Last May, as I walked across the stage of a New York City theater to receive my college diploma, I wondered if I would be able to put my degree to use. Smiling toward where my visiting family sat, the thought crossed my mind: Would it be better if I just moved home?
Like many NYC graduates, I’m a California transplant. In 2022, I moved from coast to coast with the dream of becoming a journalist. I pursued internships and roles with student newspapers. By the time graduation rolled around, I’d amassed a modest portfolio.
I knew the job market was tough, but I was determined to put my education to work.
My post-college job search started months before graduation. Between attending classes and running around for my local news internship, I was writing cover letters, networking, and surfing the internet for job postings. As an undergrad student in New York City, I was familiar with the hustle, but around 50 job applications in, I still had zero promising leads.
By graduation, I had to face the facts. I had a journalism degree, but no full-time journalism job on the horizon.
The entry-level job apocalypse
A recent report by the Center for an Urban Future found that entry-level job postings in NYC have dropped 37.4% since 2022.
As my graduation approached and job leads kept going cold, I had to make a tough decision. Rent was due, and my internship had ended, so I revisited a trade that had supported me before: barista work.
Nearly one year later, the part-time role I began out of necessity has continued to largely fund my housing, groceries, travel, and life.
I say I’m a freelance journalist in NYC, but in reality, most of my working week is spent at a neighborhood coffee shop. My remaining time is spent picking up freelance journalism gigs, babysitting, and investing in my local church community.
Why not just move home?
Amid job applications and 5 a.m. alarms, there have been many times when I’ve wondered what’s keeping me in a place like NYC if I can’t get a journalism job. Why don’t I just move home?
But there’s something that keeps people like me from returning home: the waiting, working, and wondering when it might be our turn.
Between pouring latte art and taking orders at the register last week, my aspiring actor coworker and I talked about what keeps people like us here. She told me the story of “The Pitt” star Patrick Ball, who had been auditioning and working survival jobs since 2013.
On CBS Mornings, Ball shared that prior to his audition for “The Pitt,” he was beginning to think that his on-screen break might never happen.
“It was a self-tape just from my apartment, just like any other self-tape,” said Ball. “I’ve probably done like 1,000 of them over the last 10 years.”
Since graduation, I’ve applied to over 150 jobs — nowhere near Ball’s 1,000 auditions — so I can relate to his sense that my “break” will never happen. And yet we keep pushing, hoping the break is just around the corner.
Ten months have passed since graduation, and I’m still in NYC, longing, seeking, and wondering when I’ll find the next step in that dream of mine.
Then something changed
I recently received an offer for a full-time position in another East Coast city in my desired field. I’m unsure whether the position will be my next step, but the opportunity to use my degree is stirring up a dream I’d begun to forget.
This past year of multiple jobs has been a blessing in disguise. It’s brought me closer to the community and taught me to be content when things don’t go as planned.
It’s brought me to a place where I can consider my career from a place of desire, not obligation.
After all this time, receiving an offer felt like finding a version of myself that I have yet to know. I think it would be fun to find her out.
I guess it’s just not the time to move home quite yet.
