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I do not regret going to college, because I would probably be in much worse financial circumstances. I entered college a few months after a fire wiped out my parents' house, and they decided to retire. I couldn't live with them, and the money I had earned from working as a waitress was spent on rent in only a few short months. College was a life-saver. It gave me a nice warm place to stay, people to visit, and connections and opportunities I would not have gotten any other way. It also taught me that I wasn't a dummy. I made average grades in high school, but I did great in college. Gone were situations I faced in high school that impeded my achievement; I didn't have to go to class eight hours per day, could take a lunch break whenever I wanted, did not live in fear of bullies, felt no need to avoid my teachers, could get tutoring for free, and lived so close to campus that I could actually go home and nap before the next class! It was an awesome experience. Without it, I think my opinion of people would still be stuck in high school. I would probably be afraid of authority, and I just wouldn't feel really good about myself.
One thing I do regret, though, is financing it with student loans. I should have been more diligent in looking for a job or enrolling in work-study. Working while in college would have given me a better sense of responsibility and possibly would have provided more opportunities for me after graduation. I should have looked into it more carefully and not just made excuses. I could have done tutoring on the work-study program, and I also could have done substitute teaching with an associate's degree here, so I could have earned a pretty substantial income while in college had I taken more initiative. I regret that I didn't substitute teach as an undergraduate for so many reasons. I never had a chance to actually experience the classroom until I got to student teaching, and it was too late to change my mind, then. I feel like waiting so late to start subbing may be one of the reasons I haven't found a teaching position. I should have started working with elementary school students fresh out of high school.
I can say honestly that being out of college for almost 9 years and continuing to take on low paying jobs isn't helping my current situation of trying to find something better. I don't know if employers are looking at the jobs I've held and tossing my resume in the trash because the jobs I've done are low pay/low skill jobs. I even had my resume looked at by several people and have changed a few things on it.
I've applied for jobs in the Dallas area where I live, applied for jobs at the college I went to down in Houston, applied for jobs in Houston, applied for jobs in Austin. I even applied for a job in Virginia back in October.
At this point at age 32 I don't know what to do anymore. Even the principal at the school I work for told me a few months ago that I need to move on to a better paying job than what I'm doing now doing. I'm not looking for a high paying job, just looking for a job that at least pays 30,000 a year if not a little more.
I am in Dallas also. I have no degree, but I have a decent resume and interviewing skills.
Have you done 100 practice interviews with different people in the last month? That's about one practice interview a day. It has been a big help for me.
I am in Dallas also. I have no degree, but I have a decent resume and interviewing skills.
Have you done 100 practice interviews with different people in the last month? That's about one practice interview a day. It has been a big help for me.
Not a math major I'm guessing
That is good advice though--practice interviewing with people that do interviews though. Listen to what they say.
That is good advice though--practice interviewing with people that do interviews though. Listen to what they say.
Argh. I edited my post from 3 months to 1 month, but I didn't change the math to 3 interviews/day.
I took a career skills class back in 2008. We did 20-25 interviews a week. It was the interviewing version of speed dating. It was absolutely amazing. When you get your resume and interview reviewed 100 times a month, the real job interview is so much easier.
I had weaknesses with being too nervous, stuttering, etc. After 2-3 months of these interviews, I spoke like a normal person. The stutter was gone. My voice was more natural in interviews. The interviews were more of a back and forth exchange than a one-sided conversation.
I landed 2 job interviews. Both managers wanted to hire me. In the past, I failed every interview due to my previous issues. In the end, I had offers for a $12.5k raise and $25k raise.
If I were laid off again, I would do another 100-interview challenge to brush up.
Do you like teaching? What about getting certified to teach? You have way too many jobs on your resume bu you can't really drop them off or they will wonder what was up. Focus on getting a better job in the school you are at--or at least staying with that job for another couple years. The problem is, employers know how much aids and retail workers make. They aren't going to hire you for a job that pays $50,000/year just because you want the job. You need to show that you are working your way up in your current job and can stay some place more than a year or two.
I'm not looking for a job that pays 50,000 dollars. I am looking for a job that pays around 30-35,000 a year in which I can continue to gain more skills, get more knowledge/experience, and move up. I can't get a better job at the school district. The teacher aide job I have pays 14,000 a year.......I'm overqualified for the position. My principals know I'm overqualified for the job, which is why one of them told me a few months ago to move on to something better that pays.
There's not a way to continue to work at my current job and move up. It's a dead end job with no growth. Next year if I continue to work at this job, I'll get paid 14,000. The year after that if I'm still there I might make about 14,500. This is my second year at the job. I previously worked as a substitute teacher at the same school district from 2009 until the end of 2011 before getting a contract job as a pharmacy technician. It's also the same school district I went to as a kid (if that means anything).
Again, I'm looking for something that pays about 30-35,000. I'm not looking for a job that pays 50,000. I'm not to that point yet. I'd be happy if I got made 33,000 a year. I've never made that before.
I am in Dallas also. I have no degree, but I have a decent resume and interviewing skills.
Have you done 100 practice interviews with different people in the last month? That's about one practice interview a day. It has been a big help for me.
I've had practiced interviews with people. They say I'm good at interviews.
My problem is no one is calling me for an interview.......
The last interview I had was 4 weeks ago at a grocery store I applied for was a pharmacy technician position. Even though the position I applied for had been filled, they offered a part time position as a gas station clerk at the gas station right next to the store for 7.50 an hour. I politely declined, gave them my resume, shook their hands, and said to give me consideration when pharmacy technician position opens up at their store.
