BREAKING: Dartmouth Chick With Killer Resume Fails to Get Job
Stop the presses! Dartmouth grad Jennifer Krimm (’06) has a killer resume, knows Arabic, and was president of her senior class. And she’s unemployed! And, since such a tragic turn of events — 20-something between jobs, craving tasteful work in non-profit sector — has never happened before, the Washington Post saw fit to publish Ms. Krimm’s MySpace blog rant eloquent musings. From “Want Fries With That Frustration?”:
When I was turned down for a purely administrative job at a nonprofit because the other candidate had a master’s degree, I knew that there was something very wrong with the economy.
Because unemployment statistics, factories closing, uninsured children, and homeless families the nation throughout? Totally unconvincing. But this:
I am waiting to see whether Borders thinks I’m qualified to work as a cashier.
Humiliating. Everyone knows it’s only okay if it’s an indie bookstore. Otherwise you’re forced to interact with icky normal people who drink wine out of boxes and don’t even know who Proust is, when you are a quarter of the way through the first book of Remembrance of Things Past, and even though it’s slow and kinda boring, you totally like it, because you are totally smart, and spent enough money on your education to own, like, several small houses in a shitty part of town.
But wait. It gets worse. She’s so poor, she’s riding the subway!
I seriously considered standing at the top of the Farragut North Metro Station during rush hour in a suit, resumes in one hand and a poster listing my qualifications in the other. I haven’t done it, but like the economy, I haven’t reached rock bottom.
Wait, they don’t sell newspapers at metro stations anymore? Because this paragraph:
I moved to Adams Morgan in October convinced that my stint studying al-Jazeera in the Middle East as a Fulbright scholar, my internship at the White House, my public relations experience in Kuwait and my Ivy League education in government and international relations would give me an edge.
Is sort of the same thing.
UPDATE: In the WaPo column, Krimm retells a self-mythologizing tidbit she used in a D article once:
Before Jennifer Krimm ‘06 applied to Dartmouth from a poor, rural area in Kentucky, her guidance counselor told her that women go to college to find who they are going to marry.
“She said, ‘You could go to an in-state college, find a husband and then save a lot of money when you drop out.’ She ripped my Yale [University] application in half and refused to fill it out,” Krimm said.
An impressive gesture, given the tensile strength of a 20-odd page college app. Poor Jennifer. If only the stars had aligned different, maybe she’d be a Yalie. We hear they do pretty well in DC.
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February 11th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
what a snob.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
ps: maybe she should have found a job BEFORE moving to an area where the average household income was nearly $100,000.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Krimm ran unopposed for president. Nobody wanted to deal with her then, either. Still pretty childish, I see. Quite the hard-knock life she leads…thank God she can finally place the plight of America’s poor in proper perspective.
I hope Borders fires her snotty ass.
February 11th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Newsflash: The rest of us in the class of ‘06 who didn’t spend the past year on a Fulbright have already had to deal with the harsh realization that we are not God’s gift to employers. We took jobs that are not perfect, we live with roommates in not-so-great neighborhoods, and we deal. Get over yourself, Krimm.
On another note, I wonder if she has ever considered the possibility that employers might be turned off by her attitude of entitlement.
February 11th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
wait, this kind of stuff doesn’t happen to FIRST TIER ivy-leaguers, right?????????
February 11th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Oh come on! Jen is a great person, I knew her @ D. Leave her alone!
February 11th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Indeed, y10, this only happens to graduates of Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, and non-Wharton Penn, not to people like you and me! Haha, just kidding, lesser Ivies.
I must say though, if she had wanted a job at one of these think tanks, she ought to have earned her master’s degree first. Also, didn’t she realize that half the point of going to an Ivy League school is to make connections? The connections, Jennifer! You didn’t make them! And now you are suffering the consequences.
February 11th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Jeeze, Jen is wonderful. Anyone can pull quotes out of context, cut her some slack.
February 11th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Wow, you’re a fucking idiot. Do you actually believe people think highly of your fucked up school? Why is it that Dartmouth grads take the lucrative jobs right out from under your feet year after year? Oh yeah! it’s because nobody gives a shit about columbia undergrads (who = 4 years of self-teaching).
February 11th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I, too, knew Miss Krimm during her Dartmouth days. I shall consider hiring her for father’s hedge fund.
