As a new round of college students graduate this spring, the job market remains bleak and student loan burdens have risen to overwhelming levels. Against this backdrop, The Nation’s Melissa Harris-Perry says in her MSNBC "Soundoff" segment that young people face a choice: they can either accept menial yet steady jobs that will hardly make a dent in their student loans, or they can use the bad economy as an opportunity for unusual career paths, such as doing charitable work or engaging in entrepreneurship.

“Maybe its time now for them to start thinking about new job creation,” she says. “Remember 20 years ago when we started the internet boom? Twenty-somethings said, ‘There’s nothing out there for me, so I’m going to make it myself.’”

—Sara Jerving