7 years since graduation and yet to start a career

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I am 31 and a diagnosed mild Aspie with much more severe sluggish cognitive tempo (officially ADHD-I). I graduated from Virginia Tech with a B.A. (summa cum laude; #1 in major) in policy/city planning in 2005. I immediately went to grad school at the George Washington University for a M.A. in political management. I chose my undergrad first because it allowed me to escape my home state of WV with in-state tuition and then, as I found city planning very uninteresting, stayed because I did so well within public policy, especially environmental. My rationale for choosing my grad program was that, because of my disabilities, I have extreme difficulty with sustained writing, and thus an applied program with fewer 30-pagers seemed like my only realistic option. Even though I had little experience in partisan politics, my hope was that there would be a niche for me in the environmental advocacy field. (I was at the time invited to enter the environmental-planning master's program at the same time based on my demonstrated analytical talents. But she didn't that my exceptional writing was actually nightmarishly difficult to produce.)

I got the M.A. and finished my first internship with the League of Conservation Voters in the summer of 2007, at age 24. So began my first resume gap. I knew my interpersonal and writing limitations better than anyone, and the few entry-level environmental-advocacy jobs seemed totally beyond them. I began having frequent job meetings with vocational rehabilitation in WV. Everyone involved was convinced I had enough education, and I had significant student-loan debt, so further education wasn't considered. My parents separated, and I began moving around the country with my mom, who is a travel nurse. I had varying experiences with vocational rehab. in Georgia and Texas with the same result.

In 2011, my mom moved to Maryland, and I managed to get (re)accepted for a Wilderness Society internship. I had very substantive duties, beyond what was expected of the other interns, and essentially served as an unpaid policy-research assistant. My boss told me he would hire me, if there hadn't been two major layoffs recently within the organization. I should mention at this point that I've been pretty much obsessed with federal-land policy since at least 2007, and I have studied its related topics and made thousands of shoestring-budget hiking expeditions for hands-on experience. After 2 terms at TWS, I even conducted an online campaign focusing on California BLM administrative practices that ultimately culminated in me attending an activist meeting out there and actually having a bit of success.

But as I stayed in Maryland there was no job assistance through vocational rehab., other than providing Schedule A letters for federal jobs ("clerk" positions) which, as I later learned through emails with the agencies, have NO benefit unless you are at the very last hiring stage. And my mom ended up moving us to Kansas anyways. My final student-loan deferment ran out at this point. My sister was going back to school to become a teacher and convinced me to do substitute teaching. It has provided just enough income to cover my student loan and car payment.

With Kansas vocational rehab., it was decided that I should shift back to the planning field, even though my B.A. was not a terminal degree intended to start a planning career. I applied for a job with the New Mexico state rail bureau, and I had a wonderful interview. However, I was ultimately rejected because, I believe, my "1 year" of professional experience was in environmental policy, rather than planning. Try, try again, right? The problem is that entry-level planning jobs (especially non-city planning, like with a state agency) which weight policy experience in the screening/hiring process flirt with nonexistence.

I am on an aggressive 2-3 day a week meeting schedule with an "employment specialist" (the second I've had here). He is supportive but we are both beyond frustrated. I have expanded our search to add purely city-planning listings. It was a desperate move, as I am a terrible liar when it comes to feigning interest in something I've avoided for several years. Also, if the job has any writing involved, that adds a great risk that I won't be able to communicate effectively outside my knowledge area.

Nonetheless, it hasn't helped much. The expectation within planning generally is to have planning job experience, for "entry-level" jobs. The typical route for planning graduates is to enter internships immediately after graduating. I am obviously not the "recent graduate" these programs require, nor can I afford to relocate to participate even if they'd make an exception.

My employment specialist has met with the two urban-planning agencies here. The one opportunity that was supposed to open was converted into something different and further outside what they would consider me qualified for. Hence, we are back to job listings. Recently I found past and present "planning technician" listings, which require only basic education. There is never more than one open in the country at a time, and most are "wired" for pre-selected folks anyways. I cannot even get to the point of explaining my resume gaps to a hirer.

