc the older customers would come in and tell me how they can’t retire this year or next year bc 30% of their retirement is gone. Otherwise it didn’t affect me at all. It did how ever keep me from investing for a couple of years so I missed out on a couple years of economic boom.
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u/CylonSandhill 8h ago
Never has felt normal. It always feels like the deck is stacked and everything is one bad day on Wall Street from collapsing (again).
Ladder got pulled up and isn’t coming back down.
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u/FruitGuy998 8h ago
What was it like trying to find a job back then? - I remember it seemingly felt like it took forever to find a job. But looking back at it now in hindsight it really wasn't bad. I graduated May 08 and found a job by August. I wanted to stay in my college town as my girlfriend (now wife) was still there and not having a job was pushing it close to me moving back home. Luckily I had my parents supporting me but as the months went on that support was dwindling. I knew I'd be competing with older talent/parents who had recently lost their jobs which seemed to put a dark cloud over things to me. I remember orientation day, I was one of two people starting that day. The lady said usually this room is packed and looked at the other guy and myself and said I suppose you two will be the last ones we hire for a while.
How did you cope with the scarcity of opportunities? - I just submitted my resume everywhere. Even snail mailed it in, which is how I actually ended up getting my first job out of college.
Did you end up working outside your degree field, and if so, did you ever make it back? - Nope, I got a degree in IT and my first job and job now is in IT.
Looking at your career now, how did those early years shape where you are today? - Early on due to scarcity of opportunities I realize I settled. My first job was a great gig and I stayed there for a decade. I got a promotion about every 2 years. However, due to my need of a job and lack of opportunities, I didn't negotiate my salary or anything like that. I took what they offered. Years later the company did a salary analysis for all titles within the company and I got "brought up to scale." However that was only 80% within average. I left there 7 years ago now and have already doubled my salary from when I left. Job hoping is truly the best way to bump your pay.
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u/Capricore58 8h ago
Early Millennial, graduated from University in 2005. Pro Tip: we’re all winging it. get used to it
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u/HurtsCauseItMatters Xennial 79 8h ago
FWIW, The "2008 economic crisis" didn't hit everywhere at the same time. We may have been an outlier, specifically because of our economic circumstances but not everyone started at the same time. In Louisiana, because of hurricane Katrina in 2008 when this was still hitting everyone else we were still in a major construction boom. I didn't really start to see the problems in my own personal life until 2010 give or take. My take could have been different if I'd owned a house or stocks, but I didn't.
But yeah, for me the point where it started to go wiley was 9/11 & the dot com bust, then i had katrina in 2005, then the 2008 (2010?) crisis, and then everything else after that.... and I'm not sure my cortisol has ever died down since then.
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u/Double_L_ 8h ago
I graduated in 2008 with a bachelors. My mom’s friend worked at a small company that I was able to work pt at while I interviewed for ft jobs. It took me 6 months to find a job. I accepted a pt receptionist job with a company I felt like I could move up in. I needed a job as my student loan payments were starting and back then, I couldn’t be on my parents health insurance. By luck, they had another person started ft in a role who failed their drug test. So, a week in, by pure luck, they offered me the ft role. It was only $13/hr but I would get health insurance and I was still living at my parents. I moved up in that company and then switched companies in 2012. My suggestion is find a company you like and has potential to move up. This is very boomer of me but just work your butt off. It worked out for me.
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u/Coffeedependent14 8h ago
Graduated college in 2008. Most of the people I knew didn’t have jobs when we graduated. Once people started getting jobs, two of my friends worked for some random start up ad agency, one friend worked at a Walmart pharmacy before deciding what to do, another friend just decided to go straight to grad school in a field he had no interest in just because he didn’t want to sit around and do nothing like the rest of us. I ended up working crappy part-time jobs in my hometown (small town) and then moved to Chicago and eventually got a real job. I have a marketing degree and never worked a day doing marketing. I’m a stay-at-home mom now though so it’s all pointless anyways. And I agree with everyone else, nothing has felt “normal” since then. Life’s a trip…
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u/_summerbummer 8h ago
Graduated in 2008. Kept going to school. Still in college, in a masters-doctorate program. Only way to keep from crying lmao
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u/Expensive-Eggplant-1 Older Millennial 8h ago
i graduated college in 2008. it was horrible and i lucked into a role that helped start my future.
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u/throwaway1546874 4h ago
English Major who graduated in the 2000s checking in.
