Phila Lawyer, a blog featuring essays and stories from a Philadelphia Lawyer has an excellent Q & A with Alex Mann,a recent college grad and all-around smart guy, that goes into detail about the struggles and hidden opportunities of students who graduate in this dismal job market.

The gentlemen cover a lot of ground, exploring mainly the fields of business and law. The two address the problems with the education system in regards to student preparation, the Gen X/Gen Y generational differences and the general psyche of recent grads.

There's Frustration:

Our frustration stems from the lack of control and little understanding we face. There is only so much we can absorb from reading the news online, because the real grasp of the current economic environment comes from actually experiencing it professionally, which few people my age have. You'd think the universities would use this as an opportunity to teach about excess leverage, regulation and the fallacy of systematic risk. But, no. Curriculum followed as usual, with little focus on "what's going on" or "why it's happening."

There's a Backup Plan and a Silver Lining:

If there is one upside to the economic downturn, it's that suddenly we've been put in the position to creatively fend for ourselves. For instance, when all of the traditional career options that a business major typically approaches have gone thin, the desperation is followed by a wave of experimentation. The suit-and-tie guy type that majored in finance is applying to ESPN and the NFL, because he's always loved sports and couldn't get a job as a banker. The artistic-type who majored in advertising is applying for a job at an animal protection non-profit she supports, simply because the jobs on Madison Avenue have become obsolete. In my opinion, this is how it should be. College, or any form of education, shouldn't create a path or destiny. It should create options to choose our own.

There's a strong sense of entrepreneurship with people my age now, even if they aren't all acting on it. There's an itch to go do something on your own.

Finally, The Gen Y Question:

AM: The only people my age that actually refer to themselves are "Gen Y" are ones clueless enough that think the title entitles them to special treatment. It doesn't.

But I do think there is a demand for more balance in our careers, but not in the most traditional sense. Rather than just time "away" from work, there is a demand for more correlation between what we actually want to be doing, and what we have to actually have to do, day-in day-out, for our job. You hear about companies like Google who offer their employees a few hours a day to work on something independently, and that is desirable. It's not that we are lazy or don't want to do work; that has nothing to do with it. It's more of a demand for a selfish productivity that I'm sensing from people my age, where they want the work they are told to do to be related to what they want to do.

I really think Alex has a good sense of his fellow graduates, what they think and what they are going through with this job market. When he turns the tables and asks Phila Lawyer some questions you gain some further insight into how established workers view this crop of recent grads. These were only a few selections, and there is lots more. The entire interview is well worth the read and the some of the comments are helpful as well. (hat tip: Lone Gunman, who recommends Alex's follow up post @ alexjmann.com)

Lotsa Links to help you find a job. Dive right in ...

Techcrunch Profiles JobSpice: "JobSpice, a new startup that’s launching tonight, is looking to help users build web-friendly resumes that are as good looking as they are easy to customize. ... The site takes advantage of the naturally structured formatting of resumes and optimizes it for the web. JobSpice uses CSS to style the resumes it generates, which means you can totally rework the appearance of your resume with a minimal amount of effort (and experienced web designers will be able to tweak their resumes to their hearts’ content)." Cool.

Cheezhead Profiles Urban Interns: "Urban Interns mainly focuses on pairing interns with small businesses, which often need help with errands, online research and organizing files, but usually don’t have the funding to hire a full-time worker. The site matches interns and employers based on the hours available, tasks involved and whether the position is paid or not." The more resources you have to find an internship the better ... even if it just running errands.

Monster Blog Has Unconventional Job Hunt Advice: "The next slightly off-beat tactic for marketing myself stemmed from my frustration at the continued barrage of mailed credit card applications I never solicited in the first place. ...I decided to use the conveniently enclosed postage paid envelope. In this envelope, I placed a polite note thanking the sender for their mail and requesting they read my enclosed mail, which was my resume with a call to action on the reader’s part." Clever.

One Day One Job Has a Back to School Contest: "Whether you’re returning from an internship and heading back to school or you’ve graduated and just want to get back to work (or to work if you’ve never had a job before), we want to help you use technology to make that happen. That’s why we’re giving away some awesome prizes in this contest sponsored by HP, Microsoft, and Timbuk2." Click through to see the deets.

"Advice" courtesy laughlin via Flickr Creative Commons