Back to square one: After 60 job applications, honor student back home in Missoula

The Missoulian/Washington Post ^ | November 30, 2009 | Eli Saslow

[Lorianne]

Her parents redecorated the bedroom soon after she left for college, as sure as everyone else in Missoula that Melissa Meyer would not be moving back. They took down the photos of Melissa meeting the Dalai Lama and laughing alongside Vice President Joe Biden, placing them in the closet. They packed away dozens of high school honor certificates – valedictorian, class president, outstanding chemistry student – and stored them in plastic boxes under the bed.

Melissa had always been too big for this town, her father liked to say. She was editor of the school newspaper, intern in the United States Senate and the only student from Sentinel High School’s class of 2005 to attend college on the East Coast. On her rare visits home from George Washington University, old friends liked to tease her: “Hey Melissa, are you president yet?”

So, how to explain this? Each morning, Melissa wakes up in her old bedroom, scans the foreign decor and thinks: This is the guest room now. I am the guest. I am not supposed to be here.

She graduated magna cum laude from the GW business school in May, applied for 30 jobs at some of America’s best-known companies, and heard nothing. After visiting the campus career center and redesigning her resume, she applied for 10 more. Still nothing. The lease expired on her Washington apartment in June. There was no place to go but home, with a collection of rejection letters and a haunting sense of betrayal. For 23 years, she had advanced down America’s path to success – perfect grades, a $200,000 college degree, a folder overstuffed with business cards – only to have it dead-end back where she started.

“What was the point?” she asks.

[fieldmarshaldj]

"They took down the photos of Melissa meeting the Dalai Lama and laughing alongside Vice President Joe Biden"

Plugs ain't laughing with you, Missy.

[Frantzie]

Pictures with the Dali and Joe Biden? Ahh is she a Democrat. She mailed out 40 whole resumes - thats a bunch.

I wonder if she voted for her predicament?

[taxcontrol]

I hear the military is hiring ......

[Tainan]

Welcome to The Real World Melissa. Call Max, maybe he has an opening for a real up & comer like yerself...nod nod nudge nudge...;) ;)

[jessduntno]

I can think of worse things than going home to Missoula MT...

[Tamar1973]

She can go to Korea to teach ESL. They’ll respect her fancy degree and she might be able to move from ESL to a “real job” if she learns Korean.

[VicVega]

Lets hope the nitwit Joe Biden, who she took a picture with, will be out of a job as well in a couple of years along with his phony boss.

[Neil E. Wright]

Soooooooooo, Melissa, how's that "hopey" "changey" thing working out for you?????

Toward FREEDOM!

[marron]

First, its a bit cargo-cultish to assume that a good degree guarantees you anything.

Secondly, 40 resumes is nothing.

Thirdly, as others have noted, Missoula isn’t a bad place to be. With your education, you could go to work in the local sawmill, and in a few years if you’ve got a bit of spark you could wind up running it.

Fourthly, as others have noted, the military is usually hiring bright people, even when things are tight. You’ll wind up doing things other people dream of or even never imagine, and you’ll give your degree some real context. A few years down the road you’ll be traveled, seasoned, experienced, world-wise, and still young.

[goseminoles]

Boo Hoo!! LOL!
I’m thinking the b!tch can get a job somehwere.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Only 60 applications? They call it the Fortune 500 for a reason. This is, for all intents and purposes, a depression, so it’s not 1997 anymore.

[rabscuttle385]

Kinda cute, but IMO, Georgetown girls are cuter.

Based on what I read in the article, her debt seems minimal, for someone who went to GW, one of the most expensive four-year schools in the country and a "safety" for East Coast establishment folks who get rejected by the Ivies.

So, I'd wager, instead of saving a couple grand to leave town again next year, why not use that money towards starting her own business? She's got degrees in marketing and finance, after all, though the "brand name" she chose--GW--will likely be worth more on the East Coast, particularly in the DC area, than out west.

[Spktyr]

She’s got the ‘ugly liberal’ Susan Estrich vibe going. Do not want.

[Lorianne]

First, its a bit cargo-cultish to assume that a good degree guarantees you anything.

I love it! Can I steal your 'cargo-cultish' quip?

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

More than 75 others are crowded into a room when Melissa arrives. There are women in business suits and men in ties, all carrying three letters of recommendation and hoping for a chance to earn $10.29 an hour without benefits by substituting in a school district that has only four high schools.

Its not just in Montana... here a Toys R Us was hiring for cashier and had several folks with graduate degrees in Engineering apply. Times are tough, ery tough and those making snide comments need to bear in mind, your job is only one pink-slip away.

[babygene]

Well, I think it’s sad...

I remember when my daughter graduated from college 20 years ago with a degree in finance. She sent out hundreds of resumes and got not even an interview.

I suggested she take a 6 week real estate class and get her real estate license, and she had more offers than she could respond to.

[Slyfox]

...the instructor explain how “less-qualified” teachers like Melissa can win substitute assignments. She should print out business cards and hand them to her old teachers at Sentinel High School, he suggests. Maybe the staff will help out a former valedictorian by requesting her as a substitute.

I went back to school as an adult. I worked very hard and got good grades in an honors college program. I graduated in May and it is really tough to find meaningful employment. One seasoned employment counselor told me that I am trying to find a job in one of the most difficult seasons for employment he has ever seen in his life.

Melissa's plight should not be dismissed. Be thankful if you have a job.

[Kickass Conservative]

Cute girl. Get a Boob Job, grab a Pole and wait for Tiger Woods to walk through the door of the Club.