My mom has had a travel job in California for several months now and is now on the verge of being hired on permanently. With the end of the school year, I will have to relocate yet again. (Opening a vocational rehab. file after moving takes about 4 months.) Did I mention I have accumulated my own household's worth of domestic supplies and multiple plant collections? I am not looking forward to moving and especially rebooting yet again. (I want to relocate but to be independent.)

I would appreciate any of your advice or insights. Thank you.

I finished school in 2001.

Still don't have a regular job and currently unemployed. Had regular work most of the time, but nothing "career" wise.

I avoided doing this for a long time in fear of falling into a track and being encouraged through advancement and higher income to stay in braindead retail management, etc. I only agreed to substitute teaching, because I knew becoming a full teacher would be impossible. Plus I view it as a bit of self-punishment for my failure. I was told by one employment specialist is not considered respectable job experience.

What job(s) have you filled the time with, before unemployment?

Vapno,

I'm dealing with the same exact problem right now. I thought schedule A (which I'm in the process of getting) was supposed to help so your story is very demotivational.

In this order....

Working a seafood counter at Wal-Mart (3 months).

Trying to sell perfume on the street (1 month).

"Self-employed" doing data entry (about 1.5 years).

Case manager (7 months).

Vending machine attendant (3 months).

Executive Assistant (aka secretary) (8 years).

Paralegal (1 year).

Packer (manufacturing plant) (1 month).

When the boss got a new job (executive assistant job), I was hoping he could bring me along, but even though he wanted to, there were no openings. I keep hoping an opening will happen, but his staff aren't quitting, and the one guy he wants to fire hasn't screwed up bad enough for him to make a termination stick if appealed.

Well, there's a problem.

Unfortunately, the areas you've picked -- planning and policy -- are by their nature writing-intensive. You generate reports. While you don't have to be a brilliant writer, you do have to be able to churn out the pages more or less on demand.

They're also areas with a good deal of competition because they're interesting, but there are only so many municipalities looking for planners. It helps to be both well-connected and a serious self-starter -- really aggressive in the career run-up. I think most in your situation would have detached themselves from parents immediately and gone chasing the career, and unfortunately you've been moving with your mom and making do. If you want a career, either your mom has to stay put or you need to do work that can be done telecommute. (Or you need to be independent.) The fact that you've moved around so much, particularly since it's not for jobs, is not going to be attractive to employers.

If I were in your shoes, I would try to get a job in anything that had anything remotely to do with planning -- clerical in a planning office, anything. At this point, without further training, your best bet might be planning support. Understand, though, that if your mom's just flighty like this and you have to keep moving with her, you're going to build up and lose jobs/careers. It may be time to pay more attention to living independently, or at least apart from your mom, in a permanent place. You'll have to do it eventually anyway -- may as well start while you can get a career rolling.

Planning technician, noted in my OP, is the closest general job to what you're suggesting. I'm very cognizant of the intensive writing involved with advanced city planner positions. Aiming for those positions has never been my goal. The state job I interviewed for was clearly not involved in the direct writing of plan documents.

I also cannot judge an entire field's writing demands from the outside. Not all governments produce volume-thick reports, many of them produce very little and focus more so on administrating laws and providing active services. "Policy coordinators" I worked alongside in the non-profit produced very little report-style writing, and what they did was tripe despite years more experience. My observation of federal gov't bureaucrats is that they often take months to respond to serious inquiries. BLM took four months per email. I don't need that much time. All I need to avoid really is the academic all-nighter-style crunch. With memos and typical emails on topics I'm familiar with, there can be a some stress and often "communicative anxiety," but these are not a source of time complaints. Long-form composition is my weakness.

The only long-term course I've managed to come up with and get agreement on with my job counselors (very recently) is to attain an entry-level job in planning and then pursue as a minimum certification in GIS or something as technical. My hope is that this will be a way to advance over time into planning-agency jobs that don't write the "books." My only other option is to discard my education entirely.

Also, just to clarify, I've shared a home with my mom only about half this time. Her travel nursing involves moving even more frequently. Aside from not being able to earn enough money subbing to have my own house, I function independently with great comfort. What's more, there is very little to explicate to hirers how many places I have lived during this time. (Several of my co-interns maintained residences in other states while interning in DC. Technically, I could have simply used my dad's unchanging address on my applications, since 95% of my applications are non-local.)