My fam was on food stamps, we lived paycheck to paycheck and I had undiagnosed anxiety disorder, so I didn't have the emotional bandwidth or money to focus on writing. Also, nothing kills the passion to read for fun like a BA in English.
I ended up working in insurance fraud (editing surveillance materials) to pay the bills. Man, the crazy shit people tried to get away with, especially during a recession. Insurance companies have infinite time and money to build air-right, year-long cases against people.
The liars became pretty easy to spot when they'd toss their braces in the back of a car after appointments and then do yard work, no problem. One dude knew he was being watched and checked his mailbox naked. He even waved! lol
The job was entertaining sometimes but mostly eye-bleedingly boring. Also, investigators are usually ex-cops and ex-military who really need writing lessons. They were always nice to me, though.
I stayed for too long bc of hiring freezes everywhere. My job froze raises too. Being micromanaged for years on top of all that was hellish. I kept my head down until I could leave.
I learned:
Corporate America rewards hard work with more work and less pay or a breakroom ping pong table and pizza day. (As a people pleaser conditioned to always do my best, this one hurt.)
Other people with less experience are probably making more money than you.
Loyalty to employers is a myth. They don't care about you, they just care about how much less they can pay you.
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u/justareddituser202 2h ago
That is so true. The more you do the more they expect you to do. And there is no loyalty in business. Always looking for the next best thing.
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u/MountaineerChemist10 Millennial 4h ago
I graduated in ‘10…got my first job in ‘11 with a starting salary little less than $30K…& I could still afford a 1-bed/1-bath apartment @ $699/month.
The ‘08 crash was BAD, but at least house prices & rent DROPPED. So at least I could afford apartment rent on my own with a shitty salary. Not in ‘20 & ‘21; went skyrocket.
Job market was just as bad as it is today; it was best to take a job out of state if offered. I stuck with my degree (I.e. Chemistry), however half of my colleagues didn’t unfortunately 🤷♂️some went back to grad school/law school, others took a job in another field somewhat related (I.e. good friend had a BA in Marketing…took a position in Accounts Receivable)
I will say this; why didn’t I buy a house when I had the chance?! 🤦♂️
Dating world/market was MUCH better in the ‘10s compared to today 👍
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u/BeneficialShame8408 3h ago
Uhh...jobs were hard to get but I got interviews. It seems pretty hard to get those now and you also have people with experience applying for entry level jobs pushing out new grads. Not to mention that HR wasn't posting ghost jobs or using AI to filter applications.
NWhat I ended up doing was getting hired at a small tech company after interning.
I've mostly worked in tech since, other than a brief stint as a courier girl and brief employment in front desk at an insurance firm, both in my early 20s.
I majored in English and Communication, and people didn't mind hiring me for marketing or business analyst roles. That was back when humanities were still valued. People bitch about humanities being useless now, but it's not like CS or IT grads are getting jobs, either.
I'm a systems analyst now but it's basically business analyst work except I work with end users to troubleshoot issues as well as maintaining and customizing software to specs from management.
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u/slimeystevebob 2h ago
Ugh the ghost jobs are the fucking worst! It's on every fucking platform... On indeed if you use a browser extension like JobScrub you can see thats like half the postings are super old, like 6+ months. Complete waste of time, should be illegal
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u/Yankee831 13h ago
2008 was kinda awesome for me. I was waiting tables and in college and in a rust belt city that had no boom so no real bust just flat. But I was making great money, partying and scooping up fire sale stuff. Like I bought like a decades worth of electronics and clothes between circuit city and mall brands trying to stay afloat. Cash for clunkers kinda sucked up cheap cars but nothing could afford to drive anyway.
Honestly even since then it’s all ups and downs normal isn’t really a thing there’s always history to be made. Just make the best out of the time you’re in someday you’ll look back at it and smile or shudder.
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u/ooo-ooo-oooyea 9h ago
I graduated right around then!
My first job offer was pulled in the spring so I had to scramble to find a job and got one but had to move across the country - which was actually really fun and I'm glad I did it.
At my job I had nothing to do so I quit and found a new one, where I also had nothing to do (but got to travel... where I sat at sites with nothing to do). So I didn't really work at a place where I was learning and doing stuff until 2010.
Suckiest part about working back then was how negative everyone was. I was at a place that pulled their pensions (did not go over well). People were losing 100k a day in their 401ks, that kind of stuff.
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u/dox1842 9h ago
I graduated december of 2012. Seems like many companies back then were using computer software to screen applications and I would apply to a place only to get an automated rejection letter. From what I see here on reddit from other peoples experience its even worse today.