February 11th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
you’re the first to tell me that columbia degrees mean nothing. every investment bank, corporation, and law firm my friends and i applied to and were accepted by seem to disagree. self-teaching is not true, and anyway, in my neck of the woods it is generally commended - self-starters are usually successful post-grad, no?
February 11th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I can also vouch for Jen being a wonderful girl. Also, that’s the best picture you guys could find of her? Apart from being wonderful, she is supercute.
February 11th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Yep…That gig at Al Jazeera International is very helpful these days…
February 11th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
If there is such a thing as a “lower-tier Ivy,” it certainly includes Columbia.
I’m not sure how I feel about the op-ed. On the one hand, it smacks of entitlement. On the other, she’s hustlin’ and getting free advertising from the WaPo.
February 11th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I love how the Yale and Columbia, *ahem* “first-tier” Ivy students (O, Columbia, you bourgeois gentilhomme), are the first to equate success with high-paying/douchebag jobs, without even a hint of irony.
February 11th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
His point wasn’t that a Columbia degree is a bad thing. He was just pointing out that Columbia ‘09er is a) wrong and b) a dickhead. Go ahead and love your columbia degree all you want, nobody will stop you. But don’t pretend you’re better than others because of it.
February 11th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Actually, I think Jennifer Krimm is equating “success with high-paying/douchebag jobs.”
Maybe living in one of the ritziest areas of DC is a decision you make AFTER you get a job. This chick may be “wonderful” as a pal, but her op-ed makes Dartmouth grads look petulant and self-entitled and not “wonderful” at all. Who writes a letter to the Washington Post after they fail to get a job at Brookings and claims it is a signal of recession/coming apocalypse? Who does that?
February 11th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I don’t deny that Dartmouth grads (and students) are petulant and self-entitled (is it possible to be other-entitled?). I just resent Yale ‘10 and Columbia ’09’s exclusive claim to Ivy League douchebaggery. There’s room for all of us, 11th-ranked or 2nd-ranked in USN&WR alike.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Columbia hasn’t been top since the 50’s, honey.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Jen! You’ve made a catastrophic mistake! You’ve should have spent the $160K on drastic comsetic surgery instead…then not only would you have a job, but no one would listen to you when you say stupid things like this!
February 11th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
You know what? I empathize with her. It’s getting pretty damn embarrassing to be the unemployable Harvard grad. But you know, if the job market’s this hard for all of us Ivy types, imagine how shitty it must be for everyone else?
February 11th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Um, she is in DC right…. why hasn’t this girl applied to CEB or ABC? Hasn’t every 22 yo in DC worked there?
February 11th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
ewww, totally off topic, but that is such a bad pic of Jen! She’s usually so much cuter. First of all she’s actually blonde, she just dies her hair brown when she’s in the middle east so she doesn’t stand out as much… and that pic’s just bad anyway. If people were going to totally trash me on ivygate I’d at least want to look cute…
and before y’all get on my case for being shallow- you’re looking at ivygate so what does that make you? ;P
February 11th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
is that y10 should start shitting his pants. especially if he or she majored in art history. fucked in the rear. unless you want to go to law school, which in itself is a solid bum fucking!
enjoy!
but isn’t this all old news? the i’m an ivy league grad who can’t get a job. i remember this maybe around 2000 when i was in high school only it was some harvard chick who majored in celtic literature.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Working as a cashier at the age of 23 is just so demeaning! No one from an Ivy League school should have to suffer through that!
As for the Yale/Dartmouth/Columbia battle above, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
All the Ivies are pretty similar in general intelligence of the student body, and each caters to different people both academically and socially…
Except Cornell. No one likes them.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Majors don’t matter–especially if you’re going into business/politics. Connections and experience matter. Since you won’t have shit for experience at 23, then you need connections. If you haven’t yet formed any connections despite going to a school patronized by some of the nation’s most elite families, and if a life of douchebaggery is what you’re seeking, then you’re a douchebag out of luck. Looks like–God forbid–you’ll have to find something other than money or power to fill the meaningless void that is your hoop-jumping, high-achieving existence. (I, on the other hand, live for the lulz.)
February 11th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Dear D’08, judging by the way you write, either you’re from the South or you’re an idiot. It’s like in philosophy when we learned ” a bachelor or an unmarried man…”
Dear Cool-umbia,
Your post makes me want to puke…please go make-out with Krimm as punishment.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
How the hell did I get a good job, I went to Hobart? Oh, right, I’m not a stuck up bitch…she sucks..
