Jobs right after school?
 

For the graduates.... how long did it take you to find a job that you want right after school?

Well after I graduated the first time I had one set up right after I graduated. Didn't like it so I went back to school for my second degree.

I started my job roughly 3 months after I graduated. I could have had a job sooner (beginning right after graduation) but I held out for a position that I wanted much more.

I had an internship for the last 3.5 years of school. It turned into a fulltime position, so I just kept right on working after graduation.

I graduated in 2000 and I still haven't found the job that I want. :(

I had "a" job almost right away (I turned down my pre-grad offers), but I didn't really get a job I liked, in my field, until two years after graduation.

I really didn't look for a job until I graduated. So, for about 2 months, I was stuck waitressing at King's....which is a chain of nasty family restaurants in the Pgh area. Finally, when I was ready to accept a job that I really didn't want, my soon-to-be boss called me to set up an interview!!

Interviews on my campus start right away in September for Dec and May grads. I had a few offers by December but accepted my job in January and then started work after I graduated in May. Most of the people I knew had jobs before they graduated. Some weren't so lucky and either hadn't found jobs yet or decided to go to grad school instead.

During my last quarter of school, my only "class" was an advertising internship that I was doing out of town. I began looking for a job about a month before the internship ended, and found a position one week before my internship concluded. :cool: I enjoyed the job, but didn't make much money, so I moved to Atlanta a year later and took a job with the company I'm with presently. I've been here 3 years now. :)

I had my job lined up in December for my May graduation, so I was definately set. In my company every one starts out at the same entry level position, but I didn't really want to stay in that area. It took me nine months to get promoted to the department I'm in now, and I'll continue to move up the ladder in the next few years. But, I'll be staying in the same department from here on in.

Wow, i am at a job still, but not one even remotely close to my major.

well, i graduated in may 2002 and still don't have a job. i've been looking since april and hard core since june. i spend at least 6hrs a day looking, sending, etc. but as of yet only a couple of interviews that didn't pan out. i'm still looking and getting very frustrated. and screw the whole alumni help bit. i tried that and got nowhere. oh well, maybe i'll just live with my parent's for anothe year. OH GOD NO!!!!:eek:

shelley j
sigkap

I know exactly how you feel, the job market right now.

I graduated in May of 1999. I had been waitressing, and continued that throughout the summer. After a couple road trips, I decided to find a "real" job. I took a job with my current company the fall of '99.

The job I found isn't exactly related to my major, which was Speech & Communications, but it's okay. I've been with the company about 3 years, and have held 4 positions. Moving up quickly is a plus.

This still isn't what I want to do when I grow up. I'd like to go back to school, but I'm not sure what for (I waiver between something practical like an MBA and something really fun, like an MA in Film Studies).

Sometimes I think I'd like to explore some other career options, but with the job market like it is, I think I'll stay right here for now. Although my former boss went to work for a similar company, and calls like once a month to let some of us know what positions she has available. So that may be an option, too. ;)

Oh, and I'm the National Editor for Phi Beta. I wish that were my job! Unfortunately, we're small enough that our national positions are all volunteer. (Someday in the future we hope to change that). I've gotten quite a lot of job experience from that, too. I inlcude it on my resume. (It is like a second job sometimes, but way more fun).

well, if your former boss calls you again, tell them you met someone on greek chat who is looking in the communications field. you can email me or pm me whenever. thanks.

shelley j
sigma k

I graduated in august of 2001, and moved to California from pittsburgh. The only thing I could find were commission only jobs. People are really willing to hire you when they don't have to pay you anything. My fiancee had a job all lined up. She's a librarian. So I did the commission thing for a year and decided I hated what I was doing, and got a real job, while at the same time my fiancee lost hers. So, we're moving back to pittsburgh where it's inexpensive to live. Way too expensive to live in ca. And I'm going back to school for a second degree, then to dental or med school. At least this way, I won't have to worry about finding a job when I graduate.

i'd recommend dental school before med school b/c i know that med school is so hard. my brother who in his own right is a genius, is having a very difficult time in med school. mind you he graduated from undergrad cumma laude. i'm guessing dental school is easier.
and what the heck did you move out to cali for? it's ridiculously expensive and the traffic is ungodly. pittsburgh is much better, i know, i used to live near by. ah....easy going pittsburgh. j/k;)

shelley j
sigma k

Once I had my BA I took a year off to work so I could earn some cash to go back to school. Basically with a BA I can't do much, so know I am working on my degree in Marketing Communications. The BCIT Business school is awesome, with a 90% hiring rate upon gradution.

that rocks! good luck. hopefully you'll go far. i have my degree in mass communications and marketing. so far not much has come of it, but there's a lot out there for people with this degree.

shelley j
sigma k

I graduated in may of 2002 with a b.soc.sci sociology/criminology...right now i'm working as a bellman at a nice hotel, it's definitely not what i planned on but good money for the time-being.

i'm actually trying to get a part time gig for now until i get what i want. i'll probably be working at a video store so like you said, nothing glamorous, but money. i just hope a real job comes soon cuz i'm itchin to get out of my parent's house and into a place of my own again.

shelley j
sigma k

I guess it's time to bump this now that us Spring graduates have been away from the college scene for about 4 months.

It took me 2.5 months to finally find a job. This was after taking a miserable part-time job to pay the bills and spending about 5 hours a day looking in newspapers, online, and networking to find a decent job.

Networking is the key. I got my job through a professor of mine (I spent 2 years sucking up to her everyday). She's the marketing internship director at my university. A nearby company contacted her asking if she could recommend anyone for a full-time marketing position and she recommended me!!!

I had gotten an email from my school about this job... sounded really easy and if the person judged me on my resume, I'd be completely overqualified... was wavering about calling because I'd have to relocate and it wasn't with a company that I knew or with the type of company I want to work for and it wasn't a huge career step in the right direction, so I didn't call, 2 days later I'm talking to my good friend (Sig Kap FYI) and turns out she applied for the job but since it was already filled they hired her to do some other job. At first I was kinda bummed because even though it's not what I wanted to do I would have been making money, according to her, it's a good salary and great benefits... but after hearing what she does, I know I wouldn't be happy there, so I'm glad. I'm still unemployed looking for my dream job, I have an interview tomorrow that would be an excellent step in the right direction, so hopefully something will come of it, now I have to go prepare!

But yeah, one of my worst fears is ending up with a job I dread going to every day. My mom hates her job... she's always like maybe you can get me a new one, haha.

I graduated in December of '99, hung around for another semester taking some post-grad classes, and got "a" job around September of 2000. I didn't get the job I love until December 2002, three years after I graduated college. All in all, not a bad amount of time to wait.

I worked and interned throughout college. My final internship was in the fall semester of my senior year, and they liked me so much that they hired me into a fulltime marketing coordinator position before my internship ended. I was very lucky to graduate and already have been at my job. A few months after 9/11, I moved to LA with no job and no apartment. Thanks to my Greek connections, I had both within 5 days! It's all about the power of networking, being aggressive and really wanting it!

I received my offer of employment before I graduated, but I wasn't set to start for a few months so I stuck around Pittsburgh and waitressed at a Thai restaurant to earn some money to take to New York with me.