Graduated College...what the hell do I do now?

[fortyninethousand322]

Oh, I never meant it that those kinds of jobs should be full-time, unless it's necessary to pay the bills. Your real work is definitely to get the job you want. But you need to keep your resume active, so 15-30 hours a week of the work you don't want is sufficient to keep you in the world. (and again, volunteering allows you to do work you DO want, albeit unpaid, that still counts on the resume) The other part of that 40 hrs/week is all about networking, resumes, workshops, etc.

 

As to a quarter-life crisis, I get that too. That's a separate issue from getting a job. It's tough not to know what you want to do, exactly, and not know what direction to go. (I don't think my quarter-life crisis ever ended, to be honest!)

 

It's OK to for dude22 to lose himself in that mindset for a while (which he may have intended to do in this post). I do have sympathy for that as well. But then, at a certain point, a person's just got to move and do what he or she has to do to move forward. You can take advantage of the opportunities that DO exist, until the ones you want open up.

 

In fact, it's those lesser, seemingly dead-end opportunities, the ones that seem beneath one's education, that often LEAD to the opportunities you want, which has been my point all along.

 

Absolutely agree 100%. Especially on the last part. A great, somewhat fictional old man once said: "even the very wise cannot see all ends".

[denise_xo]

You can take advantage of the opportunities that DO exist, until the ones you want open up.

 

In fact, it's those lesser, seemingly dead-end opportunities, the ones that seem beneath one's education, that often LEAD to the opportunities you want, which has been my point all along.

 

Agreed. The latter has been my experience, too.

[Els]

That makes me wonder what job IS relevant to a history degree besides, well, studying history, teaching history, or becoming an archeologist. History is a wonderful degree with a very narrow set of directly related job positions, so if the OP is waiting for one of those, he could be waiting a LONG time.

 

Precisely the point I was trying to make to the poster above me. If he's a doctor, engineer, someone with a LOT of job options, he can afford to be picky. History degree with 0 experience, less so. It's just the way the world works.

Edited April 22, 2011 by Elswyth

[Thedude22]

I'm really not THAT picky about jobs. I actually applied for a government contractor job. The government is great for humanities people, but there are a lot of issues with the budget right now and the federal hiring process can last 2+ months in most cases. I could get a job as a bartender, waiter etc. etc. but that is not even as good as what I already have on my resume, and being that my resume can only one page I'm probably not even going to put that on my resume. So what's the point other than making an additional 200 bucks a week? Josie can go on and on about how valuable that is, and yeah it's better than doing nothing but I hardly think that removing my academic tutor experience with 6 months as a janitor is a good idea. But I know nothing because I don't have a job right? I've talked to some employers and specifically asked them if I should just pick up a job in retail to fill the void, they both said "No, that does nothing for your resume".

 

All I'm saying is I really don't want a secretary/assistant job where my day to day duties are getting coffee and answering phones. Not only would I dislike it, I would be bad at it (I'm not very organizational) so that promotion aspect isn't there. I use to get job interview requests for sales manager positions with insurance companies and such, that's really the only decent job I've passed on. I'd like a job with the government, a museum or a company I like. I get down about it sometimes and other times I just don't think about it at all, like now. Eventually I'm just going to bounce, likely this summer, I'm moving somewhere or going on a Eurotrip. If I'm not going to get a job I at least want some life experiences and if I'm going to do some crumby job like waiting tables, I'm going to do it in ****ing Berlin or something, not at the Applebees 10 mins from my parents house.

Edited April 25, 2011 by Thedude22

[Els]

 

All I'm saying is I really don't want a secretary/assistant job where my day to day duties are getting coffee and answering phones. Not only would I dislike it, I would be bad at it (I'm not very organizational) so that promotion aspect isn't there. I use to get job interview requests for sales manager positions with insurance companies and such, that's really the only decent job I've passed on. I'd like a job with the government, a museum or a company I like. I get down about it sometimes and other times I just don't think about it at all, like now. Eventually I'm just going to bounce, likely this summer, I'm moving somewhere or going on a Eurotrip. If I'm not going to get a job I at least want some life experiences and if I'm going to do some crumby job like waiting tables, I'm going to do it in ****ing Berlin or something, not at the Applebees 10 mins from my parents house.

 

Sounds good, actually. If you're not averse to manual labour, lots of foreign countries have work-and-travel schemes that allow you to do menial jobs while visiting; could be a great experience.

[josie54]

Eventually I'm just going to bounce, likely this summer, I'm moving somewhere or going on a Eurotrip. If I'm not going to get a job I at least want some life experiences and if I'm going to do some crumby job like waiting tables, I'm going to do it in ****ing Berlin or something, not at the Applebees 10 mins from my parents house.

 

Then why didn't you say that in the first place? I'm not sure if you noticed, but "travel" and "volunteering" were among the things I recommended. You didn't seem to want to do ANYTHING.

 

I was just trying to get you out of the house and out of your funk. Given your situation, with money to get you there and no bills to worry about, travel would be my first choice. Spending time in a foreign country--maybe even learning the language--would look excellent to employers. I wish I'd had that option when I was your age. I didn't.