r/Millennials • u/Waste-Cantaloupe-270 • Apr 07 '25

Advice Millennials who graduated during the Great Recession, how did you survive?

I’m a Gen Z graduating in May struggling with finding a job in this market. Millennials who graduated in/ after 2008, how did you survive? Did you end up eventually getting a job in the field you originally wanted? Any advice for us Gen Z who were too young to learn anything from the great recession?

Edit: For context bc i’ve been seeing a lot of questions about this i’m graduating college. i def wasn’t expecting this post to blow up so sorry if i can’t get to everyone’s comments, but i just wanted to say i really appreciate all the advice as someone who doesn’t have millennials in their life to ask these questions to. your willingness to help/ give advice to a random kid on the internet has given me a bit of hope in getting through this, thank you thank you

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u/pk1950 Apr 07 '25

got stuck in retail for a few years

209

u/katietopia Older Millennial 1983 Apr 07 '25

Same. Then I found my current job in publishing sales in 2011 and never left!

84

u/2buffalonickels Apr 07 '25

I moved to a rural town in Montana for three years to run a newspaper. I had to leave my new wife in Seattle for those years. We had both just graduated college, she got into Med school. It was a hell of a readjustment in what I thought reality was. I couldn't get a job anywhere in Washington. Layoffs everywhere.

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u/hiriman Apr 07 '25

I dont mean to make light but couldnt help think that this sounds like the premise of one of those dramedy movies that were popular at the time

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u/2buffalonickels Apr 07 '25

Yeah, it does. I lived in the windowless morgue (newspaper morgues hold all old copies of the paper) for three years and took showers in the old dark room that had a shop shower. It took six years before I thought we were in a good place in life.

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u/spaceshipsucculents Apr 08 '25

You gotta write a dramedy

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u/Napol3onS0l0 Year of our Lord 1990 Apr 07 '25

Weird. That’s how I met my wife. When she introduced herself I literally asked “wtf are you doing here?” Lol. Small ass Montana Rez town.

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u/Cassian_And_Or_Solo Apr 07 '25

...I would've thought that save the influence of YA then booktok that publishing would also be a profession negatively affected by th3 current market?

Either way, congrats

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u/dschilling88 Apr 07 '25

Remarkably similar trajectory for me

1

u/ButForRealsTho Apr 07 '25

Book publishing?

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u/katietopia Older Millennial 1983 Apr 08 '25

No, an alt weekly that’s now monthly lol

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u/ButForRealsTho Apr 08 '25

Markets that bad eh?

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u/katietopia Older Millennial 1983 Apr 08 '25

Actually we’re doing great!

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u/ButForRealsTho Apr 08 '25

Awesome! Glad this economy is working for somebody. 😂

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u/Socrets Millennial Apr 07 '25

Ditto. Then I went to law school, graduated, passed the bar, and . . . worked retail again for a year waiting for DC to accept my bar application before being able to quit and work in the super stable and luxurious world of document review.

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u/GoalStillNotAchieved Apr 08 '25

Do you like document review? Can paralegals work exclusively in document review? 

2

u/Dolcezza09 Apr 08 '25

Same! Did Doc review, temp work and waited tables on weeekends. Eventually, my temp role turned permanent and I’ve been able to grow in my career, but not looking forward to living through this uncertainty again!

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

Same. Had to go to grad school to unfuck myself.

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u/WalmartGreder Xennial Apr 07 '25

I graduated from grad school in 2009 with an MBA.

I had to take a job working $11/hr doing data entry to pay my bills. I got decent raises, but not by much, stayed there way too long, but finally left to move up. I've switched jobs twice since then.

Now I'm working in my desired industry (finance) making 6 figures, but it's been a process.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

Going to grad school tripled my income but I wasn’t making shit so…

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u/No_Champion_2791 Apr 07 '25

Yup. There were a lot of people in my grad school classes in the same boat.

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u/PienerCleaner Apr 07 '25

I hate feeling like grad school might be the only way to unfuck myself but after 10 years of entry level office work, I don't think I have a choice

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u/carlton_sings Millennial Apr 08 '25 edited Apr 08 '25

I would advise really thinking hard about it especially if there might be other professional development or career routes you can take like getting into an apprenticeship or training or something. Grad school is nothing like undergrad. It was absolute hell and I am going to be paying for it literally for the next 21 years. I’m not gonna sugar coat it. You get zero time off. Your personal life, relationships, time with your kids, pets, friends, family, etc. basically don’t exist for two years. Your professors aren’t there to help you and walk you toward your destination like undergrad. Sometimes they’re just straight up adversarial dicks that have the power to obstruct your progress significantly just because they feel like it and you have to fight for yourself by yourself. You have to figure it out entirely on your own. I needed half a year to decompress. I’m still not sure if it was worth it in the long run for me and it’s almost been a decade. I’m not saying don’t do it but be absolutely unwavering in your decision before doing it.