February 11th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
It’s called law school, bitch:)
February 11th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
personally, I think she’s just trying to get her resume out there via the W Post, b/c she’s out of other options… maybe it’ll even work. you never know…
good luck Jen!
February 11th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
A Bachelor’s degree qualifies you for a government mid-clerical level job (that means 2 or 3 levels above the person with a HS Diploma and good typing/computer skills). Join the military, they’ll help you deal with reality and learn to make something of yourself. Did I mention, your degree qualifies you for virtually nothing(yes, since you didn’t make the contacts required to get you that great job without any real qualifications, you wasted an obscene amout of money that could have fed starving children in Manhattan’s Upper East Side). Jump in and make something of your life. No one is gonna do it for you (outside of whatever Utopian, make believe world your sociology prof. lied to you about).
February 11th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Wonderful idea. I don’t understand why everyone who has put time and money into studying and researching our political atmosphere isn’t jumping at the chance to join an organization in which you are asked to kill at someone else’s command without being able to make the ethical decisions yourself. Why don’t we leave that deciding to the diplomats who are already screwing up, right? Why would people who have studied and are passionate about making strucural and legislative changes want to actually make a difference in the world when they could be given an M16 and be told to perform demeaning, dehumanizing activites for the good of the few? Brilliant. I’m weeping at your genius.
February 11th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
What an idiot. I didn’t go to an Ivy League school and I have a job. I work with a guy who is dumb as rocks and he has a job. We both get paid well. She honestly isn’t trying. And it takes the government forever to call you in for an interview. You have to be patient and wait your time out temping or whatever.
She’s just trying to get her name in the paper, using this article as a resume. What a dumbass. I doubt her college counselor ripped her Yale application in half. What a liar.
February 11th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
People with her resume are a dime a dozen in DC. Who thinks a bachelors is enough these days? You need a masters just to start, and lots of people have two. Not to mention every idiot ran out to learn Arabic after 9/11. That really doesn’t set you apart as much as people seem to think (hope).
February 11th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
“Go ahead and love your columbia degree all you want, nobody will stop you. But don’t pretend you’re better than others because of it.”
I’m not pretending.
Also, a free tip: she should apply to work for an intelligence agency. The pay isn’t fantastic, but it’s my understanding that they desperately need people who can speak Arabic.
February 11th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Well, I look dumb, according to anony. But really? Every idiot? Who knew? Not me.
February 11th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
@cu senior with a complex: I guess they don’t teach you at Columbia, or expect you to already know, that ‘to pretend’ also means ‘to claim’.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
i seriously never considered columbia to be top tier…all those dumb barnard girls saying they go to columbia kinda detracts, no? brand dilution if you can get in through the back door
February 11th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
i seriously never considered columbia to be top tier…all those dumb barnard girls saying they go to columbia kinda detracts, no? brand dilution if you can get in through the back door
February 11th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
“from a Kentucky public school” …..says it all
February 11th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
“from a Kentucky public school” …..says it all
February 11th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Couldn’t agree with you more, d04. What’s worse is that Barnard girls are generally pretty darn smart, but only the dumb ones claim they went to Columbia rather than Barnard.
And Isaco, I’m glad I can please you. I hope you understand that most school-bashing posts on here are tongue-in-cheek, right? Don’t get too riled up about it.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Adhering to New York social standards, elite Ivy League institutions are those which offer outlets or clubs allowing for expression of elite social status. These include Cornell, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale. Sharing space at a cousin’s clubhouse is a touch needy. How elite does sipping on a G&T at the Princeton Club look if you’re a Columbia grad? Upon graduation your actual ‘education’ falls short of networking and personality, and if Brown, Columbia and Dartmouth have no place of their own to schmooze they can’t be very elite. Instead rather pathetic, I’d say. Jennifer Krimm, stop crying to the shit of a newspaper Washington Post and focus your efforts at your pathetic ‘college’.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
@employed: You must indeed have outstanding connections and the opportunity to schmooze with like-minded douchebags whenever it suits your fancy; otherwise, I can’t imagine that the staggering disappointment of your intellect and insight would be able to get you very far. If the only alternative to your ‘elite’ is the ‘pathetic’, then please sign me up for the latter. For the rest of us, however, a term like ‘pathetic’ will continue to be best instantiated by slavering existential riddles like yourself.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Employed, How did you ever figure it out? What a smart boy you are! The best way to rank Ivy League schools is by the size of their New York clubs! Dartmouth, Columbia and Brown have been scrimping and saving to make a down payment on a loft somewhere…hopefully they’ll catch a break soon, and someday afford a pretty little club.
