A counter-counterpoint to ours: those currently in search of employment are certainly not being coddled. A douse of ice water of reality after high expectations, to be sure, but it's hardly their fault. Indeed, one unfairness is that few who benefit from good times have any real sympathy--or even awareness--of just how different the deal is during bad times. So, those who joined firms in robust times (and who've avoided the thinning recently) are sometimes callous--often inadvertently--towards those whose dreams are being dashed. It's a hard and harsh line to navigate, to be sure.
As louiebstef states, Morten and I have a luxury that makes this perhaps a too-harsh aside commentary given the market realities now.
Just wanted to state this to those out there looking for work that, yes, there are many who do know and care. And, yes, it will get better. In the meantime, try like hell to figure out what you like (it might not be what you assume you'll like, and it's almost certainly not what everyone else assumes they'll like) . . . and try even harder to find some toehold in that realm. This might well include a cozy government office (or a not-so-cozy one), but it might also include, say, entrepreneurship. If ever there were an antidote towards coddling, whining, inactivity, defeatism, you name it, that it is. Or teach English abroad for a year. That will change your life, guaranteed. Or, ahem, if you still can, join the military. It's not just a job . . . .
Best of luck, sincerely.
Thane.
There has to come a point when the coddling stops and the real world sets in, and I am not sure we should seek to postpone that point further than we already have.
Morten and Thane,
AMEN!
We do have the benefit of hindsight in this discussion. I think SOME sort of mandatory national service wouldn't be a bad idea.
We should STOP THE CODDLING much earlier in the educational process, maybe even in the home. Not EVRYONE is a winner. Yes, Johnny, there really ARE people who lose! This is a part of LIFE. We do a disservice to our youth by instilling in them a mountain of unrealistic expectations.