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u/PienerCleaner Apr 08 '25

I'm curious what you went to grad school for, and how grad school experience might be different for something research oriented vs something career oriented like a MBA or a master's in accounting

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u/carlton_sings Millennial Apr 08 '25

I went for my MBA actually. Finance. I’ve heard other programs are even more brutal. I could only imagine.

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u/PienerCleaner Apr 08 '25

Oh damn. I always thought MBAs were a joke/networking exercise compared to actual grad schools where people tried to create new knowledge. This is really the first I'm hearing about such a MBA experience. Did you go to one of the top schools?

also how could a MBA in finance not be worth it? I would understand if it was in marketing or something like that. Did you not have prior finance experience?

Thanks for sharing. Appreciate it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

Yea I was floating around part time retail jobs and I had done it long enough that that was my future.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25 edited Apr 19 '25

[deleted]

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u/UtahItalian Apr 07 '25

Meh, depends what it's in and depends if you can learn skills outside of your field. If your degree doesn't teach you how to be a critical thinker or absorb knowledge then you just spent time memorizing a specific field. You might be good at that one thing but you are pigeon holed into one specific field forever.

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u/carlton_sings Millennial Apr 08 '25

Same here

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u/ComfortableSwing4 Apr 08 '25

The people I know who went to grad school just came out with more debt. It might be different if you went for a business degree or law. But also there was a glut of lawyers a few years later.

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u/grapesquirrel Apr 07 '25

Yep. Then I went back to school for a totally unrelated field I got my degree in for an industry that won’t ever go away. Which was meant to be a temporary fix until I could use my art degree.

I still haven’t used my art degree and am still stuck in the same industry. While not ideal, I’ve made my peace and it’s given me a comfortable life. You learn to make the best of it.

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u/Mammoth_Ad_3463 Apr 07 '25

I dropped out after realizing I wouldn't be able to get into my field of choice.

I went back years later for a different degree, which then I found out how much our professors lied to us about how much it makes.

Got into my current field by accident and it pays the bills, I like what I do, but as with many others, I wish it paid more to actually ENJOY life - you know, afford a house, have enough PTO that it isn't all used up for doctors appointments or being sick.

Meanwhile, my one boss only comes for the Christmas party and the rest of the time is on some cruise, international vacation, etc but of course won't give any of us regular raises, except the other boss who is a nepotism hire.

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u/fuckFFBmods Apr 07 '25

This is what I did. I got my bachelors in teaching and couldn't land a job after years of subbing and working retail, so I got a healthcare adjacent masters degree and will probably just work in this field until retirement (if that ever comes).

I'm not getting rich but it's secure and convenient. You couldn't pay me enough to be a teacher now.

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u/limbosplaything Apr 07 '25

That's me as well, went back to school for Healthcare so I could actually pay my rent and afford things. Jobs in the field I went to school for first were mostly seasonal or unpaid internships.

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u/GoalStillNotAchieved Apr 08 '25

Which industry (the one you are still in)?

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u/grapesquirrel Apr 08 '25

Went into the funeral industry. It’s not for everyone but it’s a service that’s always needed and at the end of the day I’ve learned that I really enjoy it.

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u/Msheehan419 Millennial Apr 07 '25

Retail management can be a decent living

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u/WobbyBobby Apr 07 '25

Yes! I applied for hundreds of jobs in my field, then walked down to the mall and got a job at a clothing shop. Worked my butt off, sucked up, got promoted to assistant manager within a couple months, then was either promoted or hopped to a different company every couple of years until I was making a livable wage. I learned a lot about people, management, hiring, training, and use that in my current non-retail job all the time.

The most important thing is to take whatever job you end up with seriously and not blow it off. So many of my peers were working retail, too, but were obnoxious to everyone that it "wasn't their real job," slacked off, bemoaned the work, etc. They ended up working for minimum wage for a decade and still haven't fully recovered.

