People are no doubt drawn back to college for reasons too numerous to count. How about just being tired of sitting in interviews and being told, "Too bad you just don't have any college," or, "Too bad you do not have more college." Older students beware. When you get out of college, the same people will say, "Well you obviously are over qualified for this job. Why do you want to work here then?"
You see here is the problem. Listen loud and clear. I need to pay my bills. Credit is often a variable now in applicant selection. If you blow me off too long that will be ruined too and then the newest mantra will be, "Too bad your credit is not better." This current Wisconsin work environment mentality is like a 1970s Redux.
For a year now after going back to college I have had a tough time finding a meaningful job. The prevailing wisdom has us believe that older people are no longer shoved aside - not my experience however with my search for meaningful work. I have worked so long under-employed that even an average full-time job offer would seem like a Presidential appointed patronage job to me.
And a while ago the Wisconsin academic watchers were all abuzz about a scheme to give free college tuition to people who will agree to stay in Wisconsin for 10 years. I applaud the benevolent, ambitious proposal by the "Commission on Enhancing the Mission of UW Colleges" to keep graduates in Wisconsin; but, are they going to walk the walk and work to help get us existing graduates jobs? I created my own media gig in Iraq and walked the walk in a war zone because Wisconsin (colleges, employers, and government) has pathetically only talked the cheap talk on hiring its existing graduates - especially us older guys.
So desperate to keep dignity and meaning in my life after being so ignored by Wisconsin employers (decades of work experience, two associates' degrees, a BA, and 45 graduate credits - all attained at Wisconsin schools by the way), I started my own independent media outlet (shtick), www.cooldadiomedia.com. I use the Web sites and blogs as a platform to keep my toe in journalism and other stuff. I traveled to Vietnam three times recently to study the people and culture 30 years after our war there. I took the project on the road again in September to November, 2006 to Turkey and Iraq to study the people and culture as they live during a war. I believe I am one of only a dozen or so Wisconsin journalists to do so since 2003. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong on that number. I have crawled around in a war zone with no Kevlar vest - just cargo pants, a t-shirt, and tough walking shoes. I financed and managed the whole thing myself. I am going to return - yet again as an independent journalist. I can do it cheaper than most Wisconsin media spent sending sports reporters to the Capital One Bowl for three days.
One caveat with this media project is that much of my work is done over seas. It is dangerous and with precarious results at best. The second caveat with this independent media endeavor is I have received little money for my efforts. I do indeed find dignity and meaning in trying to sort out the complex culture in Iraq and our war there. However, had someone given me a decent job in the last year (or any job for that matter), I certainly would have carefully reconsidered doing a media project in one of the most dangerous places on earth; and, doing it in my fifties to-boot; or, plan to do it again.
Some other journalists have written about my work. And, they have been kind. See: Wisconsin State Journal - Monday, December 18th article by George Hesselberg. The article is about my work in Iraq: WSJ Link. But in general, even having gone to a war zone to report on an important issue of our time and with out a weapon or protection, has not even jolted employers out of La-La land. I have not missed a day of work in 10 years, I have had dozens of diverse jobs in my life, I don't drink or smoke, my driving record is perfect, and I put myself through college after 40 years old. I love speaking to groups about my work in Iraq. No tough question from the audience unnerves me. I have put in hundreds of resumes and talked to dozens of employers. About 90 percent never even bother to email me back let alone, call me back. I think once they see how old I am they go for the younger candidate.
Some employer is really missing out. I have a great deal to offer a company. They could get me for a song because all I really want is a job that I think is meaningful and I feel like I have a little dignity. That after all was the point of going back to college after 40. Lifting bags of cement in one's 50s is noble work, but it shortens one's life expectancy.
I hope, if tuition-assistance-for-agreeing-to-stay-in-state scheme works, our state is kinder to younger graduates than it is to its older ones. As an older student, the main theme of my job quest is finding a meaningful job with dignity. That is more important to me than any particular field or schemes to keep me in Wisconsin. I am a Wisconsin native and moved back here to Wisconsin some years ago because I love this, my home state. This is my last stop in life. I am already here to stay and you ignore me and expend energy on schemes to keep future graduates here. Someone please wake me up from this nightmare. There is something desperately wrong here in Wisconsin with employment.
Most of the employers I have sent resumes to in Wisconsin never even have the decency to drop me a couple-word note to let me know they got the application or to even send me a short email rejection notice. If they treat their younger applicants like they have treated me, it is no surprise to me our graduates all flee for a more welcoming turf somewhere out of state. From my own experience, I know we have a bigger employment problem on our hands here in Wisconsin than finding tuition assistance and just keeping graduates in-state.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Army Specialist Eugene A. Uhl III, 21, of Amherst. Uhl was with Battery C, the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Eugine was Wisconsin's seventh soldier to die in Iraq. Uhl was his family's only son, the youngest of four children, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quoted his mother as saying he would have been the last male family member likely to pass on the Uhl name. He was scheduled to be married in June of 2004. According to the Journal Sentinel his mother also said he would have turned 22 on Thanksgiving. Uhl had been stationed in Iraq since February. He entered the regular Army in June 2002 after first joining the Army National Guard in 1999 and he expected to make the military a career. Eugene was killed when two 101st Airborne Division UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters collided in mid-air over Mosul, Iraq, on November 15, 2003. This was the same crash that killed Army Sgt. Warren S. Hansen, 36 who was last week's Daily Dadio honored Wisconsin soldier.
3,422 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
25,378 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
73 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
102 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
