The "I’m wasting my life" rant

Toward the end of my second year of grad school, I knew I had to chose a focused field before I started sending out my CV. For me, I have two main "causes" in my life: the arts and education. I did my research and compiled a list of all potential (and currently hiring) non-profits in Arizona. I focused on museums and theaters, as well as public and private, primary and secondary educational institutions.

I sent out my CV and custom cover letters for three months before I graduated (early spring 2006) and for three months after I graduated. I got a few early bites in the process--phone interviews, requests for work samples, etc. I even got through to three final interviews. In the end, I found that I am over-educated and under-experienced. I am educationally qualified for every non-profit job I've applied for; however, these organizations were looking for two-five years experience. I found that most of them were also looking for specialized knowledge in industry-specific software, databases, etc.

So, after relocating to Arizona in August of 2006 and, shortly after, hearing three, successive "no"s from my interviews and watching my debt spiral out of control, I simply had to stop looking for my ideal job and instead find gainful employment. Now, I am almost one year out of school, out of practice, and completely exasperated. I feel like my search for a position in the non-profit world is as frustrating as finding my first job when I was fourteen... "Do you have experience as a waitress?" "Well, no." How am I supposed to get experience if no one will hire me?

Quite frankly, after six years of higher education and more than a handful of jobs and internships, I KNOW I am capable of learning any skill required of me at a non-profit. I know that, given the opportunity, I could convince someone to give me a chance. But, if I can't get my foot in the door--if I never find myself sitting in front of the person in charge--what else can I do? I had previously considered freelance work, though with four sections of class totaling 80 students, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to responsibly and professionally established myself as an available writer who can produce quality work under a deadline.

Now, I'm just stuck. When I finished my BFA in Creative Writing, I decided that writing poems would never get me anywhere, but that the skill of writing itself was something I could use to change the world. I asked myself: How can I be creative and technical, AND make a living? Studying non-profit documentation in grad school made so much sense. A year later, I simply cannot get rid of this nagging feeling of regret--that I wasted my time in grad school; that I could be doing great things for the arts and education; that I'm wasting my skills as a writer...