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If you are making an effort that is one thing. You mention in a follow up post to mine that you were making that kind of effort. That is great. I hadn't read that you had done that in the posts that I had read. (I didn't read all of the posts.)
The only other thing I would add is to research the companies that you want to work for. Find out what they are looking for or problems that they are trying to solve. Maybe find a solution for one of those problems.
Have you thought of writing or consulting on your own? Have you written or published anything within your field? Spend time doing that on the hours that you can't look for work.
He is making steps. He needs to practice his driving, so that he can make the commute to a new job. He also needs to take some classes to improve his job hunting skills. It will be good to do a couple of speed interview sessions with 5-6 different people from the class.
Even if he chose to be an observer for a few months, it would do him good. Once he sees the growth in the students, it will give him more motivation to participate.
Have you thought of writing or consulting on your own? Have you written or published anything within your field? Spend time doing that on the hours that you can't look for work.
I'm just now thinking about that. I have made a few calls to National Geographic. I would like to publish something or do some consulting of my own. However, I need to find out out how to do consulting. I've never done it before.
I've got to think of something to publish. I actually have written something. I haven't published anything.
He is making steps. He needs to practice his driving, so that he can make the commute to a new job. He also needs to take some classes to improve his job hunting skills. It will be good to do a couple of speed interview sessions with 5-6 different people from the class.
Even if he chose to be an observer for a few months, it would do him good. Once he sees the growth in the students, it will give him more motivation to participate.
I'm doing what I can with what I've got. Right now, the internet at my house is out, and most likely will be out for a while. I'm at the library working on my resume once again, preparing it for when I go to job seminars.
I'm also trying to find ways to get into graduate school. I figure if a job doesn't come my way(and so far, nothing has come my way), the next best thing is to get back to school.
To be honest, I never wanted to go back to school, at least not until I had a year of job experience under my belt. I feel like being in school institutionalized me. Being in the university system feels more like home than outside of it.
green_mariner, I just wanted to say that I sympathize. I grew up close to you (Forsyth County) and when I graduated in 2010 and moved back home for the cheaper COL compared to where I went to school, I was shocked at the job market. Despite being English-Spanish bilingual, having taken several graduate level GIS courses, being familiar with programming, and having a decent GPA from an elite college with internship and office experience, I couldn't find anything. I went on many interviews to local fast food and grocery places, playing up my Spanish experience - but there was really no way to highlight my work experience while also leaving my college degree off my resume since I worked on campus.
Not having a car was a serious hinderance. Like you, there was no need to have a car at college so I did not get one in high school in order to save more money for college, and lived off of public transportation once I was in school. I had all the plans in the world to buy a car once I had a job offer in hand, but I couldn't afford it until I had some income coming in. The nearest bus station was 8 miles from my house - and that only went to the nearest MARTA station about 20 miles away during rush hour. Not helpful. The nearest jobs were 2 - 5 miles away. My dad was unemployed and shuttled me to job interviews, but my parents wouldn't allow me the use of their cars despite having a license. I learned not to mention my lack of a car in interviews, but the whole situation was frustrating.
3 months after I graduated, I ended up accepting a job at my alma mater, requiring that I move 1000 miles for a low paying job in a much higher cost of living area. It's been a very frustrating move from the financial side, but the Atlanta market is very weak compared to where I am now and in the past 2 years I've had little luck finding comparable work in GA.
My biggest recommendation is to compile a bookmarks folder of every town and county employment website within 50 miles. Government employment is going to be your best bet for a GIS related job - but be aware that more and more are relying on student interns (I did a big mapping project for municipal recycling in Massachusetts that was being coordinated by my town recycling director as an unpaid intern). Also find ways of developing your computers skill set. Keep your GIS skills sharp (many GIS instructors will send alumni free ArcGIS student discs if you need it) and pick up languages like XML and JavaScript. You can do JavaScript on codeacademy.com for free.
Can you blog to get your name out there? Do some for funsies GIS mapping for something in your county and blog about it. Then you have some work to show future employers even if you have to take a "for now" job. Even emailing the county planning commission to see if they have any GIS projects that you can do as an intern might be a great networking opportunity.