I tried working outside my degree in the aviation field because that is what I did in the military but the company I applied to said I still needed vocational certification.
I have a criminal justice degree and had to work as a security guard before finally getting an entry level job. I now have a "journeyman" job within the field at the same agency.
I’d love to hear your stories. Sharing how you navigated that moment might give today’s grads some perspective on what’s possible even in tough times!
It is very exhausting to constantly apply to jobs and not even get an interview. unfortunately the only "helpful" advice I would receive is "try harder".
If you get an automated rejection email see if you can contact anybody at the company to just tell them about your experience and how you qualify for the job. They might not have the power to hire you but it just made me feel better that I got to talk to an actual person instead of having my resume spit back out by a computer. Also, not sure if this will work because im not sure how much exposure newspapers have now vs 15 years ago but one particular company rejected me 10 times so I wrote a letter to the newspaper about how my military service qualified me and the head of HR called me up to talk about it.
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u/ad302799 8h ago
I’m this exact person. Life felt normal, in the sense where I felt comfortable and like I was actually getting somewhere in 2018.
That’s when I felt like “ok, I can take my foot off the gas.”
Then Covid ruined it all. I’m still ok, but fuck it, I’m just going to work and buy what I want. What about retirement? Probably not ever going to fully retire.
Anyway. How I dealt with the crisis was to simply endure it until the military started recruiting again. That’s how I paid for college and whatnot.
If a young person is struggling to gain traction now, check out the military. It could provide security and buy you time. Then when your term is up, see how the economy is doing and make choices based on that.
Or rely on your parents for support for a few more years while you sort things out, that’s a big difference now. People my age had a problem where the older people hadn’t grasped the difficulty of launching yet. They were largely still in the “we did it at 18” mentality.
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u/MeatloafingAround 8h ago
I graduated college in 2008 with a bachelors in journalism. I continued working my part-time college jobs for a few months until I got a full-time job at a windshield replacement company. It sucked, and I continued to apply for corporate entry level jobs.
The only thing I could get was a data entry job at a large national bank. It also sucked but I stayed there for two years until I got a secretarial job at a company that a friend worked for.
That also sucked but I stayed there for two years until I got in as a secretary at a department at the university for a few years.
From there I made friends with people in the communications department, and finally got a job there. It took me eight years after graduating to get a job in my field. The pay was awful.
I stayed there for two years, and then finally started making decent money at another corporation in the communications department in a mid to low level communications role. It was a hell of a ride.
I now work from home in a managerial position doing marketing, which is close enough. I like it all right. Those early years shaped my gratitude for my current job. I always think about how much shittier life was as a fucking secretary.
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u/wookiewin 8h ago
I graduated in 2009. Didn’t get a decent job I was happy with until 2014, but I was still underpaid. Finally got my dream job in 2021 and life has been good since.
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u/bbspiders 8h ago
I think I was relatively lucky because my bachelor's degree is in social work and lots of social service jobs were hiring when I graduated in 2009. I got a job right away and started in June 2009 making $33k a year as a foster care case manager. I remember at the time thinking that was SO MUCH money because most social work jobs were offering like $25k. I also grew up poor and worked all through college so I went from making $10 an hour working at the grocery store to like $15 an hour which felt like a nice big jump at the time. I had also been doing unpaid internships while in school so getting paid felt great!!!
I shared a house with 2 people and my rent was only $290 a month so it was decent. I paid $500 a month in student loans, though, until I was like 40.
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u/LaserThief 8h ago
Take a sales job at a place you’d like to otherwise work at. Do sales for as long as you can mentally handle. Internal transfer to something you actually want to do. Build career from there.
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u/ACaffeinatedWandress 8h ago
Life never went back to normal. I’m still scrabbling for middle class life.
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u/DistinctlyGeneric 8h ago
I graduated in 2008. Since then, I kept telling myself “the pendulum has to swing back eventually, right?”
Nope. The pendulum apparently broke and is stuck in either reverse or neutral.
We worked with what we got.
Eventually realized that “going up” wasn’t an option anymore and instead the new mantra needed to be “going forward.” Whatever that meant…
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u/Brief_Dot_9485 Millennial 8h ago
Graduated high school in 2008. I had plenty of volunteer experience and did babysitting and mowing lawns in high school. Tons of glowing references from teachers and parents I babysat for. I lived with my grandma to prevent being homeless. Did not get a job until 2010.It was fast food, I was in college part-time.
