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I work two part time jobs. I'm an office assistant in the credit department of a lumber company where I basically lurk slap and scan paperwork all day, and a barista at a drive thru coffee shop some mornings. I'm about to graduate from college with an arbitrary bachelors degree that I probably wont really use. Don't really know what my next move is. If I can't find a good full time office job I might try to learn a trade or something, carpentry seems cool.
Get the trade. That's one thing I regret not doing after completing an 'arbitrary degree.' I didn't pay for my education so I don't regret it but in hindsight having a trade as a back up is very good idea. After hours plumber...
My job might be coming to an end soon. I've got about 17 years in social services, the last three in management... if it ends... I think I could be done... but trying to come up with a contingency plan at 43 is terrifying...
Been thinking about this more and more lately, as my graduation approaches. Would it be stupid of me to go on and look for an apprenticeship program in the trades after investing all the time and money I did into a four year degree? Am I too old (25) to just now be starting a career in the trades? I'm thinking ahead here, how long would my body realistically hold up to possibly back breaking work ya know? To those of you who went for a four year degree, how was your experience finding a decent paying entry level job after graduation? For those of you who work trades, how did you get your start, and do you enjoy it? Sorry for unloading my quarter life crisis BS on yall, I'm just feeling a little lost and wanna hear from people with more life experience.
I had a professor who said to our class, “if you want a job quit school and get one. If you want to continue being a student turn your page to xxx.” I don’t think you need to get an office job. I had a friend go to school to build guitars and had a job in the industry for 10 years. You’ll always have the college degree. Challenge yourself. In my industry (plastics) companies are looking for tool and die makers. It is hard to find young workers who want to learn a trade. If you find one you enjoy it may be your calling. I am in sales and I would like my kids to have more options for employment than I have. Best of luck and keep in mind 40 years of work is a long time. You can take a few more years to figure out what you want to do before you have a family to take care of.
I think it depends on if you like the field of work you went to school for. You could always try it out and then move on to something else. Having a college degree doesn't mean shit these days as far as pay. Obviously certain degrees are more specified, but a generic one doesn't hold a ton of weight. I graduated college with a graphic design degree and couldn't find a job in the field mainly because it was right when the recession hit and most design studios were downsizing. I did a bunch of random stuff instead including walking dogs, working sales for my dad, working in special education for several years, finally working in a graphic design position, moving to a new state and working for a newspaper that sort of was graphic design, and now am a photographer and work a side job for a tourism board. I'm almost 32 and the majority of my friends aren't in jobs related to the field they graduated in. I'm not saying it's great to jump around always, but most people don't stay in jobs for 20-30 years like back in the day. The cool thing about this day and age of the internet is that there's a lot of opportunities to create a job for yourself by seeing an opportunity and going after it. One big thing for me is realizing what your personality is and how that relates to the reality of a job. For me, graphic design was basically a 9-5 desk job, and it's tough to find places that do really cool work. I wanted to be on my feet and doing something that offered more flexibility. Also, not to sound like an old man, but it's not what you know, it's who you know. Meeting people and having connections will get you a job way easier than a lengthy resume. So many people I know got jobs because they knew people even though they were less qualified than so many others. Obviously a trade you need more specified skills, but if you are interested in a creative field or something like that, a portfolio and being involved in that community will hold a lot more weight than saying you graduated from so and so school. I'm totally rambling all over here I know, but basically I'm trying to say it's Ok to not have everything figured out and you can always go back to what you went to school for. Job markets are always changing and new fields are constantly evolving. Take a little while trying some stuff out and seeing what sounds good. Also find people in the field you think you might want to be in, take em out for a beer or coffee and pick their brain. It's a good way to meet people and get personal insight to the day in and day out of a job.
Topic: Jobs (Read 144094 times)