Venting My Frustration!!!

[FuzzieAlum]

I have a major in English - AND a job that's related to my degree. Not all English majors are offering fries with that. There are jobs for every major; it's just that the odds are better in some than in others.

And I have a friend with a computer engineering degree and several years of Microsoft experience who can't find anything. There's no major that's a ticket to success in this economy.

That's the real problem - it's gone from a job-seekers' market to an employers' market. You need a skill in something, whether it's waitressing or being a surgeon, and even then the pickings are slim.

Are there any work-study or campus jobs open to you? What about school clubs? Your extracurriculars can be as important as your major. The English degree was good, but it was being editor of the paper that got me a job. Being involved in college Republicans can get you a campaign job. I realize this won't get you a job right away, but what you're doing now can have a huge impact down the road on future jobs.

[prospectiverushee]

I have a B.A. in English. Right now, I work in customer service. I don't think I limited myself, just because I don't have a business degree. I think I'm more well rounded cause I can do so much with my degree.

I love to read, so I'm going to use my English degree and go to grad school for Library Science

[Eirene_DGP]

Originally posted by FuzzieAlum
I have a major in English - AND a job that's related to my degree. Not all English majors are offering fries with that. There are jobs for every major; it's just that the odds are better in some than in others.

My degree will be in English like FuzzieAlum's and Prospectiverushee's, but I chose to major in English because I knew I wanted to teach. Your should major in whatever you enjoy doing, not what you think will be the easiest to get a job in. If you truly have skills and know your stuff, a job will follow.

[Rain Man]

Originally posted by lionlove
Continuing the thread hijack...

...don't become an accounting major if you don't like math ...

For the record, accounting is NOT math. While it does involve numbers, it is NOT math. It is a LANGUAGE, the language of business!

Simply put, accounting is not about whether or not you know what 2+2 equals, but how to treat that sum total of 2+2, or even if it should be 2+2. If you don't know where to allocate that 2+2, then your math abilities, be it good or bad are irrelevant.

Once more, accounting is NOT MATH!

[adpiucf]

another hijack

I disagree that your major needs to be relevant to your career. What you do IN college will determine if or not you can get a job post-college.

So, if you are an aerospace engineering major, but discovered you have a love for writing and have become editor of the school paper, held an internship with a magazine, and ran events for the campus activities board, I'd think your in-college experience would speak for itself and you'd easily find a job in journalism. You might even specialize in writing for a trade journal about aerospace engineering or techincal writing. Or not all.

Whereas if all you do is go to class, socialize and eat/sleep for 4 years, you may have a degree, and have graduated with honors, but you won't be tops on my list for hiring because you have no relevant experience.

Pick your major. Change it 8-10 times if you wish. Regardless of what your degree is going to be in, experiment with careers-- parttime work, talking to professors and professionals. Then get an internship or three. Then you'll get a job.

[adpiucf]

Good article about gaining job experience:
http://www.vault.com/community/v_com...279&mod_id=612

[CarolinaDG]

Ok, first of all I think we got off track of what the original posting was. My advise there is pretty much the same as everyone else's has been... try to find something related to education somehow. If nothing else, intern.


On the off-track sub-thread that we've created:

The job market is just FRUSTRATING right now to say the least. I got a degree in music. Not exactly a high market for music majors, but if you consider the fact that most music majors (in fact, all except me at my school) become music majors to perform or teach, it would seem that someone like me would have a fairly easy time finding a job. Here's why:

1-I want to go into arts administration. Most job postings look for someone with an arts-related degree and some sort of background in whatever particular job (public relations, fundraising, volunteers, whatever).

2-In college, I busted my ASS. I held two different offices in my sorority, three different offices in other organizations, did public relations for three organizations, was a member of innumerable organizations, organized a (very successful) fundraising campaign, graduated top 50 out of 6000 for contributions to the campus community, etc, etc, etc....

3-I held a business minor. Basically, while I earned my music degree, I was about 2 courses shy of a second major in economics, which I could always go back and get.

I have heard stories from educations majors, sports broadcasting majors, public relations majors (and the public relations major that I heard from was on the number 2 undergraduate public relations team in the country and graduated top 20 out of 6,000 for contributions to the campus community) and of course the accounting majors. Of these, only the accounting majors have jobs (at least, jobs that they like). And one of the two accounting majors that I've talked to did very little in college, didn't intern or anything. My question, particularly for DeltAlum since you are an ex-hiring manager who says majors are very important, is why would companies rather have someone with the "right" major than someone who may be a couple of classes short of the "right" major who is obviously hard-working, dedicated, motivated, and PROBABLY easily trained? In other words, I took an accounting class, too, and I know about journal entries and general ledgers (and to stick up for the accounting major, it's not much math... some calculator usage, but not much math). You could always train ME to fill in where the gaps in my education left off, instead of counting on the person with the "right degree" who might not have even shown up to class and has forgotten all of it, anyway. I'm not trying to get anyone mad with this post, I just SERIOUSLY would like to know, because it seems a little ridiculous to me. But that's just my entry-level, $27,000/year-making, mind talking.

[adpiucf]

You also have to consider there are certain majors where you will get recruited into a degree-related career during your senior year-- such as accounting.

However marketing people have to fight tooth and nail for their jobs, and that, my friends, is where the internships come into play. And frankly, (and on another topic) if you are a journalism major, get a minor in government or something else, b/c anyone can learn to write in AP style-- it's having a background in the classics that will make YOU go the extra mile.

So I'd say the majors with "muscle"-- the quantitative fields, sciences, engineering, maths, accounting-- there is a good deal of recruiting. The "soft" sciences like music and communication, teaching, sorry folks, but like it or not we ARE a dime a dozen and you ARE going to need more than just a degree to get a decent job after graduation. You'll need internships and a huge sense of @ss-breaking, job hunting skills, resume writing and networking ability. We don't get recruited--- our job is not as highly skilled and in as much high demand... I'd really love to hire a coordinator who has a degree in accounting to make up for my "other half" because I'm the creative/events/designer type. Nothing wrong with that... but quantitative skills are in greater demand.

[CarolinaDG]

So, back to my point, recruiters would rather have someone who half-assed their way through college and happened to get the "right" degree (even if it took them 5 or so years) than to hire someone who worked their ass off and didn't get the "right" degree, but took many of the same classes? Seems a little backwards, if you ask me.

[MTSUGURL]

UPDATE:

I did eventually find a job. I teach preschool and I love it, however I am once again looking for a full tie job to save money for seminary. I changed my major to "Look Mom I have a degree!" (Liberal studies) but will be going to Seminary for religious education so that I can work at church camp forever.

[XOMichelle]

Originally posted by MTSUGURL
Still no luck.... I'm an education major, so at least I know that when I graduate I'll be able to get a job. that's still a ways away though...

Student teaching? Or grading papers for a class? Do somthing to hlep your future job!