Recent college grad. Having a hell of a time finding a job.

There are three ways to get a living-wage job in this country:

1) Nepotism

2) 99th percentile intelligence accompanied by an advanced degree in a useful field from a prestigious university

3) Possessing all of the following traits: outstanding social skills, extreme Type A personality, physical attractiveness, the kind of diehard motivation that can only be inspired by something fake like religion or true love or the American Dream or some other BS

I defy anyone to find an exception under the age of 30.

Karl Marx wrote:

There are three ways to get a living-wage job in this country:

1) Nepotism

2) 99th percentile intelligence accompanied by an advanced degree in a useful field from a prestigious university

3) Possessing all of the following traits: outstanding social skills, extreme Type A personality, physical attractiveness, the kind of diehard motivation that can only be inspired by something fake like religion or true love or the American Dream or some other BS

I defy anyone to find an exception under the age of 30.

What in the world are you talking about? It does not take that much to get an average job. Unless "living wage" means $1 billion dollars. But even then that's not true.

I'm 23 years old and acre why college grad. The best way to create a job is to start your own company. I owned many businesses in college and have a funded startup in sf now.

Create jobs. It isn't as hard as people think. Just act like you know what you're talking about. The economy isn't that bad. In SF, there are so many jobs for recent college grads with salaries at 70k +

23 year old dude wrote:

I'm 23 years old and acre why college grad. The best way to create a job is to start your own company. I owned many businesses in college and have a funded startup in sf now.

Create jobs. It isn't as hard as people think. Just act like you know what you're talking about. The economy isn't that bad. In SF, there are so many jobs for recent college grads with salaries at 70k +

$70K in SF won't buy you a pot to piss in. That's about the equivalent of $20K in Omaha. You can't even survive on that.

Read _Ask The Headhunter_.

Good luck.

Get Real wrote:

23 year old dude wrote:

I'm 23 years old and acre why college grad. The best way to create a job is to start your own company. I owned many businesses in college and have a funded startup in sf now.

Create jobs. It isn't as hard as people think. Just act like you know what you're talking about. The economy isn't that bad. In SF, there are so many jobs for recent college grads with salaries at 70k +

$70K in SF won't buy you a pot to piss in. That's about the equivalent of $20K in Omaha. You can't even survive on that.

You're wrong. Rent is 1k, 700 if you live in Oakland. Bars are cheap and so is food. It's a myth that life in sf is expensive. Rent is costly, yes, but you can commute and pay 700 bucks, which is normal or pay 1k which still isn't bad.

23 year old dude wrote:

Get Real wrote:

$70K in SF won't buy you a pot to piss in. That's about the equivalent of $20K in Omaha. You can't even survive on that.

$1K for rent? Yea, maybe in the Tenderloin District. No way rent is $1K in SF - at least not anywhere you'd want to live that's safe. Oakland....yea, think I'll pass on that too.

You're wrong. Rent is 1k, 700 if you live in Oakland. Bars are cheap and so is food. It's a myth that life in sf is expensive. Rent is costly, yes, but you can commute and pay 700 bucks, which is normal or pay 1k which still isn't bad.

Sorry. Again, you're wrong. I live in the marina for 1k. You can get a great place in sf for 900-1200. Inner Richmond for 900. And Oakland is awesome. You're just a noob

23 year old dude wrote:

Sorry. Again, you're wrong. I live in the marina for 1k. You can get a great place in sf for 900-1200. Inner Richmond for 900. And Oakland is awesome. You're just a noob

You may be able to get a place for that, but no way it's great.

I graduated from an Ivy in 1990 with a BA in the humanities. I worked in a bloody running store for 5 years figuring out how to actually be an asset to a company - $7.50 an hour in NYC, for heck's sake.

That's how the world works for most people. You have a crappy jobs in your 20s until you figure out a way you can make real money for someone. Then you start moving up the ladder.

It sounds like you guys feel like you should have real jobs out of college. Well face it - most of you shouldn't.

Any interest in going to China or South Korea? It's pretty easy to get jobs teaching English there. The pay varies, but I think it's around $20,000 and doesn't require any knowledge of Chinese. Obviously 20,000 goes a lot further in most of Asia than it does in the US.

Your post is full of ignorance.

