LIFE SUCKS

College Degree is hurting me.

I’m feeling very alone right now and no I’m not depressed. Just a little confused and lost. I’ll put this into “bullet points” to make this situation easy to get.
1. I have a college degree. BA in Business Administration from Youngstown State Class 2003
2. My last job was as a Market Compliance Manager for Wachovia Securities.
3. Due to the Financial crisis our firm merged with two others and I lost my job in Oct of 2009. They gave me a severance package and sent me on my way.
4. I was never happy doing office work anyway and I’ve always been very mechanical. I worked as a machinist thru out college and I loved it. The pay was not that great but I did enjoy it. Plus in mid 2008 I applied for a spot in a local steel mill. They had me in and tested me. I passed and I interviewed. Unfortunately they had a big shut down so they did not hire anyone at that time.
5. That local Steel mill has a bunch of guys retiring this year and they are once again hiring. Well I applied and so did a friend of mine which is a carpenter. They called him and hired him. I did not get a call. I eventually got an email from HR saying that they are not interested in bringing me in for a interview!
6. They only hired 6 people and they still have 18 spots open. They can’t get anyone else to pass the written test and or drug test! This has been going on for 4 months! I know this because I have a couple more friends that work there. This is driving me insane because I have machine experience.
7. Here is the email I sent HR last night.
“Hello ***,
I know several people in the ******* mill and they tell me that their having trouble filling the Utility Tech spots. They’re telling me that hardly anyone is passing the test and/or drug screen. I would like it if you would reconsider my application for one of these spots. I do have several years of machine shop experience using overhead cranes, forklifts, and other various machinery. I worked for the *********** in ********, ****. Please feel free to contact ******(***) ***-****, he is one of the owners of the company and I worked closely with him. So I do know that I have the experience and knowledge for these spots and it is my desire to work in this field until I retire. I am still young at age 30 and will stay with ATI until I retire. I’m a hard and safe worker that loves to do work with his hands. Sitting behind a desk is not for me, working with my hands in industry is. Please reconsider my application and I promise you that I will not let you down.
Sincerely,
*** *****
8. I believe that having a college degree is hurting me big time! They most likely see that and think….Well he had a degree and can earn big bucks! Well freaking think again. I busted my butt in a career I hated and made 58k last year. My friends that work at the mill……72k! They did not go to school and will do better than myself and our other friends that went to college. Out of all of us that went to college I was making the most which is kind of sad. The thing that ticks me off is that I love working with my hands on machinery, it’s not the amount of money in all honest. I’m a very do it yourself kind of person. For example over the past year my roof on my house and garage needed done. I did it all myself with no help. I had to change the breaks on my car, my wife’s car, my father’s car, and my mother in law’s car. I just changed the AC Compressor in my car this past weekend. I also rebuilt my mom’s garage door opener and rewired some new outlets in my parents’ house. People come to me when they need stuff done. Like I said I love working with my hands and I’m very good at it. Sitting behind a desk is not for me. I just went to college because I thought I had to and now it seems to be biting me in the backside because HR cannot see two feet in front of their own noses!

I've even looked back into Finance but I keep getting the over qualified junk thrown my way. Sigh.............