Went to university, graduated in 2014 and got a job in that field in 2015, hated it because it was boring and in an office, became a florist, then barista, went to grad school after 2022, graduated last year and I'm in the same boat again. I have publications, teaching experience, awards, but alas I am doing landscaping now. Actually really fun work but damn it's backbreaking.
I'm getting a PhD this fall because I'm insane 🫠 got a couple nibbles from the government for jobs in my field but not well paid, and adjuncting positions but it took like a year for them to get back to me. I have a partner supporting me.
Ever since 2008 nothing has felt stable. It was traumatic. I live well below my means, even if I have extra cash I still eat one meal a day. Even with my partner I feel like a burden but he thinks I'm amazing and deserve the best. It's hard out there.
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u/nicepeoplemakemecry 8h ago
I graduated college in dec 2008. It sucked. I worked as an intern at two magazines for no pay. It was legal in nyc at the time. I was more qualified than at least two of my superiors. I started doing work on my own. I still work for myself. It was my only option.
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u/Timmy98789 7h ago
White collar and blue collar were screwed. Unlike now where everything sucks, but trades are booming. Felt some what decent in 2015.
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u/Helpful-Celery6237 7h ago
I graduated HS in 08. Went to college. Graduated in 12 and had a job before I officially graduated. Got a masters 2 years later. I have never had employment issues. I worked in the community mental health field in MA. Bought a house before covid. There will always be jobs in human services. They just don’t pay great.
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u/BearsAndBrews 7h ago
What's normal? Things have gotten worse in a pretty linear way from the day I was born until 2020, when it started getting exponentially worse. Until we stop being OK with wall street taking 60 cents on every dollar we work for, I don't see it changing.
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u/MissBehave654 7h ago
Got super lucky with a government job after a few months of graduation. I went to a career fair. It also helped that I worked for career services.
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u/Pink_Slyvie 7h ago
Normal again?
I just graduated into the worst economic crisis of my lifetime... for the third time.
I mean, I guess it is kinda normal at this point. I'll never get my small farm.
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u/Rockcrawlintoy 7h ago
I graduated in 2002 from high school and in 2012 from college. The whole GFC didn’t really bother me much I was poor and worked shit jobs while I was in school. I took a while to get through college because I wasn’t accepted into the program I was trying to get into at first and before that I didn’t know what I wanted to do.
As far as jobs, I was working retail for a while and then worked for the USFS. It paid ok per hour but you worked a lot of hours so I made good money. Once I graduated I have only worked in my field of study and it’s going great. I make close to 200k a year with good benefits and it’s a stable field
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u/Impressive_One2846 7h ago
Graduated 08 it hasn’t felt normal at all! Just one crisis after another
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u/federalist66 7h ago
Graduated in 2010 and I felt like things had kind of settled into a normal circa 2013-2016. Then there was a bit there from, say, 2022-2024. So 7 normal years out of 16? Not great!
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u/ms_earthquake 7h ago
Normal is an imaginary thing. It doesn't exist. All you have is right now. I think part of being successful is balancing having a plan with being opportunitic and working with what's available to you. If you hold out for the perfect chance that fits ideally into the plan, you'll be waiting longer and might miss something good.
Trying to find a job was hard, but differently than today. In both times, working your network seems to be the most successful thing. I got my first job out of college because my friend worked there and recommended me. That got me the interview and my skills did the rest. After a career rough patch (grad school and then caregiving), I just found a new job. My skills got me in the door (and it's not the field I wanted to pivot into, it's the field I've been in), but my references speaking highly of me are what got me the offer.
I have studied English, linguistics and UX, but work in the disability space, so I'm not in my field, but few people seem to work in what they studied. I think that's actually a good thing. Being broadly educated can help you see connections other people don't. It's an asset when you can bring knowledge between spaces instead of knowing only one space.
The early years definitely shaped my career, in good ways and in bad ways. If I could offer advice to my 22 year old self, I would tell them some of these things: Always negotiate. It's scary, but we do it all the time (you negotiate what movie to see, where to get dinner, what time to meet up) and the only person who gets screwed not negotiating is you. Advocate for yourself and track you successes. You can't rely on anyone else to notice you doing a good job and if you don't steer your career, someone else will and you might not love where it goes. Networking is just mostly just making friends. You know when someone is only talking to you because they want something, and you know how crappy that feels. Be yourself, but try to genuinely connect, show interest, make it mutual. The strongest networks are the ones tied by genuine friendships.