I had a chance to do a bit of networking. It wasn't much, but I got out of the house for a day. I have a few new contacts in the new year. Hopefully, this will help me.
green_mariner, I just wanted to say that I sympathize. I grew up close to you (Forsyth County) and when I graduated in 2010 and moved back home for the cheaper COL compared to where I went to school, I was shocked at the job market. Despite being English-Spanish bilingual, having taken several graduate level GIS courses, being familiar with programming, and having a decent GPA from an elite college with internship and office experience, I couldn't find anything. I went on many interviews to local fast food and grocery places, playing up my Spanish experience - but there was really no way to highlight my work experience while also leaving my college degree off my resume since I worked on campus.
At least we can both relate on this subject. You lived on the other side of the metro area. I'm over on the western side, about 45 minutes from the Alabama border. And like you, I worked on campus. I thought it would count for something.
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Not having a car was a serious hinderance. Like you, there was no need to have a car at college so I did not get one in high school in order to save more money for college, and lived off of public transportation once I was in school. I had all the plans in the world to buy a car once I had a job offer in hand, but I couldn't afford it until I had some income coming in. The nearest bus station was 8 miles from my house - and that only went to the nearest MARTA station about 20 miles away during rush hour. Not helpful. The nearest jobs were 2 - 5 miles away. My dad was unemployed and shuttled me to job interviews, but my parents wouldn't allow me the use of their cars despite having a license. I learned not to mention my lack of a car in interviews, but the whole situation was frustrating.
The automobile situation is a serious issue for me. I considered getting a car when I was a teenager, but then I lived in a situation where getting a car would have been convenient, but I managed to live without one. I tried to arrange it where I never lived more than 1.2 miles from campus. I did as you did. I lived off of the public transit system and figured "get a car when I have a good job". Well, that plan fell through. Now I'm in a position where it didn't really matter. No job, and I have to compete for the car with my sister. Getting driving lessons is not impossible, but it requires alot of compromise.
My mother shuttled me to one interview, into the city of Atlanta. I don't think she wants to do that ever again.
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3 months after I graduated, I ended up accepting a job at my alma mater, requiring that I move 1000 miles for a low paying job in a much higher cost of living area. It's been a very frustrating move from the financial side, but the Atlanta market is very weak compared to where I am now and in the past 2 years I've had little luck finding comparable work in GA.
At least you can relate to what I'm going through. The job market around the Atlanta area is dismal. I even got as desperate as to apply to McDonalds and to some grocery stores. I haven't heard back from any of these places. Personally, I'm more than happy to leave Georgia permanently if it means I can get a good job.
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My biggest recommendation is to compile a bookmarks folder of every town and county employment website within 50 miles. Government employment is going to be your best bet for a GIS related job - but be aware that more and more are relying on student interns (I did a big mapping project for municipal recycling in Massachusetts that was being coordinated by my town recycling director as an unpaid intern). Also find ways of developing your computers skill set. Keep your GIS skills sharp (many GIS instructors will send alumni free ArcGIS student discs if you need it) and pick up languages like XML and JavaScript. You can do JavaScript on codeacademy.com for free.
I have looked at county employment as well. I started calling my local county for employment opportunities and go nowhere. I have looked at other parts of metro Atlanta. This was a few months ago, so hopefully, employment prospects have improved. One thing I've done was try to get employment with the local parks.
You did a mapping project on recycling? I think you have given me an idea. I might need to call up a few municipalities to see what can be done, or call some people who specialize in recycling.
I'm doing what I can with GIS. I have a specialty in cartography. I'm trying to keep that up. And for computer skills, one thing that I did was bike all the way to the library to look for books on computer programming, particularly JavaScript and XML. I could not find them at the local libraries. The county I live in has 3 libraries that I know of, and their book selection isn't as big as in libraries in Cobb County or in Atlanta. For that reason, codeacademy would be helpful.
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Can you blog to get your name out there? Do some for funsies GIS mapping for something in your county and blog about it. Then you have some work to show future employers even if you have to take a "for now" job. Even emailing the county planning commission to see if they have any GIS projects that you can do as an intern might be a great networking opportunity.
I made a new blog about geography back in mid-November. So far, I haven't gotten that many page views. I also made a portfolio of some of my cartographic work and have posted it to a few places.
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green_mariner nothing yet??