I believe I am speaking for everyone when I say this: you have a tiny penis.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Give Mr. Tiny Penis a break. Some people watch ‘American Psycho’ and actually develop profound sympathy for Patrick Bateman and company.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
“Remembrance of Things Past?” Is that the indie translation? Most of the rest of the world sticks with “In Search of Lost Time.”
February 11th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Also, to the Columbia students above battling for elite status: give it a rest. If you need people at other schools to approve of yours in order to feel legitimate, then you should just jump in front of the 1 train right now because you’ll likely be seeking others’ approval to no avail for the rest of your life. If you can’t be content with the education you’ve received (or given to yourself, whatever) then there’s no point sticking around here til graduation.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
@ @employed: I believe your focus on my statement must turn to your ignorance. It really is careless of you to assume I have a penis. Personally, I would much rather be elitist than mindless and a bit chauvinistic.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
“These include Cornell, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale.” AAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!! Who’s the high school freshman sneaking on to post here?
February 11th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Not getting a job after paying 160k in tuition is sad but not uncommon, even at an elite school like Dartmouth.
It’s more common at low ranked state schools like Cornell
Everyone knows that the only people who use the university alumni clubs in NYC are douche bags from the midwest visiting town. Or the guys from Gettysburg College using the Penn Club
February 11th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Finally, a decent post that doesn’t embarrass your school. “cool-umbia” “columbiatch” “isaco” and the cunt “columbia 09er” have you to thank for single-handedly saving barnard sr.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
@employed: Women can have tiny penises, too. Didn’t you know that?
February 12th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Saint Peter on a pony! You’re STILL posting to these comment sections? STFU already; we’re all tired of your me-too-ism and your random comments on schools that don’t comport with reality. Go back to auto-fellating yourself in second life, pee-wee.
February 12th, 2008 at 12:59 am
If Dartmouth didn’t have a strong alumni network, it wouldn’t have the second highest giving rate of all the ivies. Most ivy league graduates have jobs. So give your “connection” networking bullshit a rest, because you’re not that special.
February 12th, 2008 at 1:47 am
I am a student at the University of Wisconsin (i.e. lower than dirt as far as many of you are concerned). I majored in accounting and finance to make it easier to find a job when I graduated, but of course there are no guarantees. If she wants to “save the world,” Jen should consider the Peace Corps (although most of available volunteer countries are not primarily Arabic-speaking). You actually do get to make a difference and get preference for federal government jobs when you return. Or with her language skills she probably would not have a hard time finding an opportunity in a rapidly developing place like Dubai with its influx of Westerners. The point is that she will find something if she spends her time researching and netowrking instead of whining to the Washington Post. Finding a job is hard work and it is easy to get discouraged. Good luck to all of you who don’t already have your Goldman/McKinsey offers in hand.
February 12th, 2008 at 2:38 am
Umm…. working a Starbucks/other McJob might actually help in her future (if she has one) in non-profits… MOST *people* have had them, it would help her to be less patronising perhaps to the people she’d be trying to assist. But I get the feeling she is just going into the nonprofit sector so she can be among people she feels socially superior to. I wish they’d stay away, but those kinds of people end up running them :o(
February 12th, 2008 at 7:22 am
I’m glad the article came out–though I wish it had more of a “we’re in the same boat as you non ivy-leaguers who may or may not be $130,000 in debt!” feel. What you read as patronizing, I read as a piece that was only allowed to be about five hundred words and didn’t have time for in-depth argument. Why do I like the article? Because it makes a point–even the over-educated and over-qualified have difficult finding employment. That being said, I was a Dartmouth anthropology major with only three months of fieldwork under my belt, and I found employment. Not in my dream job, but at a very good one. So perhaps her standards are too high.
February 12th, 2008 at 7:24 am
Apologies if this posts twice.
I’m glad the article came out–though I wish it had more of a “we’re in the same boat as you non ivy-leaguers who may or may not be $130,000 in debt!” feel. What you read as patronizing, I read as a piece that was only allowed to be about five hundred words and didn’t have time for in-depth argument. Why do I like the article? Because it makes a point–even the over-educated and over-qualified have difficult finding employment. That being said, I was a Dartmouth anthropology major with only three months of fieldwork under my belt, and I found employment. Not in my dream job, but at a very good one. So perhaps her standards are too high.
