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

Stop going to school aimlessly. Pick an occupation first, then figure out how you're going to get the required education and or experience.

Sorry to hear that.

I don't have a job either. I wish I could blame it on the economy. But after the monumental mistakes and people I've hurt in the past few years, I barely trust myself working at Subway. A big part of me feels like everyone is better off if I sit at home and keep my mouth shut.

I also graduated in May with a B.S. , and despite constant looking for work, the best I have found is working in fast-food, although 100% commission jobs also call me.

I graduated with a BA in a hard science from a top LAC (which doesn't even offer BSs) and caught a lot of flak for not having a BS. Probably just an excuse not to hire. You may find better success looking into business or software type jobs with the word "analyst" in the title. You can bill your scientific background as an asset to an unrelated job. In the sciences, I found that there are two levels of jobs: ones which require a MS or PhD and pay very well, and ones which require nothing more than a high school degree or an associates. I had a cereal company who wanted to hire me to work nights for $8.50. You can either apply to TONS of jobs and hope your application turns heads (not likely) or work your friends and family for networking connections. Most job hires are through someone who knew someone. The "send in your application" and "check job websites" stuff is a filthy lie. Nobody gets a job from Monster.com or anywhere like that. Not any good job at least.

On the bright side, I hear life is pretty cushy if you have a PhD in a science. And if you are lucky you can score a TA position and actually make some money in grad school. Might even be as much as you'd make working some job you are overqualified for.

1 out of 4 American adults has a bachelor's degree, and the way the economy is structured, it means nothing at all. It's no better than high school unless your major was something professional like nursing, pottery or paper manufacturing.

Other countries have educational systems where kids pick careers early and go to specialized secondary schools, so most of their education is geared toward whatever they're going to end up doing. But the American educational system is poorly funded and can't deal with preparing kids while they're still kids.

The goal of American higher education is two-fold:

1) make researchers and other ph.d's filthy stinking rich

2) produce enough new ph.d's to make sure the work gets done.

There are far too many kids going to college to make them all ph.d.'s. This means 99 percent of all undergraduates are there for reason number 1, that is, to be ripped off. It's similar to a lottery - collect a bunch of money from everyone, give back some of the money to one of them, and keep the rest. The few who land enough financial aid to go to grad school and get ph.d's end up with a return on their college investment. For everyone else, it's an illusion. No matter how much money you make with a B.A., you'd have made it anyway without one.

Getting GTF's is not a matter of testing or coursework, it's a matter of nepotism. Your profs have to like you and write good recommendations.

There is one thing you can still get from a university, that is, an education. But only if you realize the difference between education and career training. In essence, learn everything. It won't make you a dime, but you'll be wiser than every ph.d. out there, because you know something about everything, while they know everything about only one thing.

The economy has been devastated. You will probably never get a job that you would actually want. I graduated in 2010 with a degree in accounting and after two years of applying for jobs that I didn't even want just because they were the only ones available and landing nothing, I gave up on finding a job related to my degree. I now serve coffee and live with my high school friend's parents at 25. His 17 year old sister works at a competing coffee stand and probably makes more than me because of tips. I'm emotionally devastated, I can't stand to go back to school to study things I don't even care about and have no interest in or apply for horrific jobs that have nothing to do with my interests or aptitudes just because they're the only jobs available. Things aren't getting better, they're getting worse. Don't listen to the Obama-ites who spout useless statistics like the BLS unemployment rate and GDP. There have never been fewer opportunities to start an actual CAREER.

All of you guys, including dsfsdfs, need to get your sweet asses back in school and get a major in software engineering. That's where the future....and money is. Forget all this other crap.

Software Engineer wrote:

All of you guys, including dsfsdfs, need to get your sweet asses back in school and get a major in software engineering. That's where the future....and money is. Forget all this other crap.

Most people, myself included, can't hack it in software engineering. It takes high aptitude and actual passion for the work to make it in that field.

asfasdfasdf wrote:

Software Engineer wrote:

All of you guys, including dsfsdfs, need to get your sweet asses back in school and get a major in software engineering. That's where the future....and money is. Forget all this other crap.

