White Collars and Working Girls

It’s finally official: The National Bureau of Economic Research has declared that the United States’ economy has slipped into a recession. Unemployment is steadily on the rise, American business has been less than robust and the terrorist attack on Sept. 11 all but tipped the scales.

Even if the White House is scoffing at the news and analysts are clamoring that the difficulties are nearly over, Harvard seniors have known about the state of economic affairs and the country’s dismal future for weeks—months, even. Judy Murray, recruiting director at the Office of Career Services (OCS), kindly warned us of our extraordinary troubles back in the month of September. And, as evidenced by this fall’s recruiting performance, her prophecy has proven to be categorically correct: there is simply less money to spend, and far fewer jobs to offer.

Needless to say, this has thrown the senior class into a bit of a frenzied tizzy. Throughout our four years here, Harvard has taught us that success is an infinite race for, simply, more—more activities, more straight As, more friends, more leadership titles. We students create much of this environment ourselves, which only perpetuates and exacerbates the problem. Thus, come time of graduation and of finding a job, our Harvard-bred mentality encourages us in a specific direction: to follow the money—and if you can’t secure that, than to at least follow the prestige.

And OCS makes it remarkably easy for us to carry on with our quest for more, up until the day we graduate. All its jobs are consolidated into an easily accessible data base, employers interview at on-campus sites and the process can start as early as October so that students secure jobs well before the end of their senior year. And yet the jobs offered through recruiting are overwhelmingly those concerning finance, and those ensuring a hefty paycheck every two weeks. And for at least the last five years, while the U.S. economy has been busy booming, recruiting through OCS has been noticeably popular among the senior class. In fact, it has held a tight, iron grip on the futures—or at least the mindsets—of most seniors seeking jobs.

But in six months time, the Class of 2002 will be the first in a decade to graduate not into a booming economy, but into a feeble recession. The flow of job offers that was once commonplace for anyone with a decent GPA and an impressive resume has since dried up. And so, with heavy hearts and an overwhelming sense of failure, we have been forced to look elsewhere for employment.

But we should only realize and appreciate the unlikely opportunities that our impotent economy has given us. It has forced seniors to consider pursuing their passions, rather than settling for a high-paying job that came knocking on Harvard’s door. The terrorist attack on America and our war against al-Qaeda—both of which have been blamed for the state of the economy—have given heightened esteem and, more importantly, heightened urgency to those performing jobs of civic and public service.

And the economists’ predictions might be true: the worst might almost be over already. Our success in Afghanistan has boosted American morale, and consumer demand for new technology might very well be the impetus to push us out of the red again. But there is another reason why we shouldn’t be in a panic that it’s Nov. 29 already and we still haven’t secured a job for ourselves. In truth, we should only realize our luck at being relatively carefree, unrestrained 22-year olds stepping out into the working world for the first time. Hardly any of us have a family to support or shackle-heavy loans to pay off. We have survived living in cramped Dunster doubles for years now, and could just as easily do it again for a few more. We certainly don’t need a 60k salary to make us happy—or to help us pass the time.

It’s Harvard that has convinced us of our need for otherwise, and, ironically enough, it might be the sad state of the economy that will finally persuade us to view the working world in a different light.

There is incessant chatter on this campus about the Harvard bubble, and I think this self-imposed detachment has especially dangerous consequences when we use it to make decisions beyond those of our undergraduate lives. Of course, from the inside of the Harvard lens, it seems that fat paychecks and prestige are the only ways to ensure future success. But it’s going to be mighty refreshing and mighty reassuring when we finally earn our degrees, break out of this place and taste a bit of the real world.

Jordana R. Lewis ’02 is a history and literature concentrator in Eliot House. Her column appears on alternate Thursdays.