February 12th, 2008 at 7:33 am
So she’s frustrated and wants to vent within what are probably severe word limits imposed by the paper? So she perhaps wrongfully assumes that tough economic times for the over-educated, over-qualified, $130,000 in debt crowd is resultant from tough-economic times for the nation. So she probably has way too high standards for her first job. So she’s risked her reputation in a public forum? Newsflash–she probably worked herself half to death over four years and was hoping for a little reward. Or perhaps she’s just ambitious? Perhaps you guys should exam your own knee-jerk prejudices instead of attacking her for ones you THINK that she has.
February 12th, 2008 at 7:39 am
woops, was having “internal server error” didn’t know those posted!
February 12th, 2008 at 9:42 am
What self-delusions! She thinks she should start a non-profit to foster Western and Middle Eastern understanding! As if that’s a new idea and nobody else is doing it!
February 12th, 2008 at 11:17 am
A Bachelor’s degree qualifies you for a government mid-clerical level job (that means 2 or 3 levels above the person with a HS Diploma and good typing/computer skills). Join the military, they’ll help you deal with reality and learn to make something of yourself. Did I mention, your degree qualifies you for virtually nothing(yes, since you didn’t make the contacts required to get you that great job without any real qualifications, you wasted an obscene amout of money that could have fed starving children in Manhattan’s Upper East Side). Jump in and make something of your life. No one is gonna do it for you (outside of whatever Utopian, make believe world your sociology prof. lied to you about).
February 12th, 2008 at 11:23 am
A Bachelor’s degree qualifies you for a government mid-clerical level job (that means 2 or 3 levels above the person with a HS Diploma and good typing/computer skills). Join the military, they’ll help you deal with reality and learn to make something of yourself. Did I mention, your degree qualifies you for virtually nothing(yes, since you didn’t make the contacts required to get you that great job without any real qualifications, you wasted an obscene amout of money that could have fed starving children in Manhattan’s Upper East Side). Jump in and make something of your life. No one is gonna do it for you (outside of whatever Utopian, make believe world your sociology prof. lied to you about).
February 12th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Less than 30% of all military serving in a war theatre are actually involved in combat operations. Of those, I’d hazard that less than 20% ever kill anyone. That becomes a pretty small percentage of all the persons serving our country in the military during the Iraq war. If you think that military service is about killing, then you’ve got another think coming. Military service (except for disturbed individuals, John Kerry comes to mind) is about preserving freedom and saving lives. It requires the kind of unselfish sacrifce that Ms Krimm, and others of her ilk, seem to be uninterested in.
Club memberships are overrated, unless they have an excellent chef and a good Tuesday nite special.
Sorry for the double post.
February 12th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Less than 30% of all military serving in a war theatre are actually involved in combat operations. Of those, I’d hazard that less than 20% ever kill anyone. That becomes a pretty small percentage of all the persons serving our country in the military during the Iraq war. If you think that military service is about killing, then you’ve got another think coming. Military service (except for disturbed individuals, John Kerry comes to mind) is about preserving freedom and saving lives. It requires the kind of unselfish sacrifce that Ms Krimm, and others of her ilk, seem to be uninterested in.
Club memberships are overrated, unless they have an excellent chef and a good Tuesday nite special.
Sorry for the double post.
February 12th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Military ra ra ra… John Kerry lied about his medals… college professors are a fifth column of nefarious socialists… blah blah blah… *yawn* who let David Horowitz in here?
February 12th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I went to Boston University, and have a well paying, cool, and glamorous job, you people sound so ridiculous.
February 12th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Clever comeback Dartmouth. Who is it you fear most, Conservatives or Jews?
Anyway, the door was open so I crashed the party.
If you think I’m boring, you should talk to my brother, the Princeton grad.
February 12th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Yes, everyone knows it is this pesky recession which is making all of those ludicrously specific International Relations jobs just disappear!
February 12th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I definitely fear conservatives more than Jews. But I fear conservative Jews most of all. I’m just a very, very fearful person, generally. How often do you beat your spouse?
February 12th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Ah, wading in the shallow end of the gene pool, are we? That much is clear from your asinine posts.
February 12th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Only when it is required. And, of course it is for their own good.
I too am often terrified. Hillary or Obama? Yikes!
February 12th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Only when it is required. And, of course it is for their own good.
