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Actually, just blunt. I assuming by your original post you asked for real advice from people who are successful in the real world. You're getting it.
Thats advice?? how is telling him he should have picked a different major helpful at all??
Lol that's like telling a person who's getting a divorce " you never should have married Him/her"
Lol Really?? What tipped you off?
Ok op go back and state specifically that you'd like to havw advice pertaining to your current situation
My apologies, in my industry if you came to a project meeting trying to solve a problem and the only suggestion you could offer was "we should have done it differently 3 years ago" your career would go nowhere
The point is that a point of diminishing returns will be reached rapidly in a job hunt where there are a very large number of unemployed, highly qualified people and where the number of jobs is decreasing day by day. Soon there will come the time to cut losses in this field and try to prepare himself for a sustainable job in some other field. Doing so may require additional training of some type.
4) do you really want to go back to school and get a job in a field simply because it may be "hot" field?? IT was hot until the bubble burst and I know quite a number of IT people who HATE, LOATHE and despise their job. You know the easiest way to become depressed?? work at a job that sucks the life outta you and then know you're stuck for 35 years doing it.
Well, would you rather work in IT or wait tables, which is how I interpret "working in the hospitality industry"?
That's curious, considering that you luckily have a degree in a very broad, versatile field. It's too bad that you didn't bother to tell us how you've been job-hunting so far. I'm wondering if you just need to re-think your search. A degree in communications would be suitable for anything across the entire spectrum of the publishing industry, plus which, every large company has a PR department.
Do you have web skills? OP, you could do website development or maintenance and other PR activities for businesses, non-profits, colleges, anyone. There are PR jobs for publications and all manner of businesses, small and large, that need someone to handle their website, twitter feed and other internet venues. You don't even necessarily have to have an office-based schedule for those types of jobs, depending on the employer's preferences. A relative of mine who didn't even major in anything related to Communications or marketing scored a job a couple of years ago doing web publicity for a Silicon Valley company that works with Google, and after a salary boost after 1 year, is making close to 6 figures.
There are scads of jobs out there you'd be qualified for. It's a matter of brainstorming, checking online job listings, and sending out resumes. I'm not saying getting hired would be easy, as you'd be competing with others who have more experience than you, but if you have experience from internships, or any kind of volunteer work, or managing your own online presence, writing for your own blog, or whatever, you can put that on your resume. If you have nothing, look at online listings for volunteer opportunities in your area, and start volunteering a few hours/week to get the experience (and potential positive recommendations!) you need to beef up your resume.
Also, you can look for periodicals that publish on topics you're interested in, that accept articles from free-lance writers, to get yourself published. If you're passionate about something, and research the topic well, and write well, it's not hard to get published, if you can find venus that deal with your topics of interest. Some of those will even pay you for your articles, others--not.
Where did you get your degree? You can use the services of the advisors in your school's job placement office, that are free to graduates. Also, check in with your department's undergrad advisor, to see if s/he might have any leads. Your school's job placement counselors can help you polish up a resume, help you focus your job search, and may have job-search skills workshops for you to take, for free.
I studied Journalism under Communications. Jobs are extremely difficult to come by in the Media world; newspapers are dying.
I have considered going to get my TEFL Certification to go abroad and teach English, but I also hear that's not a very lucrative career (depends on where you go in the world).
I'm keeping all of my options open at this point.
Journalism is changing, for sure - it is a struggling industry to get started in right now as it tries to figure out how it functions in a changing world.
I wasn't thinking teaching English abroad, because I agree that doesn't pay that well and you never quite know what you're getting into, either. Rather, I was thinking teaching in public schools right here in America - not making a hundred grand a year in most cases, but making a typical middle class wage. There is a shortage of qualified ELL educators in many places all over the country.
This forum is not a good place for advice on post-secondary education and employment. I often see that people have difficulty finding jobs due to poor job search skills. There was a person here struggling to find a job with a criminology degree. I pointed her to a couple of jobs with a state agency, she applied, and she got hired for one of those jobs.
Location: San Ramon, Seattle, Anchorage, Reykjavik
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eliza61nyc
Thats advice?? how is telling him he should have picked a different major helpful at all??
Lol that's like telling a person who's getting a divorce " you never should have married Him/her"
Lol Really?? What tipped you off?
Ok op go back and state specifically that you'd like to havw advice pertaining to your current situation
My apologies, in my industry if you came to a project meeting trying to solve a problem and the only suggestion you could offer was "we should have done it differently 3 years ago" your career would go nowhere
Not sure why you are replying to me about these as they reflect zero of the advice I have given. But, ok.
The advice I provided is valid. Get the debt paid off. Get a job, or 5 jobs, to pay off the debt and until the OP gets the job they want. Realize that California may not be the right place for them to be to find the work they trained for. Or they may not be the right person for the job. Who knows.
And the comment that kids should be happy to go into debt to get an education, only to come home after college and live with their parents until they find a job, well, that's not how I was raised or raised my very successful sons. There is absolutely no reason to go into debt for college.
Does it take hard work? Yes.
Will you have fun partying in college on someone else's dime? No.
Will you need to decide if it's better to pick a marketable skill to get educated around rather than something you love but there are no jobs? Yes.
You will also need to understand that the job you get at graduation is often determined by the work you put in during college - classes, grades, internships, job experience, charity work, etc. And theres a good chance the job you get after college may not have even existed when you started college. Things change fast.
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