That was my last interview. The previous interview I had was for a retail store back in August of this past year.
I've had practiced interviews with people. They say I'm good at interviews.
My problem is no one is calling me for an interview.......
The last interview I had was 4 weeks ago at a grocery store I applied for was a pharmacy technician position. Even though the position I applied for had been filled, they offered a part time position as a gas station clerk at the gas station right next to the store for 7.50 an hour. I politely declined, gave them my resume, shook their hands, and said to give me consideration when pharmacy technician position opens up at their store.
That was my last interview. The previous interview I had was for a retail store back in August of this past year.
If you are not getting phone calls, you have not done enough interviews. How many people did you have practice interviews with this month? There can be a quite a difference from doing 10/month and 100/month. They will have you constantly improving the resume to get the calls. It can mean getting 1 call a month or getting 2-3 calls a week.
My resume highlights the jobs I've done with the skills that I use/have picked up in that job.
For example, this is my current job and what I am doing currently in the job:
Teacher Aide Mesquite Independent School District
Mesquite,TX August 2012-Present
Assisted the teacher of record with daily functions of the classroom including monitoring behavior and assessing knowledge using higher order thinking strategies.
Educated students on current learning objectives adding on previous learned material.
Communicated with staff on current objective goals for students.
Assisted with morning and afternoon duties.
Substituted classrooms while teaching staff werein meetings.
Officially on my resume I have 5 jobs listed. Unofficially, I have a lot more jobs I have left off because they were seasonal/temporary. I had a job as a sales associate for a retail store that opened up from August until early Ocotober of 2013 that I didn't put in my resume. I was let go because the store wasn't making that much money. I only worked there on the weekends.
Some of the jobs I have applied since last month are the following:
-Pharmacy Technician (I dropped off my resume a few days ago after getting off from the school I work at)
-Administrative Assistant III-Texas Parks and Wild Life
-Customer Service Representative IV-Texas Parks and Wild Life
-Office Assistant II- University of Houston(that is the college I went to)
-Scheduling Clerk-Baylor Health Hospital
-Clerk Assistant II-Dallas County
-Janitor-Dallas ISD
-Traffic Assistant-CBS Radio
History has always been a tough major and I speak from experience because after doing the grad school route and teaching for a while, I decided "there's no future in this" and did something else (ie, computer programming). Are you interested in working in the history field in some capacity or are you open to other sectors such as sales or teaching? If you are interested in the history field, have you considered volunteering at a local history museum to demonstrate your continued interest in your field of study and to build contacts? If you are interested in teaching, have you considered private schools, which do not necessarily require teaching certificates?
You need to assess your skills. Most history majors can think logically/coherently and write well. From your posts, it seems that you do, and those are good skills to have. Are you a "people person", ie, can you speak in front of a group? make eye contact with people? deal calmly with annoying/angry people? know when to speak/when to hold your peace? work with a group of people to get things done? Those are all skills that make you a "people person", and if that's you, advertise it on your resume/cover letter.
What "hard skills" do you have? With only a BA in history, you probably do not have experience doing original research using primary sources, but you may have picked up more practical skills. SPSS is a very useful statistical package. One of the most important software packages you can learn is MS OFFICE, especially the Outlook, Word, and EXCEL components. I don't think you can get hired as an admin assistant these days without being proficient in these packages, and many clerical jobs want you know Word and especially EXCEL as well. If you know these packages, practice with them until you can do lots of complicated. If you don't know these tools, many CCs offer them as credit free courses at a relatively low price, and learning them is well worth the cost.
For your resume, I would write these differently:
Quote:
Assisted the teacher of record with daily functions of the classroom including monitoring behavior and assessing knowledge using higher order thinking strategies.
Educated students on current learning objectives adding on previous learned material.
Communicated with staff on current objective goals for students.
Assisted with morning and afternoon duties.
Substituted classrooms while teaching staff werein meetings.
Mine would be more like this because yours sound too much like "ed speak", ie jargon which doesn't fly with most potential employers:
Quote:
Assisted teachers in the classroom with disciple and assessment
Helped students master new material and review previous material
Kept teachers/staff apprised of students' progress
Assisted teachers with[list 2 or 3 duties here]
Substituted in classrooms while teachers were in meetings
When I turn on the world news, a newspaper, or read articles on the internet posted by Forbes, the Washington Post, USA Today, or some other media outlet that talks about current college graduates aren't fairing too well in the current job climate, then that means things aren't to bright for people. Don't really think it's an amazing opportunity to be working at a gas station for 8 dollars an hour with a bachelors degree, not unless the degree holder in question wanted to work at a gas station or is just plain lazy on going about and trying to find a position that requires or prefers a college degree.
All of the media sources you noted are for profit news sources that understand that negativity and controversy draws ratings and traffic to their medium.
Note that the statistics are not saying that the majority of college graduates end up where you described. If you or I were to form an opinion of any issue, solely on the "information" sources you mentioned, a full picture of any topic covered would be missing.
Things are not too bright for a lot of people, in our current economy at this time.
College taught me (among other things) how to sort out relevant information from large piles of data that many people incorrectly connect. The proper term would be causation. Are people described in a certain position because they went to college? The answer is usually no. For every negative story there is one about a person who graduated from college, and used the experience to realize opportunities that would never have been possible without college.
In many more cases going to college has created the opportunity for people to live a (positive) reality that was not possible before they went. Why the sources you mentioned do not flood their headlines with positive stories is beyond me, but such stories are available.
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