English BA/MBA works for $9.25 at Goodwill and on food stamps (employment, 2013)

[knowledgeiskey]

"If you go to school and learn, you could become anything you want to be," says the Baby Boomer. We, Millennials, were sold a false dream as kids.

Vanessa Powell, 29, works full time in a Goodwill warehouse in Seattle for $9.25 an hour. She holds a bachelor's degree in English and a master's in business administration.
I now work at Goodwill Industries as a production associate. Basically, I work in a warehouse. I make $9.25 an hour, and it covers almost all the bills. I still am racking up a deficit every month. I'm definitely trying to find another job because I have an MBA.
I went to the University of Alaska for my undergraduate, and I remember trying to get out of Alaska for a long time. I got my undergraduate in English, but there's not a market in English majors, I'm afraid. So I switched over to my master's in business and moved south.
I bike a mile and a half in to my job. And I work a full eight-hour shift, which involves tons and tons of books -- we move about one metric ton of books a day. Sorting through all of them, going through the donations and pricing them, putting them on the shelves.
I feel it's sort of -- I hate to say it -- beneath me, but at the same time, I'm grateful. For anything. I mean, yeah, it's dirty work and often demeaning work, but at least it's work.
My fiancé recently lost his job -- that's one less income. Even though he only worked part time, it was still something. I make enough to cover rent and electric, but we share a cell phone, which is why it's kind of hard for both of us to search for jobs.
Getting enough food is the biggest challenge. We roll our pennies together and try to make the food stretch until the food stamps are loaded back on the card.
I haven't bought new clothes for myself in two years. I can't even remember the last time we went to the movies. We stopped going out a long time ago. I want to say a year and a half was the last time we went out. I haven't seen my friends in about six months because I can't afford to go out with them, and they all want to go out.
We couldn't afford an apartment, so we rented a room in a house. Because I do landscaping for our landlord, he gives us a discount on the rent. And we have our own space cordoned off. So after I bike home from my shift, I try to do about an hour of landscaping and house maintenance, so that we can afford the place.
We've been looking for a new place for ages. It's 400 square feet. Most of our stuff is outside in the rain because we can't get it into the apartment. But anything that's unessential has to go out there.
So things like spare linens are out in the rain, but it's not like I'll have guests anyway. I haven't invited people over in two years. I can't. There'd be no place for them to stand, no place for them to sit. It's far too small.
I've just learned to get by with less. I'd like to be able to afford vices, like even just a drink. I'd buy a couple new books. I'd probably invest money in taking care of my animals. They go to the doctor's more than I do. I really miss being able to go to the doctor.
For the most part, my coworkers joke about what it would be like to to make a living wage and fantasize about what it would be like to cover all the bills. And we laugh at the sort of things we'd do. It should be frivolous, but it's often serious, like buy a new pair of shoes that don't have holes in them. You have to really just laugh about it because otherwise you start crying.
On my breaks, I generally read books I get from the library. My days off are spent searching for different jobs. When I get home at night, I try to work on my writing once I'm done with chores, usually while I'm eating dinner.
I know that I'm probably not going to be able to retire until I'm 70. I've not been able to put away for retirement, much less buy health insurance, so if I live long enough, I'm probably going to be working until my dying day.
I hope to eventually start working a job where I make more than the minimum possible amount. Enough where maybe I can get an electric wheel on my bike because I have arthritis in my hip and it's getting harder to take the hills. Maybe enough where we could even adopt kids.

'It's Dirty Work And It's Often Demeaning Work, But At Least It's Work'

[Chicago87]

Originally Posted by knowledgeiskey

"If you go to school and learn, you could become anything you want to be," says the Baby Boomer. We, Millennials, were sold a false dream as kids.



'It's Dirty Work And It's Often Demeaning Work, But At Least It's Work'

A MBA is only useful when the following conditions are met:

1.) It is from a prestigious school.
2.) You have a good GPA.
3.) You have professional white collar experience.

It helps if you networked with a lot of people and did internships while earning your MBA.

[GTRdad]

Majoring in English = Fruit from the 'Whatever' attitude.

[tpk-nyc]

The article doesn’t say anything about her MBA or where it’s from. A strange omission for an article about unemployment. Probably some online, University of Phoenix degree.

[bobtn]

Originally Posted by GTRdad

Majoring in English = Fruit from the 'Whatever' attitude.

During the recession 280k teaching positions were cut, with an equal amount to be cut projected in the next few years.

Her degree is truly only worthwhile for teaching or like positions.

Bad choice of major. Thread fail.

[maniac77]

I can definitely relate to Vanessa in the original post. I'm going through almost the exact same thing. I'm not on food stamps though.

[charlygal]

What's the purpose of posting these slanted, biased anecdotal stories? They say nothing about the true quality of education.

Don't blame the education. This person gave up on her career. It's one thing to take a low paying job temporarily to tie you over until you find something more lucrative. However, when someone gets bitter, gives up and start blaming, I just can't sympathize. It becomes a personal choice and has nothing to do with getting a degree.

[Blondy]

Meanwhile she is working at a place that advertises they provide career training working with local employers.

Hmmm.......perhaps explore those opportunities or even what else is available in the nationwide organization she works for now. Surely their are more highly paid positions in an org that size that would be available to her more readily than someone from outside the org.

She needs to learn to make smarter choices. Maybe ditch the low/no earning fiancé lol and not take on animals she cant afford to care for. Still kudos to her for cutting her expenses as much as she has and doing an honest days work. I have a feeling she will figure it out and eventually get to a place she wants to be.

[jghorton]

I guess the point of the anecdotal story is to "prove" that: The economy is terrible; there are no jobs available; getting an education, much less an advanced degree, has no value; and life is not fair. But, is that what it really says? ... Or does it instead show that even someone with multiple degrees can put themselves in a situation where they earn minimum wage at a non-profit?

Since this situation is the exception, rather than the rule, the article would be more useful or instructive to others if it evaluated the poor choices made by the individual. Buying-into the inference that the person must be the victim of something (?), rather than individually responsible for their life and choices, only perpetuates the 'entitlement myth' embraced by so many today.

[joe from dayton]

If we post an article about an MBA holder who makes a lot of money, does that negate your article?