<prompt> Human: Hi everyone, Ill try to keep this as short as possible. I wasnt sure if this was the right place to post this but my fingers are crossed, so if its not just ignore me lol. If formatting is bad apologies, Im on mobile. So basically Im in a pretty crappy situation. I have one year left in my program at college where Im majoring in English. The problem is Im majoring in English. I live in a very expensive county outside of a large metropolitan area that has a very competitive job market. Now, Im a very hard working and determined individual so youd think it would be easy for me to find a job right? Wrong. Because of living and financial situations Ive been unable to keep up with my peers. Ive had zero internships and have no experience in my field. My GPA has also suffered greatly because of time constraints. But whats the big deal you ask, since Im only 20 and have a supporting family to pay my bills for me, right? : Unfortunately thats the wrong assumption. My living situation right now is that I am the sole provider for both myself and my mother. Long story short, my dad is an abusive POS. Fortunately he signed off on leaving me his GI Bill benefits before cutting me and my mother off she has no income, was a homemaker for 23 years, got no money in the divorce so I havent had to worry about rent the past three years. After this next semester those benefits run out. I wont go into specifics because my rentbills are ungodly expensive and I know what everyone will say about those and Im aware of my mistake of signing a two year lease Im young and naive what can I say. Fortunately, I was able to work my way from a minimum wage position to a salaried position at my lousy fast food job within 6 months of starting and will be able to scrape by without starving to death my last semester. My main point of worry is post-graduation existence. I see so many people finding these jobs like its super easy, but how!? Im starting to feel desperate to be honest. Unlike everyone else who has had all of the time in the world to have 5 internships over the span of their academic career Ive spent the last three years delivering sandwiches and flipping burgers just so I can make sure my mom has food to eat. I feel like I have no useful skills, and now Im trapped in a position where Im required to work 45 hours a week just to survive. Ive tried freelancing to get myself out there, but to no avail. Breaking into freelance writingediting seems just as impossible as getting a job. I dont want to end up working in fast food management for the rest of my life, I might actually rather die. What are my options? Were you guys able to get jobs with somewhat okay pay and benefits with nothing more than a mediocre bachelors degree? How did you manage it, and how do you feel about your work now? I know this sounds like a dumb question, but no one in my family has ever had a white collar job so I feel in the dark completely. I feel like this semester is my last chance since its the last time I wont have to pay rent. It feels like If I dont find something better now Ill be stuck at this miserable job forever. Financially, I feel Ill be okay, but barely skating by. I have my ridiculous rent, a car payment, insurance on two cars, bills and food for two people, all on 35K before taxes... a year but if all goes as planned Ill be moved to 50k monthly bonuses by the end of the year if I can stay sane long enough to stay at this job. I mean, from a financial point of view the smart thing would probably be to stay at this job since I have a head start moving towards a good salary at only 20. But is it worth it to sell your soul for financial comfort? I want to do whats best for my mom, but I dont know if Im capable of being the stoic, selfless person I should be. Ive learned a few things at this job such as basic accounting like PL maintenance, invoicing, some HR hiring, pay negotiation etc, and things like budget allocation and scheduling, but those all seem pretty useless and inapplicable to real jobs. Other than that all I can do is read, write, and research fairly well. Putting together a resume is just embarrassing. How do you make a resume out of nothing haha. I know this was a jumble mess of thoughts, I guess Im just really scared. If it were just me Id be okay with living in a destitute hut eating ramen everyday if I got to do work I enjoyed, but I also have to make sure my mom is well taken care of always. I suppose Im looking for someday to balance that in my currently bad situation. Sorry for the length of this, and thanks in advance for any and all adviceinput. Tl;dr: 20 years old, sole provider for myself and mother. Make 35k a year as a manager in fast food but miserable, about to have BA in English which seems worthless in a competitive job market and am clueless how to move into the real world job market because entire family never got past high schoolmostly joined military, and Ive spent whole time in school working so no internships etc. Looking for advice on job market for people who appear less than average on paperon life everything. Edit: I want to thank everyone for the advice and encouragement given. I did not at all expect this much feedback, and even had a few people reach out to me personally. And to those who focused on the negative, thanks for motivating me to prove you wrong! This whole thread was a great help to me and has provided me with so many resources and ideas that the future seems much more optimistic than it did when I made this post earlier today. Thanks so much everyone!Assistant: Hi everyone, Ill try to keep this as short as possible. Famous last words; long post to follow. As an English major, this could be a caution flag? My living situation right now is that I am the sole provider for both myself and my mother.So you are enabling your mother to remain dependent on you. Is that your long-term plan? Im only 20 Make 35k a year as a manager in fast food I have one year left in my program at college It sounds like you will do fine, actually. Thats a much more ambitious undertaking than most 20-year-olds pull off.Unemployment is very low now; I expect that you will land on your feet, though it also sounds like you dont always think things through, like the lease. Something to try to improve over time. Ive learned a few things at this job such as basic accounting like PL maintenance, invoicing, some HR hiring, pay negotiation etc, and things like budget allocation and scheduling, but those all seem pretty useless and inapplicable to real jobs but no one in my family has ever had a white collar job so I feel in the dark completely.Sounds like it. Things like accounting, PL maintenance, budget allocation and scheduling are white-collar skills. Human: Im not enabling my mother. She has no work experience because my father didnt allow her to have a job. She also has serious heart problems as well as mental health issues due to years of abuse so I dont really have any choice but to take care of her for pretty much forever since we have no other family. Assistant: Thats sort of confusing. He didnt let her work, but she couldnt work anyway. Edit: getting downvoted by people who assumed I could read OPs mind and knew how they were going to answer.Human: She developed the heart condition in the past year after having two heart attacksAssistant: Just checking - does she not qualify for alimony? I think long term this may not be sustainable - especially if you are looking into marriagekids in the future. I cant imagine any future girlfriends would be ok with their partner providing 100 financially for their mom. She needs to find work and pay for herself - even if its also in fast food.Human: Im not sure. As far as I understand shes supposed to receive 50 of my dads military retirement pay each month, but thats just what he says and hes pretty untrustworthy, especially since when she was receiving it it was a direct transfer from his bank account. We ended up stopping those transfers because he attempted to use the money as leverage over us. She works part time occasionally but its difficult to maintain due to constant doctors appointments. Im just looking at places like Costco that have okay benefits and doesnt give really difficult hours. Ive realized that Ill probably never have a life of my own but hey shes taken care of me for 20 years so I complain about doing the same.  <response>: Did she have a divorce lawyer when they divorced? If so she needs to contact her lawyer about those benefits. As long as you are ok not having a life of your own then keep on keeping on. Best of luck 