<p>“There exist no jobs or combination of jobs which would keep a roof over my head and food on my table” is a different problem than “I can’t get hired for the kind of job I’d like to have in the local I’d like to have it.”</p>
<p>Having a bad job sucks. Having two or three part-time bad jobs is worse. But either of those pales in comparison to having enough student loan debt to keep a roof over your head and food on your table plus pay tuition for multiple years. Ten years from now, you can look back on a series of bad jobs and laugh. Ten years from now, you might be looking forward to paying more than a house payment in non-dischargeable student loan debt every month for the next 20 years.</p>
<p>Fast-forward for a moment to a year or so from now, when you’d have your paralegal degree. You’re now qualified to do a job that you don’t like doing, but you don’t necessarily have a job. What’s your school’s job-placement record like? How many grads have paralegal jobs lined up within 2 weeks of graduation? How many are full-time and how many part-time? How many are contract? What’s the average starting salary? Does that count everyone, or just the grads who returned the survey? What percentage returned the survey? Law firms can get a newly-minted attorney for $25 an hour or so, contract, in many markets - why would a law firm hire a paralegal who doesn’t actually like paralegal work, and not a licensed attorney? </p>
<p>Fast-forward to when you’ve finished the certificate program, and ask those same types of questions. Who would be hiring, and what are the odds of them hiring you?</p>
<p>Re-reading, it looks like you had an internship. Internships in some fields are like really long job interviews - is there a reason that internship didn’t turn into a job? How have you kept in touch with the people you met on the internship, including other interns? Have you asked them to help you find work?</p>
<p>I was a resume reviewer for my professional society’s student night a few weeks ago, and there was one kid who stood out to me. He did not have a stellar GPA. He had no relevant work experience. There was nothing fancy or special about his resume, or his appearance, or anything. I spent maybe 3 minutes total talking to him, and if he were local to me and looking for a job, I’d pass his resume on to half a dozen places in a heartbeat, and tell all those companies I thought he was worth hiring. Why? Because he’d driven a couple hours to get to the student night in my half of the state after having already gone to the student night in his own half of the state, because he wanted as much advice as he could get about how he could improve. And because he came up to me with 3 minutes left before the next session so he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to talk to one more person. And because he’d put on his resume, under the job position “farm hand,” that he’d learned to get up early in the morning and work all day long, day after day, doing hard, hot, dirty work that most people didn’t want to do. And because he had the biggest smile I saw on anyone at the entire event. If that guy got an interview, I don’t have a doubt that he could get a job. Employers like people who are not afraid of hard work, of showing up every day and getting stuff done even when it’s not interesting or enjoyable, of going the extra mile.</p>
<p>You could be that guy. Being a really good server (even at Hooters) requires good people skills, good memory, good attitude, hard work, and doing things most people don’t like. A regular customer at the bar who’s seen that you’re smart and hard-working and always have a smile on your face, and who finds out that you’re looking for a different job, might know somewhere to pass your resume along. You can network almost anywhere, and almost anyone could be the person who networks you into a job.</p>