By SARAH NELSON
Staff Writer
Mandolin Copa has done everything right. She is smart. She is educated. She is hard-working. But two years after finishing her college degree, Copa still can’t find a job.
It’s not like she hasn’t applied. She has. Hundreds of times.
“You name it, I’ve applied for it,” Copa said.
Food service. Check.
Office. Check.
Housekeeping. Admin. Marketing. Call Center. Technical Assistance. Check. Check. Check.
“It’s super frustrating,” Copa said.
Copa, a native of the Brainerd lakes area, graduated from North Central University in Minneapolis with a bachelor’s degree in contemporary Christian music with the intent of, well, being a musician. “It’s kind of a one in a million shot,” said Copa of “making it” in the music industry where so many others are pursuing the same career.
Copa said her major equipped her to be a musician and that most people with the same major end up working in a church or teach music lessons.
“It’s kind of a no-brainer for a music major. You plan on teaching or — well, yeah, you plan on teaching,” she said. “That’s just not what I wanted.”
Copa said even with her passion for music and dreams of a career as a professional musician, she is realistic about her opportunities.
“I don’t want to go be in an opera. I figured I would go be a music pastor somewhere,” she said.
Copa graduated from North Central in 2009 and has yet to find a career in music or anything else. She said for most of the past two years she has been unemployed or, at the very least, under-employed.
Copa, like others in her generation, have been accused of being too picky when it comes to settling into a career, something she said simply isn’t true. “It’s not that I’m above doing it. It’s just that it won’t pay my bills,” Copa said. She estimated she would need to find a job that pays at least $9 per hour just for her to survive on. “(That’s) just making it — living with my parents with rent and food free,” she said.
Since graduation in 2009, Copa said she has worked a series of low-paying temporary jobs that have helped her get by, but have done little for her long-term planning. “Whatever pays the bills.
“It’s temporary — that’s the problem,” she said. “I’m getting to the point where I’m looking for things I can do for a long time.”
Lack of stable employment has afforded Copa few luxuries and left her virtually homeless. She said she has lived with family and friends who have opened their homes to her. Most of her belongings are packed into six plastic bins.
“To be 24 and have a minimal amount of stuff, it takes away from that feeling of independence,” she said. “I’m stuck. It makes you feel like a failure — like you’re not contributing to society.”
Copa said of the jobs she has applied for she is either over-qualified or not qualified enough. Employers tend to seek out individuals with more experience or young people with very flexible schedules. “I’m kind of in the middle,” Copa said.
Copa said she has had lots of call-backs on jobs she has applied for. She has completed interviews. She has even taken classes on how to interview successfully. “It’s just never ‘the right fit,’” she said.
Being out of college for two years and still struggling to find viable employment, Copa is starting to doubt the value of her private school education.
“I’m quite positive that 97 percent of people who interview could care less,” she said. Copa received a fair amount of financial aid to help finance her education, but still has student loans to repay.
With the job market still slowly recovering from the recession, Copa said she has considered continuing her education, but is hesitant because of her existing school loans. “I have this huge chunk of debt already. It seems really stupid to add to that,” she said. “It just doesn’t seem worth it.”
Despite her personal struggles, Copa knows that she is not alone. “It puts my generation in a really helpless place,” she said.
Copa said even with a struggling a economy and competitive job market she sees friends pass up fair paying jobs for lesser paying ones. “They think it’s pointless to get paid for things they don’t enjoy doing,” she said.
Copa said she recognizes a difference in her generation from generations past in the jobs they want to make into careers. “I know (my) generation is super experiential — we need to feel things,” she said. “I’ll take a job that pays crap if it’s something I’m passionate about.”
Copa is passionate. She said besides music, her other great passion is working with people.
Over the summer, Copa worked with Minneapolis-based non-profit that works with the homeless population. “You get to see the success of what you’re investing your time in,” Copa said. “If I can get paid for this — that would be awesome.”
Like other jobs she has taken since finishing her education, Copa’s job with the homeless mission was temporary.
SARAH NELSON may be reached at sarah.nelson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5879.
Comments (13)
Add commentTruthful article.
"Employers tend to seek out individuals with more experience or young people with very flexible schedules."
True- They tend to seek out young people that they can pay minimum wage and work into the ground.
Also- make sure you don't come up with original ideas or are actually intelligent. The boss/manager doesn't want someone smarter and better at the job than them- that starts cutting into their job security.
Unfortunately, she spent her
Unfortunately, she spent her time obtaining a degree which is virtually worthless in the real world. All she is qualified for is entry level jobs, and those are just that. Entry level. Most only pay minimum wage, or slightly above.
Miss Copa
I feel for you. You've graduated at a very bad time. I would suggest that you look further than the surrounding area. I know if you were to go the the Triangle area of North Carolina, that you might find a way to apply you degree, but that would be suggesting you move to the South, and as others have pointed out, there is nothing down there-----LOL!
Flexible Schedules, Ms. Copa?
"Employers tend to seek out individuals with more experience or young people with very flexible schedules"
says Ms. Copa. If you have no job or home and only 6 boxes of personal effects, why do you not have a "very flexible schedule?"
Or perhaps you are one of those many people in your generation who thinks because Mom and Pop have careers and make decent money that you should be starting somewhere near that as well? My guess would be that your folks, just like 99.9% of the rest of us workers, started at the bottom in entry level jobs making no money - because that is the way the WORKING WORLD is structured. Take a job, any job, that is offered to you, and work at it for a few years...get some experience under your belt and then try again for a better job or something you are more interested in.