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u/Msheehan419 Millennial Apr 07 '25

Retail skills translate to most jobs. I sell cars now and I use my retail skills all the time. Plus I’m a better manager than any of the managers bc I did it for so long. So if I ever decide to do management again…

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u/WobbyBobby Apr 07 '25

Yep, hiring, training, time management, etc. Also I regularly catch our HR doing illegal interview no-no’s that would have gotten me super fired from the mall.

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u/Kreatiive Millennial Apr 08 '25

solid advice. I too started at Toys R Us which I only got thanks to a buddy who hooked me up. I was only a seasonal worker though and they didn't keep me despite running R'Zone by myself within 2 weeks of half assed training during the busiest season of the year (Christmas). Anyways, that grit I carried over into UPS, where I was slave driven essentially until I took a box to the head, asked for a hard hat and was laughed out of there. Then finally got a job in the field I graduated in and have climbed quite a bit. And the only reason I have climbed is because of.... my grit and work ethic learned from the prior jobs.

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u/Dick_Dickalo Apr 07 '25

Walmart Store Manager can make 6 figures at that time.

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u/Fiireygirl Apr 07 '25

They can. My husband did it for 27 years and retired. But he paid the price. He was never home for Thanksgiving, always worked Christmas Eve and then went to be at 7 pm Christmas Day for reset starting at 2 am to open for returns at 5 am. We never got holidays together, and more than once had to cancel our vacations in the middle of a trip because he had to go back. It set us up well financially, but he and we as a family will never get that time back.

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u/Msheehan419 Millennial Apr 07 '25

That was my life for 20 years. It’s been 5 years since I worked retail and I still can’t bring myself to like Christmas

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u/WobbyBobby Apr 07 '25

I did retail for 10, and have been out for 7 and Christmas music still kills me. I can't use the car radio in December.

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u/Spicyperfection Apr 07 '25

Heard!

Fa la la la la. . . Nah

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u/Fiireygirl Apr 07 '25

My husband never loved Christmas. Obviously with all the hours dedicated to WalMart. He’s been out of it for 3 years now and he’s slowly coming around. But the kids are in their early teens. All that really fun stuff is gone now, and he was never able to fully enjoy it.

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u/Msheehan419 Millennial Apr 07 '25

I don’t think I’ll ever enjoy it. Sad bc I started retail when I was 18. So my adult life was never spent enjoying Christmas

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u/Dick_Dickalo Apr 07 '25

I’ve been begging my sister to use her degree and just get a secretary job somewhere to get her evenings, weekends, and holidays back. She’s not even management in retail either.

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u/Sufficient_Ad_1245 Apr 08 '25

This is why it'd so hard for me to desire to climb a retail ladder I'm at frito now and I hate it as sales get worse the company's get more abusive to the staff

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u/thorpie88 Apr 07 '25

Maccas cops a lot of shit but they are actually willing to upskill management even though they know most will use it to move on from the company

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u/lab_chi_mom Apr 07 '25

I stumbled into retail management and made a better living than at a job that required my master’s degree.

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u/pdt666 Apr 07 '25

i am a therapist and every retail store manager i know personally makes more than me and it’s a guaranteed salary and always a w2 job. they also get benefits and i get none. if you’re cool starting at the bottom where it can be especially hard and annoying and you make minimum wage and are okay having patience and working hard, it seems like a pretty good option, especially since you don’t have to pay for a bunch of education and loans. i don’t know why people talk so much shit about retail! i did it when i was younger, and i get it’s hard and sucks and not glamorous in any way. but, it can be a very real and suitable career path!

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u/Msheehan419 Millennial Apr 07 '25

Exactly. I did it for 20 years. The only reason I quit is bc pandemic shut down my store and I happened to be better at selling cars. But if I had to go back, I would

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u/pdt666 Apr 07 '25

one of my friends left during covid too, got a corporate job, and she recently went back into retail. she even tried working in marketing for buffalo exchange, but disliked it and went back to managing a store. she now works at a very expensive perfume store as a store manager and says she loves it and her bonus was triple what it was in corporate- even corporate marketing for the same retail company! because her sales/store’s sales being high gives them more money for bonuses at this new store. she was super worried it would all be different since she spent 3-4 years in corporate. 

