Highly qualified but unemployable | Henreitte van den Berg | TEDxUFS

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Highly qualified but unemployable: The dilemma of graduate unemployment in the
21st century
Dr Van den Berg registered as a counselling psychologist in 1986, after completing the degrees BA, BA Honours Psychology and MA Counselling Psychology at Potchefstroom University, South Africa. She worked as a counselling psychologist in a hospital and university setting to treat patients with psychological disorders and to promote resilience in children, adolescents and adults from 1987 to 1993. She joined the Psychology department at the University of Free State on a part-time basis in 1994, while she was practicing as a psychologist specialising in trauma therapy, suicide prevention and occupational health and well-being. She obtained her PhD in 2001 (Free State University) on work-related stress and well-being. She served as Programme Director for the Professional Psychology Program and for the PhD Child Psychology Program where she was responsible for curriculum development, academic support and quality assurance of the programs.
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[@talonward2494]

I worked full-time minimum wage jobs (sometimes two) while going to college commuting 20 miles by bicycle each way, burned out, and dropped out of college, but I didn't quit; I went back and finished my BS in Mathematics, nine years after I first started college.
I then applied to all the jobs that having a bachelor's degree should have opened up. Over 9 months I spent every day finding jobs, writing resumes and custom cover letters, and filling in applications with the same information over and over and over -- like a full-time job. I applied to every job for which I qualified, not just "good" ones. I got exactly two job interviews: (1) a retail position at a seasonal stand in Sea World and (2) a mathematics instructor at a for-profit university. Neither one hired me.
I returned to graduate school -- something I vowed I would never do because of how corrupt education is. Over the next two years, I worked as a GTA and got my master's degree.
Now, six years after getting my master's degree, I have received over this entire time exactly three job interviews: (1) fast food at minimum wage (I was hired), (2) adjunct at a community college, and (3) a position to train to become a CNA.
For 7 months, I worked in fast food, hoping that having a job, any job, would improve my prospects of getting hired, while I continued applying to jobs that used my analytic problem solving skills. It became clear, however, that working in fast food only labeled me as a "fast food worker" and only made it easier for me to find more jobs in fast food.
I became unemployable the instant I got a college degree. Now, a decade later, I do not work, and I have stopped seeking employment.

[@KristisTm]

to be employed you need this skills: experience working for a minimum wage, learn things quickly for every employer, and be temporary when needed. And i think you are ready for whatever job is there... even you finished whatever phd ... you still got to do a training for your actuall job... ;DD

[@MKMAPHORI]

I needed to hear this

[@liberalstudiesmaterials899]

What should an long time unemployed phd or master degree work and retrain please?

[@justin_hvn3108]

all i have to say is... if than else