P.S. No musicians get rich or famous without working at it for years, sometimes DECADES! And most musicians do not get rich period - they do their music as a labor of love. Welcome to the real world, honey!
Catlady
Sometimes, finding ANY job is the hard part. When a motel gets over 100 applications for an opening for nighttime front desk attendant, the odds aren't in your favor. Being 1 in 100+ could be decent odds in an alternate universe, but we're in this one. Take a browse through the classifieds; there are welding, nursing, general labor positions, etc available around the area, but nothing for the average person to make a buck from.
I'm not trying to defend Ms. Copa, but perhaps your response was a bit misinformed as to the job market of the area in general. It's hard to take "a job, any job" when there aren't any, and the unemployment rate (last I checked, it was near 16%) of Brainerd reflects that.
Will Work for food
I am sorry to see that you one of those who have fallen into the cracks of those who invested in a college education and cannot find work. There are thousands of people who find themselves in this position every year. I was one of them. I also know that there is probably pressure building to pay back all those student loans biting at your heals if they have not already begun the letters and phone calls. But there are a few things that you can do and thinks that you should avoid to help you out.
First of all any "Arts degree", even graphics art and computer graphic design which WAS a big fields (now over flooded with graduates), does not get you far it unless you compliment it with a degree for teaching. It is like getting a degree in philosophy. Second you need to consider that you live in an area where most churches rely on volunteerism for most of their work.
Second It's the economy you need to be able to stand out above hundreds fro every possible job opening you apply for. Jobs are scarce everywhere. Everyone keeps saying go south jobs are here and they are for markets that are always in demand Medical is huge here especially for RN's.
Finally maintain competitiveness by being FLEXIBLE. Take anything even if it is very low pay in some cases even internships could help both with on-hands experience and networking. There is also the expansion of job search, since you claim to have no permanent residence you should consider looking in a national market and apply across the nation. I know the draw to want to stay close to home but face it, Brainerd area is has been and always will be a dead end job market. Unless you know someone some where at the top in your field in the area you will not get anywhere in the job market there.
You also need to expect to start from the bottom. as I mentioned earlier even an internship is a good place to start especially in the performance fields. Not only are you getting on the job training but some businesses will hire on interns that they know have good work ethics over someone who they have no experience with. You could also do volunteer work in your field while you are looking for the same reason..experience...which will give you an edge over other new applicants.
Keep a resume on line with all the job sites and check them constantly. I see a lot of postings fro jobs in sales which if anything can help you gain experience in selling yourself (as all good salesperson knows is the true product) in interviews. NETWORKING is key..most employment positions are not even advertised before they are filled keep your name out there everywhere you can.
I have a masters degree in Criminal Justice and had to move to the other side of the country to find work. (I lived in Brainerd most my life prior to my move.) I also have family who are in the Criminal Justice field in the area but my problem was I was "Overqualified" fro positions there which may also be a problem you will face in smaller towns when looking for jobs when you have a degree.
Article
I appreciate your comments and advice, and have been reading all the comments on this site, as well as facebook, and have been taking each to heart in how to pursue finding my next place of employment. Thank you.
Hi Mandy!
Hi Mandy! So proud of you! I hope you know that! You got your degree thru hard work and scholarships. You earned it all! Even tho your choice of your degree wasn't the one I felt most comfortable with, you never cease to amaze me in your faith. I see people come here at work in mid 20's and 30's. They quit 2 weeks later. Ah yes. Living with mom and dad. They take care of them. No reason for them to wanna work. So sad. In the 6 years you've been gone you hardly asked for anything. You held your own and I am so so proud of you! You will find your calling and I believe in that!
Sorry Ms Copa
"I was also told in high school, as a senior, that prospective employers will be more likely to hire you if you had a bachelor's degree. No matter what field it was in."
That statement explains one of the biggest problems I have with todays teachers. They fill kids heads with garbage that has little or no bearing outside of acadamia. While a degree is important, it is more important that is in the right field. Go ahead and chase your dreams, but make sure you have a backup plan.
Job possibility
If someone has ANY college degree from an accredited 4 year college, they could teach english abroad in Southeast Asia. I have a friend, who was an art history major, that taught english in South Korea for a year and was able to save $30,000. If you choose South Korea, they pay for your room and board. If you stay the full 12 months they reimburse you for your flight which runs about $1000 there and back.
By the time he came back stateside, he had all of his financial aid paid off and was able to put a down payment down on a house before his 24th birthday.
j
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I agree with dean1961. When I
I agree with dean1961. When I was in college all I ever heard was "reach for the stars"... "do what you love". No one ever told me to think realistically about job prospects and practicality. I hope that in face of this recession academic advisers and teachers are being more blunt with students. I was lucky enough to make an impractical humanities degree work, but lots of people like me are suffering.
Turk31 is also right. Teach abroad for a year. Korea pays English teachers very well and you can leave with money in the bank at the end of the year. I have friends who have done it in the past and friends who are doing it now, and it's a great option for people who are having trouble finding work at home.
dean1961....parents?
dean1961- while teachers have influence in our lives, when it came time to pick a major, my parents had a conversation with me about picking something that would lead to employment when I was finished with school. In the end, her parents are supporting her and providing food and shelter. It is the responsibility of parents to provide some guidance when making life decisions. I am sure her teachers told her to follow her dreams but they probably also talked about jobs that were in demand vs. jobs that were extremely difficult to come by. She possibly didn't care that jobs were difficult to come by in her field and she acknowledges that it was a "one in a million shot" to make it in the music industry. Maybe her teachers explained about the job market and she chose to ignore the advice. Let's try not to absolve parents of their responsibilities by placing it on the schools.