I too am often terrified. Hillary or Obama? Yikes!
February 12th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Wadaya mean “we”? Got a mouse in yer pocket?
Asinine??? Never! I insist you call my posts fatuous!
February 12th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
“The next time you are craving fast food, keep in mind that an Ivy Leaguer might be asking, “Would you like fries with that?”
Actually, the possibility that a snotty, spoiled ivy league grad might be serving me makes that crap almost palatable.
February 12th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
In response to someone a few comments back: Of course, the point is not that other people have jobs, it’s that it’s normal to be frustrated when you have achieved a certain level of competence and aren’t able to operate at that level of competence, or increase your competence beyond that level, while getting paid enough to afford food and housing, have health benefits, and work towards retirement security. This is one of the reasons why job frustration is so common.
Whether this person, whom I’ve met but don’t know personally, should have chosen a major paper to vent in? That’s another question. I blame the Post’s editorial staff. She vented, but they published. Responsibility lies with them.
Is she an elitist? maybe. Present your cases, make your premises and arguments clear, and maybe I’ll want to join you on your high horses and we’ll gallop around together, it’ll be fun.
February 12th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Normal: being frustrated at being unable to obtain a job
Elitist: complaining about having to find a job below one’s educational level
Unrealistic: moving into a wealthier neighborhood before finding a job
Obnoxious: writing something in the Washington Post about it
February 12th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Don’t blame the publisher. The Post provides a forum for opinion pieces. The adult who wrote the op-ed is responsible. You’re right that its normal to be frustrated about employment…maybe even to vent to your friends about the frustration, or to your family, or to your career counselor…but it is not normal to write an op-ed in the WaPo ascribing a failure to gain elite employment to “something very wrong with the economy.” Not getting a highly competitive job, despite a strong Dartmouth/Fulbright/White House Intern resume (as she cheerily points out in a disturbing self-call), in a competitve city like DC may be many, many things…but this woman demands that the faults lie with society and not with her. That attitude is what many of the comments seem to have noticed.
I think its good that people get to see what suffering this girl has endured, what with the potato eating and cashier-application-filling-out; maybe we’ll stop devoting society’s resources to the uneducated, un-Ivied poor and help those truly in need of jobs at the Brookings Institute.
February 12th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Dearest D,
Competence is not acheived in college, except in college going.
Job dissatisfaction is much more a function of a felt lack of control, or the lack of a clear sense that you are accomplishing anything positive or making a difference.
The economic factors you mention are most often within reach ot any who make wise decisions about their lives.
By the by, Starbucks offers health care insurance, even to part time employees.
Standard of living often involves state of mind, expectations and geography.
The basic elements you mention are easily affordable in Ames, Iowa. In Washington, D.C., not so much. Factor in “food” at trendy restaurants, “housing” in an upscale condo, “health benefits” involving low deductables, no co-pay and private hospitals, “retirement security” involving a place in the Hamptons, throw in the requisite Beamer, designer clothes, resort vacations, club memberships, and the rest of one’s ivy league expectations and yeah, I guess things can get pretty frustrating. Is she an elite? Not enough information. Does she want to be one? No question.
February 12th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
‘77? What is someone your age doing reading (much less commenting on) a site like this?
February 12th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
‘77? What is someone your age doing reading (much less commenting on) a site like this?
February 12th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Age? Oh, I thought we were listing IQ
February 12th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Can’t decide whether this is brillant - the equivalent of a Washington-wide resume drop - or self-sabotaging. Guess it depends if she gets a job out of it.
February 12th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Yeah, because we all know that 50 yr olds should stfu and stay off our internets.
February 12th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
“Can’t decide whether this is brillant - the equivalent of a Washington-wide resume drop - or self-sabotaging. Guess it depends if she gets a job out of it.”
Well, after reading it, would you prefer to hire her over an equally-qualified applicant who is less inclined to self-indulgent outbursts in the pages of national newspapers?
February 12th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Letter to the Editor on the original op-ed:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/11/AR2008021102526.html
February 12th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I hit that.
February 12th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
but the question is whether that’s all you were hitting…
February 12th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
@ @Columbia 08
No, because I just can’t imagine the sort of 50 yr old who would have the time and interest to get involved with a college gossip blog.
February 12th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
What? If anything, 50 year-olds have too much time. The question is: how can it be that busy 18-30 year-olds who ostensibly have lives have so much time to waste?