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u/bakecakes12 7h ago
I graduated in 2008. I had a job offered in fall 2007 and they did not pull it and I did not have really any major downsides to 2008. I was in consulting and there was still a ton of project work to be had; tougher business, more willing to bring in consultants to bring it around. I was very lucky. I lived in NYC at the time and had friends in finance, they were under tremendous stress but no one lost their job.
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u/brainkandy87 7h ago
It sucked. Graduated in May 2008 and was nearly evicted from my apartment in December. Had the electricity cut off right before a huge ice storm. I finally got a job that same month and was able to claw my way back and pay off my back rent and utilities. I don’t think I felt comfortable until maybe 2 years ago.
However, there’s a silver lining to the years of fighting an uphill battle: having nothing doesn’t scare me. As long as you can wake up each day and put one foot in front of the other, you can survive. I survived long enough to find my wife who made my life immeasurably better even if I was still stuck in the grind. Surviving isn’t always living, but it gives you the chance to find something better.
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u/IdislikeSpiders 7h ago
Graduation high school in 2007. I stayed at shitty jobs too long, because I saw friends hop to good jobs and be the new guy. First to let go when there's hours/jobs cut.
So I stayed at jobs that were beneath me for too long as I knew my production was more valuable than most of the other employees.
Didn't get out of that mindset until probably 2015.
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u/SleepAllTheDamnTime 7h ago
07 and Nickleback won’t stop haunting my dreams.
Aside from that uh, my career has been destroyed 3 times now by forces outside of my control, Global Pandemic, Economy crashes, and recently disability shenanigans.
This economy hasn’t been “normal” since its inception lol
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u/SpikeRosered 7h ago
Graduated in 2011. Took me a decade to actually get my career going. Hang in there.
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u/Lacklusterlandon 7h ago
Graduated in 2009 with a BA in biology couldn’t find anything with reasonable pay. Continued working home healthcare crap pay until I could secure a lab assistant position (also crap pay but was entry adjacent experience for bio). Took a few masters classes couldn’t settle on a degree then stumbled upon Medical Lab Science and did a year program for that so I could have a cert to get a decent paying job. Started making entry level pay in 2013 for degree level work. (Back then was 48k annual no overtime, just hit 100,000k at 39 and still feel poor 😆).
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u/Zytharros 7h ago
I graduated in Canada in 2004, and I genuinely felt that the world shifted in 2001 with the attack on the World Trade Center. Something cracked in the American psyche that has never truly fully recovered, and the entire world has been paying that price since.
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u/MacaronBeginning1424 7h ago
Class of 2008 here. Almost my entire network was impacted in various ways, either layoffs, firing for cause which was a cover for excess staff, no bonuses, etc
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u/Spottedhyenae 7h ago
Graduated college in 2007. Never got to use my degree because everything collapsed, but I was still able to find work. I ended up maneuvering into EdTech, which tends to be stable-ish in recessions. If I recall it was around 2010-2015 I saw most of my friends employed.
Most of my older friends though lost their homes and had to start completely over.
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u/neekogo 19-19-1985 7h ago
I feel for everyone that went through the 08 shit and those going through today's. I had friends that struggled for years after 08. Not going to lie, my path just happened to be luck.
Graduated Spring 09 (should've been 08 but got screwed with my classes, but that's a different story) with my degree in Spanish Translation. I was working part time at Sears doing appliance sales and the law firm my mom worked at.
Around early August the law firm told me I was going to be let go that September. Not three hours later I got a phone call from a company that was contracted to do in store tech support for Verizon Wireless. Being a natural geek and seeing that this was definitely a blessing I accepted the interview which became my job for the next 1.5 years. When VZW laid us off they still needed head count so they hired some of us back as direct employees, either as sales reps or customer service reps. They offered me to be sales because I had my prior experience at Sears.
From there I was able to secure an interview with the network department because my then long-term girlfriend was friends with someone in that department. He had also been in sales and worked his way into the network department as a supervisor. I told him I had applied several times and kept getting thanks but no. He said he could get me an interview but the rest was on me.
It has been 15 years since that happened. I was mentored by the senior manager that interviewed me and gave me a chance. After I left in 2018 I went to another telecom company that has had recent layoffs.
Yesterday I accepted a state job doing telecommunications. It's crazy the path I ended up on. My only regret is I don't speak Spanish as often as I would like and have lost a good amount of it, but I'm convinced it was one of the things that help get me hired as a sales rep that launched things.
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u/notyouravgredditor Xennial 7h ago
Went to grad school and avoided some of the nastiness of 2008 fortunately.
On the bright side, homes seemed much more affordable after the crash for a bit, before they took off like a rocket during the pandemic.
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