The recession has hurt me, and hurt me personally. Since November of 2008, I have been unemployed. Like so many others, I have found it difficult to find work, and I wanted to share my thoughts and experiences.
I've thought about writing this diary, in some form, for quite a while now. I've thought of about a dozen ways to write the title, hoping for that "magic diary" title that will get on the rec. I want to share with the Daily Kos community what it is like for a recent college grad who wants to help the Democratic party.
In June of 2008, I graduated from UC Irvine with a degree in Political Science. After working for free as a co-chair of "UCI Students for Barack Obama" during the Democratic Primary, I worked for free as one of the "Obama Organizing Fellows." After that was over, I finally got the chance to work for a paid position for the Kevin Johnson for Mayor campaign in Sacramento, where I now live.
Since then, it has been extremely difficult to find employment. One of the reasons is no doubt the Bush recession, another is the fact that I'm looking for political work in the start of an off year for elections. I've sent out my resume to dozens of different job openings, from working for campaigns, or organizations like Greenpeace, or even as a food critic. Most of the jobs that I apply for I never hear back. Sometimes I do hear back, and often when I do I hear things like "We had over 200 people apply for this position..." It's really, really bad out there. The media focuses on the stock market - and the market is bad, too - but the real crisis can be seen in those few jobs that are available being swamped with literally hundreds of resumes.
In January, I applied for - and got accepted into - an online magazine called Suite101. Although "content writing" online is a great way to make a little side income, my results so far have shown that even if I were to write 5-10 quality articles every single calendar day, there simply isn't enough income potential available to replace a full time job. I've also attempted to write five different books over the past few years (historical fiction, dystopian political fiction, analysis of the 2006 elections, secularism and religion, and chess strategy) but I have yet to find any way to get them published.
In 2006, I wrote a very popular and controversial diary called Democrats are in Trouble: a report from the field. In it, I warned that the Democratic party needed to get more organized if it wanted to start winning elections again. In California, Charlie Brown, a great candidate, lost a very narrow race in my home district - which is admittedly quite red - in my opinion because the campaign operation was sub-par. Phil Angelides, by contrast, was quite a poor candidate for Governor, though his margin of loss was still embarrassing because Arnold was vulnerable in a blue state in a Democratic year.
I am very pleased with my experiences working for Barack Obama. He has brought real organization back to the Democratic party. He beat Hillary Clinton largely through his unbelievable grass roots organization. He is what Democrats needed, and his efforts will strengthen the party for years, if not decades, to come.
Right now, however, because of the economy, large progressive non profit organizations are seeing their fundraising dry up. People in State Capitols are shrinking their staffs instead of trying to increase them. There simply isn't enough money for anything anymore, so some things have to go. Hiring new people is many times one of these things. So even though Obama has greatly strengthened the Democratic party, it is still difficult to find a job in it.
I have a degree in Political Science. I worked as a professional fundraiser for a year, and have been doing various campaign jobs for a year. I contributed to my school newspaper in college and kept an Obama blog. You can find my full resume here.
If you know of a way I could work as a writer, blogger, campaign organizer, or fundraiser, let me know. If you know of any tips for looking for work in general, I'd be happy to hear them. If you know of anything I can do in the Sacramento area, that would be especially good. If you are a literary agent or know one, let me know the right steps to take if I wanted to be a published author.
Some people have also used this as a forum to ask for a little help with the financial situation. Right now, I'm living with my parents and I do not need immediate help. But if this is the kind of story that would move you to want to help in that way, instead make a donation to a good charity. Charitable donations are down this year for most charities, just when they need the support the most.
If you want to send me an email or a phone call instead of leaving me a comment, you can find both at my resume.
Thank you so much for your help and support. Although I haven't posted a lot lately, I still read Daily Kos every day (multiple times a day) and consider the community to be like a second family. This is a great, great website and I'm glad that I have contributed to it in the very small degree that I have.