February 13th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Who in DC does not have an internship at the White House or some other part of the gov’t? I mean seriously, how many interns are there - hundreds last time I checked… Who does not have a prestigous award or more than one? She is dime a dozen no matter where she is from… Get over it, she is going about it wrong. Instead of saying, you would be stupid to not have me, go to an employer and let them know why you want to be there. Don’t sell me on you, because you can be replaced. Sell me on the fact you are the perfect match for the job & company - then you are unique. If you can’t do that, then, as stated above, use the connection you made to get to me. Random resumes are not hired - what were taught for $160k???
February 14th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
500 words does not a great op-ed make - so had she been able to develop most of these thoughts - I’m sure most of your assumptive points are moot.
Guess what? The economy is in recession. Guess what else? Foreign policy related to the Middle East is a hot-button topic, and people with her experience SHOULD be hired because that’s who we would hope are working with multi-national corporations, and other countries.
And if you’re interested in foreign policy in the U.S. - where else BUT D.C. would you go??
The job market declined for the first time in 6 years this past January. Maybe her story is like a canary in the coalmine.
And maybe people who are insecure enough about themselves to think they went to an “inferior” school can take a dose of comfort that NOBODY is really doing well in the current economy.
February 14th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
500 words does not a great op-ed make - so had she been able to develop most of these thoughts - I’m sure most of your assumptive points are moot.
Guess what? The economy is in recession. Guess what else? Foreign policy related to the Middle East is a hot-button topic, and people with her experience SHOULD be hired because that’s who we would hope are working with multi-national corporations, and other countries.
And if you’re interested in foreign policy in the U.S. - where else BUT D.C. would you go??
The job market declined for the first time in 6 years this past January. Maybe her story is like a canary in the coalmine.
And maybe people who are insecure enough about themselves to think they went to an “inferior” school can take a dose of comfort that NOBODY is really doing well in the current economy.
February 14th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
500 words does not a great op-ed make - so had she been able to develop most of these thoughts - I’m sure most of your assumptive points are moot.
Guess what? The economy is in recession. Guess what else? Foreign policy related to the Middle East is a hot-button topic, and people with her experience SHOULD be hired because that’s who we would hope are working with multi-national corporations, and other countries.
And if you’re interested in foreign policy in the U.S. - where else BUT D.C. would you go??
The job market declined for the first time in 6 years this past January. Maybe her story is like a canary in the coalmine.
And maybe people who are insecure enough about themselves to think they went to an “inferior” school can take a dose of comfort that NOBODY is really doing well in the current economy.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:47 am
She graduated from a prestigious school and then asked, “Where’s my fucking career?”
So folks, arrogance gets you nowhere in the real world. Especially coming from naive little girls with overpriced, over-rated ivy league degrees.
This dumb-ass needs a boot camp, not a career path.
JTM
February 20th, 2008 at 4:24 am
I was employed in the field and area I wanted to be in 3 months after arriving in DC.
I actually do feel for Jennifer no job and all, but god, the sense of entitlement. Take a job at a Starbucks woman. It will put food on your table and might actually have contact with the poor schlubs you might allegedly want to help during that career of yours.
February 20th, 2008 at 4:32 am
I just took a look at her “killer resume.” Are you joking? Looks like she spent less than a year doing something on her career path. How about some study abroad or something like that? She made it sound like she’d been working in these places as a regular employee, Less than a year in some internships? Please woman, get off your damn high horse.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:50 am
In the mid-nineties, when the dot-com boom was just underway, a friend of mine with a high school education was hired at a start-up web development company with a solid HTML skill-set. He’s now a manager with a top Seattle based i-agency making 250k. So, folks, it’s not about the degree, it’s about a marketable skill set and how you position yourself. No education in the world is going to get you a great job, it’s about what you can actually do for someone. Can you solve problems? Can you offer solutions? Can you make the bastards some money!? It’s pretty fucking simple. Ivy league educations are not what they used to be.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:32 am
In the mid-nineties, when the dot-com boom was just underway, a friend of mine with a high school education was hired at a start-up web development company with a solid HTML skill-set. He’s now a manager with a top Seattle based i-agency making 250k. So, folks, it’s not about the degree, it’s about a marketable skill set and how you position yourself. No education in the world is going to get you a great job, it’s about what you can actually do for someone. Can you solve problems? Can you offer solutions? Can you make the bastards some money!? It’s pretty fucking simple. Ivy league educations are not what they used to be.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:00 am
And she needs to ditch the me-too, neo-hippie (Yeah, I can just throw it back in poney tail and look professional) never-was hair cut. Girlfriend, you need a contemporary look. You may want to shave too. And while you’re at it, clear cut that rain forest.
