Passage 4

Having a job is great, I have learned.It means I can afford things such as a place to live and daily meals. And with an above-average job, I can afford a car and occasional overseas vacations.

However, I also understand how difficult it is to have a below-average job, having had many of them before. Its frankly pretty awful. Owning a car was out of the question- f could barely afford to ride the subway.

So, I decided to go to university and get a degree.Later, I emailed my details to every company and government institution with an online careers page. I even printed y resume and handed it out in what seemed like hundreds of office buildings.

One summer during university, my cousin and I helped out at my uncle's business, fixing roofs,although the only thing I got out of that was back problems. That same year, I got a job at a plumbing(管道工程)company, which 1 was terrible at. It was no surprise when I was asked to leave that job after only four days.

A lot of people today believe that the problem of unemployment in my generation is our fault. Some accuse us of being lazy or over self- confident. At the same time, some people accuse members of my generation of having a sense of "specialness" that has led us to believe we can all be astronauts, movie stars or singers if we put our minds to it. Also, a few of them think that we would all be happily employed if we would only learn trades or become software engineers, because those people make the most money.I realize that not everyone can go into space or become a star in Hollywood movies,however. I also think not everyone can make a good electrician or design advanced computer software- I know I can't.

Everyone is good at something, but no one is good at everything It took me hundreds of rejection emails to realize that I had to focus on finding a job where I could actually be successful.And now.1 finally have that job. All it took was several years of desperation, failure and an honest assessment of my personal value in the job market.

It's not the best start, but it's not bad for a start too.

What was the author's life like before he went to university?