| skifran4
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hello! I was just wondering if anyone has had the same predicament I am in. I graduated from college a few weeks ago and I am having some issues finding a job.
Any advice or insights? |
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Fri May 25, 2007 6:24 pm |
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| A-Rod
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it took me a little while to find a job after i graduated. a few weeks, anyway. i did a lot of job hunting while i was still in school and that was completely fruitless.
questions:
1. what city are you in, and where did you go to school?
2. what was your area of study?
3. what fields are you interested in for potential jobs?
4. what's your work experience look like?
if you're in a larger city, have you tried staffing firms? i got my first job out of college through a staffing agency, and had a pretty positive experience with them. they'll work wtih you regardless of whether your search is specific or your interests are broad, and they handle all of the salary negotiations, which is nice. in my experience, a lot of larger companies without large HR departments rely on staffing firms for entry-level positions because they tend to get a ton of applications and would rather let a staffing company sift through them all and do the initial screening.
i'm sure i have a lot of other insights, but knowing more about you and the direction you're headed will help. i've come to a lot of realizations and epiphanies in the two years since i've been out of school, both about job hunting and figuring out what to do with my life. 8) |
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Fri May 25, 2007 8:43 pm |
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| skifran4
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| I live in NW Arkansas and graduated from the U of A with an English degree. SO. Being an English major has benefits in that you can work in almost any field, but it's the experience that I don't have to tailor to each field. I completed a pretty prestigious internship with a magazine working in an international environment. I live in a metro area, that has lots of corporations headquarters..walmart, jbhunt, tyson, ect..I haven't looked into staffing agencies, but I think that's what I will do on Tuesday. I'm just getting bummed about it, because I thought for sure I'd have a job by now. I'm interested in working for a non-profit, or doing work that is meaningful...My work experience includes pre-school teacher, admissions clerk at a hospital and my internship. Thanks for your help! |
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Sat May 26, 2007 12:47 am |
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| Kimboroni
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Yes, I totally agree about staffing agencies. I was having a hard time finding a job after I graduated as well. Through a random resume fax, I ended up working for a staffing agency and being placed in four consecutive positions with the same company over the next year. It was excellent work experience, and the company I was placed with kept asking me if they could hire me permanently (I declined for a few reasons).
After taking the summer off by choice, I was able to land a great permanent position on my own. I think the staffing agency experience really helped me, plus I could have worked in any of the four temp jobs permanently. It's a great option. |
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Sat May 26, 2007 4:26 am |
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| A-Rod
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skifran, with an english major you're right, you're well-suited to do a lot of things just by virtue of being a strong writer. things like marketing immediately come to mind, or just an executive or administrative assistant position.
my first job out of college was as an exec assistant to the president/CEO of a biomedical research nonprofit ... not my dream job by any means. in spite of it being clerical in nature, i tried to seek out opportunities to expand my job description to more substantive and interesting projects - kept me interested [sort of] in my work and, more importantly, helped me build my resume. finding a boss who will enable you to do that is really important. spend a year or two in a position like that and then you're more prepared to find a job that suits you better. i took that relatively uninteresting year in a field i wasn't into and now work for one of the top nonprofits i'd have chosen to work for.
dunno what the nonprofit scene is like in arkansas, but those large corporations probably have administrative level positions available, and likely require a college degree. they may use staffing agencies, or may just have very large HR departments that are difficult to navigate. persistence has been my best friend - lots of follow up when i don't get prompt calls back and etc.
good luck! |
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Sun May 27, 2007 12:01 am |
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| LegalBeagle
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I was an English major, and, sadly, about the only thing an English degree qualifies you for is graduate school or professional school.
I went though the U. S. Dept. of Labor and met with an employment counselor who found me an entry level job at a U. S. government agency. Been there 20 years now. I'm a paralegal specialist (worked my way up the food chain, with training, etc.). |
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Sun May 27, 2007 4:44 pm |
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| Kimboroni
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| Yeah, that's the catch-22 for us (I was a Linguistics major and Anthropology minor): a Liberal Arts major means that you can work in any field and adapt, but you haven't been honing in on one thing. It's like that old saying: "Jack of all trades, leader of none." But we end up doing fine once we prove how much we're worth. :wink: |
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Thu May 31, 2007 2:58 am |
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| shellyF
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I also just graduated with BIT Degree.
still waiting for my convocation though.
it always be an issue for fresh grad to look for job.
it will take a while to find a suitable job.
i tried to look for job through this website.
www.jobstreet.com |
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Thu May 31, 2007 10:15 am |
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| skifran4
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| Thanks for the link. Still no job. I am not giving up, just running out of money! |
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Fri Jun 01, 2007 3:27 pm |
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| shellyF
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Wish you all the best.
why dont you find part time job while searching for the job?
anyway if you have found the job, just give it a try.
my friends always give advice, take the experience first,
after 1 or 2 years only go look for a better career.
just my 2 cents. |
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Fri Jun 01, 2007 3:58 pm |
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| A-Rod
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| i would definitely recommend a part-time job ... retail or something like that. that tided me over for six months after moving back to the west coast til i found the job i'm at now. |
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Fri Jun 01, 2007 10:27 pm |
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| shellyF
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Yap part time job, need to crawl all the way to the top.
can not expect to be at the top in instant.
in life there are down and up,
so now is your down time, and hopefully soon
you will find your way to top. |
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Sat Jun 02, 2007 5:25 am |
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| charolastra00
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Are you limited to living near the community you live in now?
Especially if you want to work in a nonprofit, bigger cities are a big help in finding a job. I only just finished my freshman year but I had no problem finding internships at 5 or 6 nonprofits scattered across the country since I didn't limit myself to one place. I actually ended up giving up a paid internship in order to stay in the city my college is near. In the process of looking for internships, I also found many open positions for full time work in places like NYC, California, Chicago, DC, etc. This might not be an option for you, but you could consider it.
Worse comes to worse, see if you can find a post-grad internship. It's not ideal and the pay is lousy, but many offer housing in the least and that would give you more experience. |
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Sun Jun 03, 2007 1:24 am |
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| SALAD!
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| If you are interested in non-profit work, try volunteering. You can meet the folks that hire and decide if it is really for you. |
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Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:06 am |
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