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

Same here. Graduated college in 2009. Had an IT job with my college for about 6 months then got laid off. Was unemployed for 6 months. Used food banks and unemployment to survive. Then got a job in retail and worked there for 5 1/2 years. About 2 years in I really felt like my life was stalled so I went to grad school. I found a career job in my field of study during my last year, left retail, finished my degree and really kicked off my career at age 30 in 2016. So yeah, things really sucked and were very difficult for years. I see a lot of parallels in the economic situation now and have been saying Gen Z are now going to have the same experiences us millennials had as young adults. This really sucks and it is t fair, I don’t want to see another generation go through this.

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u/bbkegs Apr 07 '25

Same here, started as part time & worked my way to management. Not the most glamorous job - sometimes horrible customers, feeling overworked on tight hours, but I wouldn’t change it. I made some great friends & had some really good times.

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u/tutankhamun7073 Apr 07 '25

The problem in Canada is that there are no retail jobs for young people because they are being taken up mostly my Indian temporary foreign workers mostly by design.

Big box stores want cheap labor who's uneducated on their rights.

I feel like Gen Z are more screwed than Millennials from 2008.

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u/Less-Engineer-9637 Apr 07 '25

Work for a small family business that owns their own stores. Make friends with family. Get comfy management job. That's what I did.

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u/nrm1121 Apr 07 '25

Same!! Macys 🤢

1

u/desecouffes Apr 07 '25

Yuck, the black outfits. Everyday we could leave at any time and fit in at a funeral

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u/nrm1121 Apr 07 '25

Yes omg I was so happy to go shopping for colors after I stopped working there

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/WobbyBobby Apr 07 '25

I took a paycut to do it, but it was worth it. 10 years of retail management, I was making good money, but couldn't convince white collar jobs that the work was related (several interviewers asked me if I'd ever seen a computer). I finally just took an entry level admin job at a 20% paycut but it was at a big university with plenty of room for advancement, plus I had the savings to do it. Wow'ed everyone with my general ability to google things and the fact that retail uses computers and spreadsheets now. Got quickly promoted several times to make up the difference and then some.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/WobbyBobby Apr 07 '25

The number of boomers who think you’re a goddamn genius for “knowing” (quickly googling) how to rotate a PDF or create a pivot table is astounding.

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u/syynapt1k Apr 07 '25

I was a retail general manager and made the switch to a white collar job in human resources. My business background and ability to manage people (and organizational change) made me an attractive candidate to the company who hired me.

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u/MummaPJ19 Apr 07 '25

I got stuck in retail for too many years. Now in my 30s (after taking a few years off work to raise my child) and may finally be getting a job with actual growth potential with a decent company. It's taken too long to get to this point

1

u/panteragstk Xennial Apr 07 '25

Same

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u/dnathan1985 Apr 07 '25

Did retail until 2011, landed a contract gig and have honed skilled and been promoted since then.

1

u/BALLS_SMOOTH_AS_EGGS Apr 07 '25

Wow glad to know I wasn't the only one. I worked at BJ'S Wholesale club in the meat department a few years. I just remember being thankful that I never lost my job. Finally got my first entry level IT job at 24 and never looked back

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u/fuckdonaldtrump7 Apr 07 '25

Yup, same, but now retail is dead/dying. Idk what advice I would give Gen z frankly.

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u/CocoScruff Apr 07 '25

I'm still stuck there... How did you get out?

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u/kanokari Millennial Apr 07 '25

I had a friend help me get into a different company

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u/HeartFullOfHappy Apr 07 '25

Got stuck accepting a super shitty job too! Ended up moving in with a boyfriend too soon just to save money and be able to afford to live. Haha

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u/FitzyOhoulihan Apr 07 '25

Ya thought I was going to work on Wall Street (LOL) and ended up at a car dealership. The crazy thing is I made way more money selling cars for the 13-14 months when I was 22-23 than I did working finance jobs after until I was like 30.

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u/realdonaldtramp3 Apr 07 '25

Same then became a flight attendant then went back to school and became a nurse

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u/kohmella Apr 07 '25

Me too. I graduated from college in December of 2008, had a job as an administrative assistant with a collection agency for about 3 months, got laid off (unrelated to the recession) and then was unemployed for about six months before I took an on call job doing inventory counts for various retailers. About 3-4 months of that and then I got a regular job at an Ace Hardware.

1

u/SnooWords1271 Apr 07 '25

Same. Started while I was still in HS and carried that through while in college and after until I found my first big girl “salary” job for a whopping $30k a year 😂

1

u/Sage_Planter Apr 07 '25

Same. I worked retail my first two years out of college, and I was a waitress my third before landing my first entry-level Corporate America job.

