From your moniker and posts, I sense a person who thinks she is different and allows circumstance and people to define who she is.

From early on, I told myself life would get better when I graduated from high school, became 21, graduated from college, obtained an advanced degree, got a good job, etc. I did not receive a response from a single place I sent my first batch of resumes to; not even a notification that my resume had arrived.

When I did get a job months later, I worked myself into the ground to validate to myself I was worthy of it. It took many years but eventually I crashed hard. I had tied my self-worth to my performance, and had burned myself out.

Graduates frequently are anxious about whether they will be successful in their careers. They need to be reminded they have been successful in advancing to where they are now. There is no reason to believe that that success will not continue.

One of my professors told me the major benefits of college are developing social skills and learning to learn. As a rather shy and reserved person, I had to work hard to develop the personal skills the job required, including a determination to ask questions no matter how simple of those who knew more.

The learning to learn part entailed enhancing my ability to recognize issues--identifying what is important and knowing where to find the information needed to resolve them.

As Rohag has so aptly observed and you are aware of, there are less hires because of the economy. You can only keep trying. While the job hunt continues, perhaps you might benefit from this career development manual: http://www.cdm.uwaterloo.ca/ It is lengthy and takes some thought but I found it to be well worth the effort.

Please continue to post, comment or rant. This place is wonderfully nonjudgmental and supporting.

Good luck, Ms. Emily!