Is the System Broken, or Are You?

You got the degree, you did what they told you to do, and the door closed anyway. Maybe it happened fast. Maybe you went from graduation to rejection in just six months flat. Or maybe it happened slow.Those years of lateral moves, those dead ends, watching the ladder go nowhere. But either way, we're in the same place. And you're quietly wondering to yourself, what if I'm the broken one?Well, let me say something right from the beginning. You're not broken. And I know it doesn't feel true right now, but the economy has moved and it didn't send you a warning. It just left.Jobs have shifted. The rules have changed. That degree that was supposed to open doors now feels like an expensive receipt for something you can't even return anymore.Or maybe you skipped college altogether and you got your own version of this. Wait. The voice that says, maybe I made the wrong call. Maybe I'm already behind. But here's what I need you to hear today. Your life isn't finished.Your story's not done getting written, and the shame you've been carrying, it was never yours to carry.So today we're going to get honest about the real job market, going to talk about what's actually true, what's a flat out lie, and how real people, people just like you, build something solid from right where you are. Let's do that on today's show. Hello and welcome to Financially Confident Christian.I'm your host, Ralph Estep Jr. And today we've got somebody that sent in a question about working in a warehouse job. They've got a degree and they're asking the bigger question if they're broken or if something bigger is broken.I want to start by validating something right from the beginning. Today, today's job market is genuinely not what it was 30 years ago. And that's not a personal failure. There's been a structural seismic shift.So the goal today is I want to separate real systematic trouble from your own story. And then we're going to talk about what you can actually do about it. But let's get right to this listener question now.This one we actually got that was posted on Reddit. I'm going to give you fair warning. This is a very direct question, but this is what they put. I just got asked why I'm working at a minimum wage job.After college. I would have been homeless, raped. Yeah, like I said, it's a little strong today.And left for dead years ago if I didn't have family members to live with. I'm pushing 30 now. I got Nothing to show for it.We got people with years, if not decades of experience being forced to downgrade and downgrade their pay and position. Hiring's at recession levels. Saving rates are at recession levels. Also, job revisions last year exceeded recession levels.Wages haven't cut up with real inflation or productivity for decades. Part of me wants to just accept being neat. Now. There's a term we're going to define here in a second. Neet for life. It's not as if I could get a job.Tbh, thanks. Like I said, this one was from Reddit. So let's start off by defining what does neat mean? Because I actually didn't know what this meant.If you've not heard the term neat and neet, it's been floating around online. It stands for not in education, employment or training. And it describes millions who haven't just lost a job.They've stepped off the path completely and they've started to wonder if there's even a path left for them. So that's where you are right now. I want you to know this show is custom tailored for you.The big idea today is the job market is actually broken, but you are not. And there are moves that you can make right now to repair where you are. So let's get right to it.The first thing we've got to do is we've got to separate truth from story. There's some facts. Housing and stability, those are survival. Those are things that you're doing. You said you're working a job at a warehouse.You have a home and you have stability. That survival. You've got a degree, you've got skills. The issue is your positioning might be wrong, but your skills aren't wrong.And then you say something really bold here in this question. I'm broken. Should I just give up? The fact is, you say, I work in a warehouse. The market is hard. My degree went a different way.That's not the same thing as you being personally broken. Yes, your circumstances are real, but your worth isn't determined by your job title. And I need you to hear that right now.If you're in a job that you don't feel like is getting you to where you want to be, that doesn't mean you're broken. It means that your worth is not determined by your job title. So let's pivot a little bit.Let's talk about what's actually broken and what's in your control. Because that's the thing we need to understand. Hiring freezes right now are real. They're Facts. When you look around, those are true level.Those entry level jobs that everybody thought they were going to get out of college have now become mid level job. And yes, there are workers with 10 and 15 years of experience competing for those entry level roles. Those are facts.Productivity is up, but wages have been flat for a decade. But friend, you didn't break this. You are operating inside a genuinely harder system today than it was just five years ago.But you can't change your job title this week. You can change things, you can change your savings rate, you can change your positioning, you can think about that next move.But what we're seeing is many employers don't need the credential. We talked a lot about this yesterday. It's not about the degree anymore. The degree might be necessary. What they're looking for is demonstrated skills.Your next move doesn't have to be moving up. It's just got to be strategic. As I said, the system changed. You didn't break it and you can fix it, the position that you're in.But you've got to do a shift right now. You got to shift from survival to strategy. Right now you're living in survival mode. I've been there and I've done that and that's okay.Hold on to your housing, hold on to that position. That's real work. Those are the things you got to do. But the problem with survival only hurts when you confuse it with I'm broken.Because that's what I hear you saying is I'm surviving but I'm broken. We got to move away from that. We've got to start asking strategic questions. What can I do in the next 30 days?It opens a door or gives me another area to look. Maybe that's a conversation with someone in a field you're curious about. We talked a lot about this yesterday.Reach out to people, maybe it's going to get a skill you're not, you don't know right now. Turn that into a portfolio piece. Because when I think about your message here on Reddit, you survived things most people haven't.I mean, you were very graphic about it. You were said you're nearly homeless, you were worried about getting raped. If it wasn't for family, you'd be struggling. Those are survival things.And at 30, you've maintained stability for years in what I would assume is a minimum wage job. And you're here asking questions, which is the definition of someone who's not finished yet. But you've got to take a mindset change.You got to move Away from I can't touch to I'm making one move this week. Yes, survival will get you through next month, but strategy takes you somewhere different. You ask something that haunts me a little bit as well.What if I just accepted being done? That seems to be a lot of people, especially young people, that's. That's kind of where they're landing right now, that, that neat feeling.And I don't think you're asking that because you're lazy. I just think exhaustion is winning over hope right now. And that's the one battle where giving up actually cost you everything.Which is why I want to go back to faith a little bit now. