A little while ago I vented about being overqualified for jobs I was applying for. I know what you’re thinking, is it even possible to be turned down for a job because you’re overqualified? Uh, in my experience, yeah. And apparently others, like Shana Berenzweig, agree, as reported by NPR:

But now she sometimes considers that degree she paid so dearly for a liability, at least when it comes to some jobs. She takes it off her resume when applying for waitress jobs.

“It’s almost like people are just going to assume that because I have a master’s degree, I’m going to ask for money,” she says. “Or if something better comes along, I’m just going to jump ship.”

With the unemployment rate at 9.7 percent, sustained unemployment is afflicting even some of the most educated. Some fled to graduate school recently as a temporary safe haven from the economy, only to find themselves still without jobs. Many are applying for low-paying or nonpaying internships to try to fill in gaps in their resumes.

See? With teaching jobs being cut all around the nation, this job search thing is getting more and more difficult. I recently had a conversation with a colleague (a fellow art teacher, an employed art teacher) who expressed his disgust for the unemployed and the people who collect government assistance because they can’t find a job. He called bullshit, in fact, he pointed out that there are numerous jobs out there if you were just willing to get down and dirty, like, for example, shoveling shit. While I tend to agree with him, I had to point out that it is entirely possible to be overqualified for a job. I have to be honest, I don’t remember his response because I’m pretty sure I lost focus and became distracted by something else (I’m seriously beginning to reconsider the idea, as many have suggested to me, that I have adult ADD).

But back to my point (see? ADD). It’s tough times to be a teacher. Back in my hometown’s neck of the woods, times have been tough for awhile now, for every profession, but as NY State continues to look for ways to cutback and reduce its grotesque debt, things are getting even tougher. It seems every time budget planning time comes around, the North Country is the first on the chopping block. Recently, the jobs being threatened are in prisons and correctional facilities, state parks and of course, the old standbys, health care and education. Here are just a few examples: 

But an ailing market has kept many in the profession longer than expected, while the economic downturn is shrinking the workforce. (full story here)

What’s a poor unemployed art teacher to do then? Well, I guess I’ll keep trying to get my foot in that door and in the meantime, follow Shana Berenzweig’s lead and make myself look less educated than I am when I apply for jobs that generally only require a high school degree. That’s not unethical, right?