When Alicia Pozniak arrived in New York in November after spending six months traveling through South America, she got quite a shock: the economy was tanking, and no one seemed to be hiring architects. Pozniak, who at 28 is an award-winning designer in her native Australia, had planned (and budgeted for) a sabbatical trip that would end in the U.S., where she intended to find employment. Four months later, she is still searching for a job. To get by, she is staying with a friend in New York City and recently applied for food stamps. There are moments when she feels motivated—when she schedules an interview, for instance. “But I also have days when I’m thinking about going back home,” she says. “It feels pretty frustrating.”

Sebastian Howard