The summer of the unemployed college grad

(In addition to everything else that's great about interning this summer, I get to meet gorgeous celebs like Kelly Rowland).

A couple weeks ago I read a depressing article in the New York Times by Alex Williams: Say Hello to Underachieving. The article, basically said the millennial generation (i.e. me, most of the people I love and probably you) is screwed. The upside to the dreadful mire of debt and unemployment: we’ll get to spend more time on mom and dad’s couch. After all, there’s nothing like a relaxing six months without your dream job (or even a crappy job for that matter) after you’ve spent the past four years of your life working you’re a** off to prepare for it. Your parents enjoyed you so much during those (gradually shorter and less frequent) trips home on school breaks, they can’t wait to have you home full time so you can chat and bond with your siblings. Who cares that you’ll slowly begin forgetting the stuff they just spent $150,000 for you to learn (this number only seems crazy if you went to a public university or had serious grant/scholarship money)?

 Williams missed the mark on two BIG points:

 1) The brightest, best, and blessed…are still just that

All millenials aren’t doomed. My fellow Essence interns and I are testaments to the fact that not all 20-25 year olds are working at amusement parks. Although my friends in the finance industry (all of whom are employed this summer) would cry if they got my check on payday, finding an internship that doesn’t require making Starbucks runs (although I’d do it in a heartbeat, with a smile), that you really like, and that pays you, is like finding gold in the media industry. I have unemployed friends that I'm not worried about. Truth be told, showing up for work the day after you walked across the stage wasn’t typical even before the recession (excluding IT, medical, and education folks). Even if it the job comes six months after graduation day, I know my peeps will be just fine in the end.

 2) No, your family does NOT miss you that much

There are a lot of things my parents miss about me, but if it came down to me working 300 miles away or sitting at home so they could see my shining face, they’d never choose the latter. If you’re blessed enough to have parents who are cool with you living at home while you make the transition from college, that’s great. But the transition must include MEANINGFUL WORK. Believe or not, there’s a lot of that stuff to go around—from volunteering to interning, to coming up with projects that will boost your resume. Last summer I studied in Paris for six weeks, but I knew I needed something to do before and after my trip. I e-mailed a local magazine editor on a whim. She hired me. It was unpaid, but I’m pretty sure that experience helped me stand out when I applied at Essence, and my parents didn’t mind being my sponsors for the summer once they saw my name in print.

 Let it be known that working smarter and praying harder, ALWAYS pays off in the end.

What are you doing to make the most of this summer?