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Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice, graduated in 2003.
First job out of college Front Desk Agent at a hotel.
Moved to a bigger city: Secretary to Administrative Assistant at a Special Education School
Admitting Clerk at a Hospital
Back to Administrative Assistant to Accountant I to Accountant to Grants Manager to Grants Management Specialist- this was in grant accounting which doesn't require a degree in accounting in most cases.
Received my master's in management: Associate Director of Programs (bigger title than the actual job duties).
If I had it to do all over again, I would have pursued a nursing, accounting, or engineering degree. I would have went straight from undergrad to graduate school (with the exception of nursing). Of course I wouldn't have gotten any student loans. And I would have networked more and taken advantage of other opportunities that you don't realize are important until it is too late.
First job out of college was for a logistics/warehousing company that was contracted with a F500 telecom company to manage their network of warehouses. Worked my way into a operations management role, but it didn't pay great (~$40k/yr).
Second job was as a purchasing agent/project manager for an IT firm. Made in the low-$50k range when I left.
Now I work as a data analyst, again for a telecom company making in the mid-$60ks.
Your major will matter very little. Your skils and experience will matter the most. When I graduated with my undergrad degree in 2008, I already had six years of work experience in technical roles, an internship with a politician, a CDL-B, and technical certs from a vocational school I went to in accordance with my high school.
OP did very well. For every one OP there are 1500 burger flippers.
Most people with "BA only" seem to work in government, nonprofit organizations, and middle levels of corporations and small businesses. Not a lot of burger flippers.
If you've had a conversation with an actual burger flipper recently, it was probably in a foreign language, the burger flipper probably did not finish high school in his or her home country, and does not have any other marketable skills. We have a real skills-mismatch problem in this country, but not the problem you've stated.
This brings up the point of how undervalued "soft skills" are. The skills that I have found most valuable on the job are communication skills ( writing, making presentations) that I picked up in my Political Science and History classes ,not to mention classes in English Lit and Public Speaking. I am not sure it's accurate to even call them "soft skills" as I have used them a lot more than "hard skills".
See, the problem with this is that it still perpetuates the commoditizing narrative surrounding higher education.
Which is wrong.
The value of humanities degrees is that they equip you to make a serious critique of the sociopolitical status quo, and explore possibilities for alternative models. Which is incredibly important in and of itself.
But it doesn't help the rich get richer, so their class representatives do their best to suppress these fields.
First job out of college was a cashier for a big box retail store during the Christmas holidays making 7.75 an hour. (Job was dissolved after the holiday shopping season came to a close)
The next job I had was working as a teacher aide for 14,000 a year (The job was finished after the school year ended, and I needed to make more money)
The next job I had was working at a retail big box store making 9.35 an hour. ( I left after a year because I was moving to another city 50 minutes ago and I found out a newly hired worker who was 5 years younger than me with just some college was making more money even though I had a bachelors degree) At the time I was 25.
The next job I had was subbing at a few school districts for a few years.
The next job I had in January 2012 was working as a pharmacy technician at a call center making 14 dollars an hour which was the most I had ever made at that point. I was laid off after several months since it was a temp job.
The next job I had was working as a teacher aide again for two years making 14,000 a year.
This past year I taught 4th grade and made 43,000 which was my highest salary so far. Took me 9 years to actually find a decent paying job since I had left college.
I have applied to different jobs in the past, but only got a few interviews here and there.
If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have majored in history. Interesting but useless subject in terms of employer prospects. I probably should have gone to a trade school and learn how to do something.
First job out of college was a cashier for a big box retail store during the Christmas holidays making 7.75 an hour. (Job was dissolved after the holiday shopping season came to a close)
The next job I had was working as a teacher aide for 14,000 a year (The job was finished after the school year ended, and I needed to make more money)
The next job I had was working at a retail big box store making 9.35 an hour. ( I left after a year because I was moving to another city 50 minutes ago and I found out a newly hired worker who was 5 years younger than me with just some college was making more money even though I had a bachelors degree) At the time I was 25.
The next job I had was subbing at a few school districts for a few years.
The next job I had in January 2012 was working as a pharmacy technician at a call center making 14 dollars an hour which was the most I had ever made at that point. I was laid off after several months since it was a temp job.
The next job I had was working as a teacher aide again for two years making 14,000 a year.
This past year I taught 4th grade and made 43,000 which was my highest salary so far. Took me 9 years to actually find a decent paying job since I had left college.
I have applied to different jobs in the past, but only got a few interviews here and there.
If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have majored in history. Interesting but useless subject in terms of employer prospects. I probably should have gone to a trade school and learn how to do something.
May I ask if you worked any internships or volunteer positions while pursuing your degree?
Not trying to be the downer of this thread.
But while it seems that a non-math heavy degree in something like the social sciences would be something I'm capable of, many of the available career opportunities seem to involve working with people all the time.
Better stay up to speed on my research for a better place to achieve my upward goals then.
Not trying to be the downer of this thread.
But while it seems that a non-math heavy degree in something like the social sciences would be something I'm capable of, many of the available career opportunities seem to involve working with people all the time.
Yes, human services of various types do tend to be a common vocational outcome of studying social sciences. Many of us chose social sciences largely because working with people is our preference.
Social sciences are by definition focused on society and individuals' relationships within society. Not being interested in people/in working with them would be a big thing that would preclude a person choosing this course of study.
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