Most people, myself included, can't hack it in software engineering. It takes high aptitude and actual passion for the work to make it in that field.

You probably have the aptitude. As for the passion....well, fake it till ya make it.

Remember when you could actually pick a field of work based on what you were interested in and suited for instead of being forced into a position where you have to take whatever job is available out of sheer desperation regardless of whether you can stand it or not?

If you play your cards right, you'll make more money getting your Ph.D. than you would in a crappy job. Downside is you're stuck there for 4-5 years and then have to do post-doc for a few more years. But if you want to do anything interesting in the sciences you need an MS at the bare minimum.

Alternatively you could play up some of your computer skills, or just learn some, and get an office job.

Where do you live? There are competitive job.markets out there but yours may not be one. Are you willing to move to.find a good.job? Even with a bad economy, relocating seems like less common than in decades past.

The internet had dramatically slowed the economy. Even though economists fail to recognize this as well as TV news programs.

dfadsfadsfads wrote:

I graduated with a BA in a hard science from a top LAC (which doesn't even offer BSs) and caught a lot of flak for not having a BS. Probably just an excuse not to hire.

SO TRUE. I recently graduated from Cornell with a BA in Biology. I was in the College of Arts and Sciences, which only grants BAs. You could also major in Bio in the Ag school, which grants BSs.

The Bio major operates in both colleges and is the EXACT SAME major -- same requirements, same classes, same everything. The "colleges" are mostly administrative divisions.

Then it came time to look for jobs and I realized that at nearly every single other school in this country, a BA in Bio and a BS in Bio are very different majors, and any lab job wants you to have a BS. I ended up putting on my resume an explanation of the BA, and got the first job I applied for after that. I wonder if they normally just toss out any BAs. Crazy.

I hate comparing prestige, but the College of Arts and Sciences is one of the most prestigious colleges at Cornell. So it's kind of ironic that I was being held back because my degree was more "prestigious."

Anyway, I'm looking at grad school too, but I disagree that now is the time to be in science, or at least the biomedical stuff I'm in. Basic research funding is getting slashed. PhDs are working as lab managers and in sales because they can't find research jobs. I'm going into biomed because I like it, but not because I'm dazzled by the job opportunities. Engineering is the place to be right now if you want good jobs.

My son graduated last December with a dual major in econ and business....after being a two sport athlete at his university. He worked looking for a job, like a job. He targeted the field that he wanted to be in. He went on to company websites and applied for the jobs that he was interested in. He also CALLED PEOPLE on the phone or sent emails asking questions. He always got replies from them. Within a month he had had several interviews and turned down a couple of positions that he was not interested in. But he went through with the interviews to gain experience. He spent at least three or four hours every day actively searching for jobs. He then got an interview with the company that he did want to work for. He researched it extensively and nailed each interview. It is a huge company so the interviewing process took two months. He got the job, with a good salary, a company car, bonus and ample opportunity to adance.

Treat job hunting like an actual job. Surfing the internet and checking craigslist and the big job sites is not going to get you much. Or go back and have the people at your university, who are there to help you, assist you in your search.

This is actually a decent time to job hunt, or at least talk to people. They are in the office wrapping up the year.

There are jobs out there, but they are not going to be handed to you. Work for it.

So jobs have been calling you but you are "too good" for a job that pays you based on how hard you work?

Are you only looking in your corner or all over the US? Personally, I had 3 job offers 1 year before finishing (Ph.D.) and they were the only 3 I applied for...but I had to move 1000 miles away.

Which science did you major in? Mistake number 1 was definitely getting a BA instead of a BS. It's unfortunate because there are some BA programs out there that are equivalent to a BS, but many aren't.

You should be able to find a technician level position though if you live near any sort of city at all.

Dave Wottle wrote:

So jobs have been calling you but you are "too good" for a job that pays you based on how hard you work?

Yeah OP you could go into the exciting world of annoying your friends and relatives to sell worthless products. If only there were more hard-working folks like Dave to call me up all the time to sell me knives and whole term life insurance.