“Hello, my name is Nelsy. I’m 26 years old, and I have many qualities that you would like”…

You would think I’m signing up for match.com, but I’m not. I’m signing up for please-hire-me-now.com where thousands of new, single graduates are anxiously applying to any job that sounds good enough to pay off their loans and still allow them to keep dignity, pay rent, bills, and eat.

On one of my most recent job interviews, I had experienced a kind of indirect or direct prejudice on my competence level for the job.  The interviewer was also a recent graduate, of UC Berkeley, who was about my age, and Latino. My Latino pride kind of made me feel like there was a greater chance for me to get the job. However, that ended up NOT being the case.

After interviewing for almost 20-30 minutes (2nd interview btw), the young interviewer says, “So, it says that you had applied to grad school.”

“Yes.” I said.

“Well, I would totally take grad school over this job.” He said.

I looked at him, with great confusion and thought, why would I have to choose one over the other?

“This job is part-time, right?” I asked.

He said, “Yea, part-time consists of four hour shifts, however many days a week.”

I shot back with, “Four Hours a day? That’s it? I definitely can do this plus grad school which is 12 units a semester; for just 3 semesters.”

He continued with, “Honestly, I personally don’t think you can do the four hour shifts plus grad school.”

I was completely shocked that he had actually said that. As if the majority of college students in the U.S. don’t work while going to school. I told him that I had always worked through school. I never had the luxury to not work while going to school. My entire undergrad, I worked part-time, organized on campus against budget cuts, had time to still (kind of) socialize, and graduated deans list. I’m not bragging. I’m just trying to make a few points. I was butt hurt…

The job, btw, is a sales job. It’s a no-brainer sales job that sells a review site to mechanics. I told him that I knew many mechanics, and even had a large potential client, Firestone of LA, already on the sign me up list. He still felt that I “couldn’t do it”.

Interestingly enough, he wasn’t even confident himself in saying it. In fact, his face was facing down the entire time, that it practically touched my resume on the table. I informed him that most of my job experiences were in sales. He then, said, “oh.” Then proceeded to read my resume for what looked like his first time ever seeing it.

I began to have racing thoughts of all of my hard work from over the past decade or more. The fact that education is supposed to be my ticket out of poverty by ensuring me the job that can allow me to just pay rent and eat enough to be healthy. I looked out of the interviewing-room window into the rest of the department. It was filled with young men my age, and two women. There was a mini golf course set-up in the middle of the floor. It looked like a fun and progressive environment to work in. Then I realized, the only person playing golf, was the head boss who was an older male, overlooking the younger males, in cold-calling sales. It also turns out, that the young, Latin American male who interviewed me, had only been at the job for a little under a year.  So, how certain of work-growth is he really?

I couldn’t help but think of the handful of single, working mothers who sat next to me in class, and how they did it, and where they worked?

After reading the statistics from the Census on wages by gender and race, It irks me to see the reality that most ethnic minority women must have a partner in order to make $73,000 combined, if that. And how a single ethnic minority woman would still only make about $23, 000, being single, which is clearly more than three times LESS than if she was to be with a partner.

I grew up believing that education was supposed to be my ticket out of relying on marriage, poverty, and even domestic violence, which is a growing epidemic amongst the Latino community. The main cause of domestic violence is a lack of education and unequal distribution of wages/labor.  Education was supposed to ensure me a paying job that can allow me to sustain myself, and provide the basic needs for myself. Now with this competitive job market in the state that has over a 12% unemployment rate, my main options are to either go to grad school (which is my top choice), or find work elsewhere. I do have dreams and goals; however, these economic times make me feel that I have to sacrifice my womanhood, in order to achieve my dreams and goals. As if us young, single, working women must be androgynous, and give up the idea of motherhood for the sake of the advancement of a male dominant market place.

Another interesting thing that I had come across recently was an advertisement on Facebook. It was a U.S. Army advertisement, with an androgynous Latin American woman who was in full army gear: helmet, face-paint, and gun.

It was an extreme close-up shot of her face in combat. Her face was cold, and too emotionally distraught for me to even continue looking at. A huge jolt of fear came over me. As if she could be me IF I don’t find a job at all in this market-- especially after already postponing the thought of motherhood/womanhood just for a repetitive try at the job market. It’s as if the new American dream isn’t the house with the white picket fence anymore, but rather the ability to affords one’s very own security, health, food, i.e. basic needs, and overall life. The advertisement was a calling to all displaced Joan of Arcs.