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:40 am
I have a unique opinion to offer, since Jen did just beat me out for a job. You all may be thinking, wow, this guy’s fairly pathetic to be bested by the whiny girl who can’t get her own cats to like her, let alone seek gainful employment. However, I am STILL an UNDERGRAD, and the position was a senior staff position in an office on the Hill where I’d done an internship two summers ago. The sole reason for hiring her over me, according to the COS, was her start date was sooner than mine (I do still have to graduate…an obnoxious little impediment to my career I suppose). But it’s still a little sad. I was offered the same job as some one who from the sounds of things has single-handedly rectified all problems in the Middle-East, as well as of Starbucks, and I’m not blaming the economy. But she’ll do well. Hope the congressional office in which she’ll be working knows that were in heavy competition with the local Borders for her invaluable skillset…
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:43 am
I have a unique opinion to offer, since Jen did just beat me out for a job. You all may be thinking, wow, this guy’s fairly pathetic to be bested by the whiny girl who can’t get her own cats to like her, let alone seek gainful employment. However, I am STILL an UNDERGRAD, and the position was a senior staff position in an office on the Hill where I’d done an internship two summers ago. The sole reason for hiring her over me, according to the COS, was her start date was sooner than mine (I do still have to graduate…an obnoxious little impediment to my career I suppose). But it’s still a little sad. I was offered the same job as some one who from the sounds of things has single-handedly rectified all problems in the Middle-East, as well as of Starbucks, and I’m not blaming the economy. But she’ll do well. Hope the congressional office in which she’ll be working knows that were in heavy competition with the local Borders for her invaluable skillset…
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:45 am
I have a unique opinion to offer, since Jen did just beat me out for a job. You all may be thinking, wow, this guy’s fairly pathetic to be bested by the whiny girl who can’t get her own cats to like her, let alone seek gainful employment. However, I am STILL an UNDERGRAD, and the position was a senior staff position in an office on the Hill where I’d done an internship two summers ago. The sole reason for hiring her over me, according to the COS, was her start date was sooner than mine (I do still have to graduate…an obnoxious little impediment to my career I suppose). But it’s still a little sad. I was offered the same job as some one who from the sounds of things has single-handedly rectified all problems in the Middle-East, as well as of Starbucks, and I’m not blaming the economy. But she’ll do well. Hope the congressional office in which she’ll be working knows that were in heavy competition with the local Borders for her invaluable skillset…
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:46 am
I have a unique opinion to offer, since Jen did just beat me out for a job. You all may be thinking, wow, this guy’s fairly pathetic to be bested by the whiny girl who can’t get her own cats to like her, let alone seek gainful employment. However, I am STILL an UNDERGRAD, and the position was a senior staff position in an office on the Hill where I’d done an internship two summers ago. The sole reason for hiring her over me, according to the COS, was her start date was sooner than mine (I do still have to graduate…an obnoxious little impediment to my career I suppose). But it’s still a little sad. I was offered the same job as some one who from the sounds of things has single-handedly rectified all problems in the Middle-East, as well as of Starbucks, and I’m not blaming the economy. But she’ll do well. Hope the congressional office in which she’ll be working knows that were in heavy competition with the local Borders for her invaluable skillset…
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:47 am
I have a unique opinion to offer, since Jen did just beat me out for a job. You all may be thinking, wow, this guy’s fairly pathetic to be bested by the whiny girl who can’t get her own cats to like her, let alone seek gainful employment. However, I am STILL an UNDERGRAD, and the position was a senior staff position in an office on the Hill where I’d done an internship two summers ago. The sole reason for hiring her over me, according to the COS, was her start date was sooner than mine (I do still have to graduate…an obnoxious little impediment to my career I suppose). But it’s still a little sad. I was offered the same job as some one who from the sounds of things has single-handedly rectified all problems in the Middle-East, as well as of Starbucks, and I’m not blaming the economy. But she’ll do well. Hope the congressional office in which she’ll be working knows that were in heavy competition with the local Borders for her invaluable skillset…
May 6th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
It’s ok, everyone. She got hired: http://chandler.house.gov/ArticleDetails.aspx?NewsID=1452