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that faith is going to erase exhaustion. You can be tired and be faithful at the same time.And God doesn't promise the job market fixes itself. He doesn't promise that that degree you got is suddenly going to open up doors or that the economy is going to become fair for everybody.Those aren't things that faith is going to bring you. But faith does promise something. And don't overlook this. You're not alone in this.God sees you getting up for that shift that pays next to nothing at the warehouse. He sees you keeping yourself stable when the hardest work there is. He sees that you haven't quit as well.God doesn't value because the economy does it doesn't value that. Same way he doesn't see you as broken because a broken system treats you that way.The decision you're making right now, in this very moment, do you still believe you have a next chapter? That decision is spiritual and that's everything because you survived the part most people don't survive. You didn't become homeless.You didn't give up. That's not weakness. That's actually what strength looks like when strength is quiet. And sometimes strength is quiet. So here's your win for today.I want you to write down three things you've actually learned in your current job that transfer to other fields. When we're stuck in something a lot of people don't think about the things that you actually know how to do.I'm not telling you to go write a whole resume, not build some magical portfolio. Just write three things and I'm going to give you some, a couple examples that people don't think about. How about this one?I'm working under pressure in a warehouse environment. I've worked in a paint warehouse when I was in college. Warehouses are pressure filled environments. If you're surviving that you've got skills.Maybe you know a lot about logistics and scheduling. Maybe problem solving is when systems break down.If you're working with other people, maybe you've developed some people management skills working alongside different teams. Maybe you understand how to keep momentum when the work is repetitive. Hey, warehouse work is a lot of times repetitive.But don't overthink these things. Don't build out a whole plan today. Just see yourself the way a future employer might see you.Not through the lens of what you should have had, but through the lens of what you can actually do. Because that is what's making people survive in today's and actually thrive in today's economy, is here's what I can do for your company.That's what I want you to focus in on today. But let's get to our Bible verse. It comes to us from the book of Philippians, chapter 4, verses 11 and 12.Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything.I have learned the secret of living in any and every circumstance, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Now I want you to think about Paul. Paul wrote this when he was in prison. Yes, prison. He was facing execution. And I'm not making later where you are.But he wasn't just on a warehouse shift for the day. And he said something radical. He said, I've learned how to live in any circumstance. He didn't say circumstances changed and now I'm happy.He never said that. He said, I learned how to be who I am no matter what the external situation demands. And that's what this Reddit question is all about right now.Staying stable, thinking clearly, planning for tomorrow while managing today. And that's not small. There's victory in that. How about we pray together?Heavenly Father, I'm praying for the person listening who has been stable in a very unstable situation for years. And you know the risk they faced, the risk of homelessness. And Lord, you know, they've got a degree that they haven't been able to fully use.And you know, people around them have been asking questions and they feel like accusations, feel like they're going to give up. So Lord, right now I ask you to give them clarity about what's real and what's that lie they started to believe about themselves.And Lord, give them courage to make one small strategic move this week. Not because it's going to solve everything, but because it reminds them they're not finished yet. And Lord, protect them from despair.That looks reasonable.Protect them from that thought that says everyone's struggling so I should just stop trying because we know that doesn't come from you, Lord, and help them to see what they've actually built. Stability, resilience, that ability to keep going. Most people would have broken.And Lord, most of all, help them to see that next step doesn't have to be big, it just has to be one foot in front of the other. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen, friends, you're not broken. The truth is the economy has changed and there's a difference there.Your next move is available. It might not be obvious, but it's there. So I want to encourage you again, separate the facts from the story you've been telling yourself.Know that that job market is genuinely harder than it was before, than it was when your parents or your grandparents find and find that one thing within your that you can change this very week and do a little homework. Write down those three transferable skills from your current job.You will see when you start doing those things, you're going to start seeing yourself the way someone who hasn't rejected you might see you now. Maybe you're dealing with a tough financial situation yourself. I want to hear from you.You can leave me a voicemail by going to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/voicemail we'll put a link in the show notes, but again, that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/voicemail thank you so much for joining me today. I always want to encourage you to stay financially savvy. May God bless you and you have a truly great day. I. It.