Unemployed with Four Diplomas in My Pocket

We put the word out as a basic email to our readers---"highly educated, living in your car?" was the subject heading--and the result was an outpouring of stories. Ph.D.s living in their cars? Is this true? "They must be dealing with other issues, their are jobs on this very campus," a staff member at University Career Services stated. This is true. And so we inquired with our readers. "Anyone try to get a job at UMass with your Ph.D.?" Listen to this one: we got a letter from a young doctorate holding, star of the department, teacher extraordinaire with so many amazing letters written by students about her teaching performance that the university gave her a wonderfully written one-sentence letter with her name mis-spelled, naturally... Yes, we received word from this gifted scholar/educator who received B.A.s and a Ph.D. from UMass, who successfully advised hundreds of students, that not even a single response was elicited by her graceful cover letter (we saw it) and remarkable resume to the Honor's College and university advising services. She sent two emails. Nothing. She decided to apply her vast knowledge of international education and went ahead and applied for multiple study abroad positions in UMass's IPO office. Nothing. Not one word. She contacted numerous departments. Nothing. Blank space. Her own university wont even respond to her. So, we have this to say to university advising, academic departments, and study abroad advising: are you prepared to tell your students that you won't even respond to their emails and employment inquiries as you advise them through their fields of studies? Are you explaining that you yourselves wouldn't even hire them?