I don't have any sympathy. When I entered college a few years ago I busted my arse to get summer internships at pharmaceutical companies in the area, every single summer until I graduated. I also lead authored a manuscript in Journal of Biochemistry. I also put tons of work into my CV and cover letter, researched the effing shite out of every company which interviewed me, and probably applied to 65 jobs prior to graduation.

I graduated in 09' too, when the economy was hitting its worst since the depression. So I don't have any sympathy for you. Many of my friends who had fun jobs in college and during summers didn't think it through. They also didn't prioritize work in college, and didn't prioritize majors which would find them work. They all approached this world with the idea that if they just checked off all the boxes they would fall into work. You need to be able to offer someone something, and it has to be a better offer than the next guy. This is how an economy moves. SOrry you didn't understand this, but if you're a hard worker and you get this point you will make it soon. Good luck. Make yourself invaluable, then get it done.

B of Sci wrote:

I graduated in May and got a good summer job, but it ended in September. Since then I have been looking for work. Nearly every job I've come across within my field (a science) requires either an advanced degree (MS or PhD) or several years of experience. I have neither. After over a month of looking, I'm thinking I might just try to get a job at subway or something and go back to school asap. This sucks.

Take it or leave it, but the following is meant as constructive advice. It may sound harsh, but I hope you, and other recent grads will take something from it and not dismiss it as the rantings of a grumpy old man.

When you leave college, you know almost nothing of any value to any employer. Despite having passed some exams, you lack experience, judgment, people skills, shrewdness, problem-solving skills and ability to handle pressure. This is not a criticism - it's the same for all of us. Get a job - ANYTHING in or related to your chosen field. Do not wait for a dream job - it's not going to happen because there are more experienced people out there who will get them. As Bill Gates said - "you are not worth $50K right out of college." work hard, take on gradually more respnosbility - VOLUNTEER for more responsibility, infact. outwork your peers and you will progress. No one cares how clever you are - this essentially does not matter in the workplace, it's how much value you add and how hard you work.

My first job at 17 was in a glue factory. I worked my tail off, getting gradually better jobs, I put myself through night school while working full time to get a chemistry degree and now I run sales and marketing for a large biotech company. I'm 48. I make good money. I am not gifted - I just saw the long term picture and didn't have overly ambitious goals right out of school.

Good luck to you. I know it's tough out there, but you can whine about it, or you can do something about it- you are not a powerless victim. You do have competition though.

Do you folks know that engineering PhD students are paid while in school (tuition plus living expenses), and can intern during the summer to earn even more? I'm a few years out of my program now and make well over 150k in a city with a moderate cost of living with stock and bonuses. No grad school debt. The problem is that I worked like crazy through school (while running track and cc) which gets in the way of most students' video gaming schedules. Btw, we can't find enough good MS and PhD grads to fill positions in my department. Hiring is a never ending struggle.

People who say you should do what you love are full of $hit. Do what will support your family and allow you some time/money to do things you love after work or on the weekend.

Quit complaining - you're a college kid, which means you probably voted for and re-voted for, the Great One...so serves you right.

How likely is it that I'll get a paid position as an MS student in mechanical engineering? Is there anything I need to be doing in the application process to increase my chances?

I've got about 2 years of work experience, but no research.

You don't say whether you are currently employed? All this means nothing if it doesn't have long-term prospects.

snooker wrote:

People who say you should do what you love are full of $hit. Do what will support your family and allow you some time/money to do things you love after work or on the weekend.

Doing what you love is not incompatible with supporting your family. As I mentioned earlier, I work in real estate development. I absolutely love it. That isn't to say that I never have a bad day, but I can honestly say that I do what I love. I also make more than enough money to support my family and engage in hobbies on the weekend.

In fact, I think that there is generally a positive correlation between enjoyability and salary. I've never met anyone who worked as a dishwasher because they were passionate about the work. I can think of a lot of jobs that pay six or seven figures that would be an absolute blast.

When people say that you should do what you love, they aren't telling you to simply do whatever the heck you want and hope that someone hands you a paycheck for it. They are telling you to figure out how to use your interests to make a decent salary. Almost anyone with any set of interests can do this.

I can't imagine choosing not to do what I love. Why would anyone say "I can do what I love for 40-50 hours per week and support my family, or I can do something I don't like for 40-50 hours per week to support my family. I think I'll do the latter"?