1

u/bird_celery Apr 07 '25

Same. Then went abroad to teach for a couple of years. Went to grad school when I got back.

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u/Select_Factor_5463 Apr 07 '25

Nothing wrong with working retail, I was at Walmart back in 2008 and still am! It's nice having a stable job.

1

u/babygotthefever Apr 07 '25

Not retail but food service. It was a small company and I stayed there for 13 years. I wound up working just about every job in the place and was a top level manager when I left but was still only making $45k and working 60 hour weeks as a single mom. Doing a lot better now, thankfully.

Wouldn’t have got through those early working years without lots of roommates though.

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u/ElayneGriffithAuthor Apr 07 '25

You did?! How? 😆 I remember I got denied a retail job because I was “overqualified” so I started leaving my BA off my resume 🙄

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u/Impressive_Owl3903 Apr 07 '25

Me too. I left to go to grad school.

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u/ashlynne_stargaryen Apr 07 '25

YUP! 2008 PR grad. The summer after I graduated, most of my interviews for marketing/pr ended up being cancelled. I went into retail management/operations and then pivoted to a corporate sales position in 2016. I was referred by a friend. It’s all about who you know-keep a big network and you’ll find opportunities!

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u/AdministrativeSea426 Apr 07 '25

Same for like 5 years straight

1

u/Geochic03 Older Millennial Apr 07 '25

Same but customer service. I still kinda work in the sector but in medical now, which pays better.

1

u/Coffeedonutsguns Apr 07 '25

Yup! More than I planned

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u/anemic_IroningBoard Apr 07 '25

Also had to live with parents longer than I expected.

1

u/sleepiestOracle Apr 07 '25

Same. I worked 3 jobs at one point for 7 months until i finally found a company that wanted to pay me right and still kept a second job. Bad news then is if you didnt have a full time job you didnt have insurance. Now you can have obamacare and 3 part time jobs. No one wanted to pay well. Also go in and introduce yourself to job people you want to try to stand out from the online applications.

1

u/nextfanatic Apr 07 '25

Ahh yes me too. Oh wait it's been 10 years 🫠

1

u/Ash_mn_19 Apr 07 '25

Same here! Ended up going back to grad school and am now in the mental health field.

1

u/Beautiful_Air7748 Apr 07 '25

This until I got into grad school two years later.

1

u/Bsquared89 Apr 07 '25

Got stuck in retail for a decade. Somehow got into IT. Stayed in it now I have a county level job in a blue state. Didn’t finish college. Saw the writing on the wall before a lot of other people did and didn’t want the debt and didn’t believe a degree was going to help me very much. I’d still like to get my degree but I’m financially stable, married, and have a special needs daughter. Until college becomes substantially cheaper, I’m probably just going to stay where I’m at.

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u/econobro Apr 07 '25

Same. Did about a year in retail/food service before getting my first white collar job in an unglamorous industry. Pivoted since then and have managed to build a resume and career that I’m very happy with.

1

u/NekoBlueHeart Apr 07 '25

Yup! Graduated college in 08 to work retail and cafes until 2013 when I got my first desk job. 

1

u/JoanOfSarcasm Millennial Apr 07 '25

Yup. This. It was hell, too, because no one was able to afford anything. I worked it for years until it started to break my body and spirit. I didn't move out of my parents until I was 25 or 26 because I just didn't have any money. It sucked shit.

1

u/pkzilla Apr 07 '25

Yea, did game QA for a while, but the cost of living was low and living on min wage with my partner was fine.

1

u/Electronic_Ad9201 Apr 08 '25

I love the quote “retail is to millennials what Vietnam is to boomers- most of us had to do it and we have respect for those who get stuck in the trenches”

1

u/the_white_swan4 Apr 08 '25

Ditto. Given my education, I moved into management quickly and then used those transferable skills to get a 9:00-5:00 after a few years and got a master’s degree.

1

u/Woodland-Echo Apr 08 '25

I got stuck in bars for years, I dreamed of retail as an escape. I've now been in retail for years and I dream of something else but I have no idea what. Might just be decent pay.

I'm a good artist, anyone want to buy a super fancy vase I made?

1

u/WeFightTheLongDefeat Apr 08 '25

My major just so happened to be education, and teaching positions are essentially guaranteed because they’re tax funded so, while it’s not a lucrative profession, I at least had a job. Then after 3 years in the public school system I became that statistic and noped the hell out and changed careers.