Have you ever read Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist?

It’s a really interesting story about a shepherd boy who goes in search of his personal legend and lately I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I’m a Gen-Y you see, who is pretty much jobless and because of the recession it seems like I’m stuck in an endless spiral of confusion and complex whirlwinds I never imagined facing back in December 2008 when I was prepping to gradute.

I grew up with everyone telling me, ‘go to college, get a degree, get two in fact, work hard…you’ll land the job’ — well, a recession changes that now doesn’t it?

Do you ever sit down and wonder, what am I meant to do? Is this it? Will this ever be it? What is ‘it?’

I’m currently looking for a job in Public Relations with no real such luck or prospects. And while, I’ve had some small offers here and there, I do not want to ‘jump straight from the frying pan, into the fire,’ as they say. So I’ve held out.

After reading “Gen-Y: America’s Most Powerful Generation,” I couldn’t be more comfortable with my decisions. Though, when I read the bit about an average of $27,000 in debt per college student, I wondered if Russell was talking about the same America I live in. For I know for a fact, none of my friends have $27,000 in debt from student loans. In fact, for many of us, it’s minimally three times that number.

So yes, that means those educated Gen-Yers, that I call my friends, who are just like me, are sitting on a minimum of $81,000 in debt from university etc.

On top of that, we’re competing with people twice our age for jobs that are supposed to be ours. That’s right, according to the Huffington Post and Careerealism, our jobs, those entry-level, those 0-5 years experience positions are being snatched out from underneath us by the same generations that berate us. By berate, I mean, I’ve read articles where Boomers are anti-Gen-Y hiring at the moment, because some feel, and feel the need to put it out there, that we are lazy, “all about me” workers.

I wonder if there is some fact to the agreement by the Boomers, Gen-X and the Silent to say that we, the Millennial, are “all about the me.”

Could it be because there is no one to look out for us other than ourselves?

When social security has been tapped out, Medicare is gone and we are left with nothing but the craziest debt in American history, and a world coming out of recession, who will be there to pick up the pieces, but us.

There is no choice, just chance, a little faith and some hard work.

My dad has always told me, “you know what you have, but never know what you will get.”

Therefore, I throw caution to the wind. Whether this is right or wrong, I do not know. But with massacring student loans hanging over my head, a recession boiling in the midst of my graduation (BS Public Relations Spring ’07, MA International Administration Fall ’08) – creativity squashes risk, right?

So I’ve decided to blog about my journey: from the halls of education to the shores of the boardroom – Confessions of a PRetty Social Girl…on a job hunt.

You would think I am bitter or frustrated. A little agitated, yes. But angry? No.

Though, I have always said, I’m sure one day I shall meet someone who works in Human Resources for some company in a bar, and they’ll say to me, “Hey I know you! I read your resume!”

As a millennial, I’ve often read and heard about what a selfish, all-about-me generation we are. And while, I disagree with that to a large extent, I reflect upon myself and see some truth in those assumptions.

The distinctive difference, however, is that I care about myself and that is the selfishness I am guilty of. I care about myself enough to believe that if I believe, if I work hard and if I try my best, I will succeed; and it will be mutually beneficial to myself as well as they to choose to hire me.

Hire me to a position I am not only qualified for, but will pay me decently and handsomely for my work. A position that will allow me to meet people, network and continue doing my passion, what I love to do: public relations.

It sounds simple enough, is rather difficult to do and takes the utmost amount of patience and persistence. But isn’t that the same as trying to find your personal legend? Can I have one giant overall personal legend and a few small mini-ones along the way?

While, not getting all mystical and One Ring of Power here, I ask, is it possible?
Will it be possible?
How long will it take?
Will you hire me?

(*Thanks to Nicole Van Scoten for allowing me her ‘PRetty Social.’)

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Sasha Muradali runs the ‘Little Pink Book’ . She holds a B.S. in Public Relations from the University of Florida (’07) and an M.A. in International Administration from the University of Miami(’08). She loves Twitter and all things social media, so you should find her @SashaHalima.

Copyright © 2009 Sasha H. Muradali. All Rights Reserved