u/Training-Context-69

I recently graduated with a degree in Finance back in May. And I’ve been struggling to find a job ever since. I’ve made sure to fine tune my resume for entry level jobs and even had Claude AI make some tweaks to the formatting and what not to further make my resume the best it can be. Still no luck. I either apply to jobs and get ghosted, rejected. Or if I do get interviews, I typically have no issues making it to the final round but I still seem to get rejected over other candidates. I guess I just don’t have the ultra charismatic personality to give me that slight edge in the few interviews that I do get.

And it’s not like I’m super picky and only applying to “cushy white collar jobs paying 60k a year minimum”I’ve applied to all sorts of jobs from retail & customer service jobs at companies like AT&T & FedEx, Entry level banking & finance positions, and even a warehouse job and still Nothing. My only criteria for a job is for it to offer full time hours and pay at least $20 an hour. And that’s because don’t live at home since I don’t have the privilege of being able to live at home for free or cheap. And since I grew up in a very small city that was extremely socio-economically segregated and had virtually zero opportunities. I decided to move across country in search of better opportunities. I now currently live in a MCOL metro with a roommate so $20 an hour is the minimum that I need to make to pay my rent, bills, and student loan payments.

What gives? It doesn’t make sense for it to be this difficult to get a job. How is the economic data looking good? How is the unemployment rate and underemployment rates so low when it’s this difficult to even get jobs that are barely paying $20 an hour. Nothing about this job market makes sense. I’ve even reached out to employment agencies and applied at some temporary and contract positions with them and It doesn’t seem to far better than applying on LinkedIn, handshake, or ZipRecruiter. You still get ghosted.

Luckily someone in a local FB group posted about Amazon having some openings for seasonal warehouse jobs and after applying (all of the positions disappeared in less than 5 minutes that’s how many people applied) and attending a hiring event where I had to wait I line for over 3 hours to take a drug & aptitude test and fill out my i9 form I was able to get hired on for a seasonal position paying $19.50 an hour. Which I’m grateful for but this job only will last me until about January. If I can’t find anything else by then I don’t know what I’m going to do. Seems like my degree was an absolute waste of money at this point.

Title says it all. But basically I recently graduated with my B.S. in Finance from WGU back in May. Took me 2 years since I did transfer from credits in from a state school. I personally do think I learned a lot from the degree. But honestly it hasn’t really helped me much. I’ve been applying for all kinds of entry level roles in Banking and Finance like Banker,Loan officer,Collections Agent, to even a few Financial Analyst positions and I haven’t had much luck at all. I came into this knowing WGU didn’t have the street cred like those T20 schools to get into something like Investment Banking or Private Equity out of school. But I still at least expected to get something entry level with room for growth at some small bank or firm that’s paying what I currently make now ($20 an hour) or better.

Every other job in this field wants like 3-5 years of experience (even jobs that claim to be entry level) and the only real remotely relevant experience that I have is when I worked as a volunteer/intern at a Credit Union back in high school but that was way back in 2019. The rest of my jobs are just random Customer service, warehouse & shipping, or retail related jobs that employers don’t give a rats ass about. But because of that, I do make sure to specifically apply for jobs that I believe I qualify for, or they use language that suggests that fresh grads with little experience are encouraged to apply. Not just spamming 1000 resumes at anything. I either get ghosted, rejection letters, or of if I do get interviewed. I typically make it past the 2/3rd round but still get beaten out by a better candidate.

It’s so damn frustrating. Especially since I’m being forced to move out of town to a new city because of a bad family situation and I really need a job to pay rent and I just got an email from the govt saying my student loan payments start soon. Meanwhile I still can’t even find a job.

Anyone here able to give me some advice on what I should do? What companies are actually hiring new grads (ideally from WGU specifically), what entry level positions should I aim for? I’m open for any kind of hourly/salary roles in Banking,Finance, or Insurance.

With these wildfires raging on in Ontario and Minnesota, and the smoke from those wildfires spreading across widespread areas of the Midwest and Northeast, and becoming more of a common occurrence every summer. I think we need to have a conversation about including “Smoke risk” among the weather characteristics made about these areas.

Especially when these areas of the country are always talked about on this sub about being climate safe havens and seen as untouchable from severe weather events. Wildfire smoke aside from ruining some days of sunny weather, is also very dangerous to breathe in. I live in an area that’s close to 300 AQI right now, work outdoors and the air literally hurts to breathe in, burns my eyes, and is making my skin feel sticky (from the sweat and ash mixing).

If these fires are going to become a more common occurrence, it can potentially cause prolonged health issues in this region and while not as immediately dangerous as floods or Tornadoes. Wildfire smoke should definitely be a consideration many consider when deciding to make a move. Especially if one works primarily outdoors or has a respiratory issues. This smoke is no joke and it’s the 3rd year in a row that my state (NY) has been impacted by it.

Are there decent places hiring for summer jobs paying at least $19 an hour. Just graduated college and I’m looking for a summer job to save up some money and help pay down my student loans.