Career ideas for college graduate? (job opening, applying, average, analysis)

[TheQuestioner]

I am an unemployed four-year college graduate. I am searching for all different types of jobs, but as many of you know, ALL kinds of entry-level jobs are even more fiercely competitive than experienced jobs. I wish to at least try to increase my qualifications further while continuing to search for anything to get experience, but I am having difficulty finding the type of career I most closely match relative to what employers seek in candidates for that career. Before I do that, it is difficult to pursue useful additional qualifications.

For example, with some careers I have much of what they supposedly seek, but then there is at least one major factor that automatically disqualifies me in their minds, even if that factor is a positive in another career, and in my opinion may not even be a negative for the first career. Then the second career I have another "problem" which is only a problem in that career. I have this problem with many potential careers where I only partially (or not at all) fit dominant stereotypes in the fields that I feel are interesting and match my abilities, and I encounter a high amount of negative prejudice/bias from recruiters and hiring managers as a result.

Here is (very broadly) what I enjoy and was good at in college:
Thinking, analysis, writing, research, working with qualitative and quantitative data, learning/using anything computer/technology-related.

Unfortunately, my social skills and impromptu (non-speech) verbal communication skills are below average. Both can and will improve, but the problem is there regardless. I am fine accepting/working hard in jobs that significantly involve them, but the issue is actually getting those jobs when you are going up against fraternity/sorority/athlete candidates that are much better in those areas. I am also not interested in a career with relatively bad work-life balance. Sure, most careers have become bad with work-life balance, which is all the more reason not to pursue one that is particularly worse, if you care about that (which I do).

Any career ideas or further questions/answers that may help?

[aliss2]

Honest opinion? I think much of your problem relates to an inability to communicate directly. I'm reading several paragraphs of text, and don't see where you indicate what your degree or experience is in. For the topic of "career ideas for college graduate?", being able to concisely get out those facts is important.

If your cover letter/resume/job applications don't directly state what qualifications you have and how they directly relate to the job opening, they aren't going to give it a second glance to try and see how you can fit into the profile - they'll just move on.

[TheQuestioner]

I am not taking your opinion negatively, but that is definitely not the issue, unless you are talking about verbal communication primarily. I was among the very top students in English and Professional Communication classes (including an honors-only class). But no, I am not at my best right now since I have been out of college for a while, and I can always use more improvement regardless. I specifically chose not to list my degree because I felt it would sidetrack people from the primary question: what careers do my strengths/interests/weaknesses match regardless of my old qualifications? But if you think it will help, I graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems.

[charlygal]

1. What were your plans when you chose to major in MIS?
2. When did you start looking for a job?
3. Do you have any work or internship experience?
4. What have you done so far to find a job?

You need to be more specific. Skills like thinking, analysis, writing, research, etc can be useful for a multitude of jobs.

No offense intended, but what career planning did you do while in school?

[TheQuestioner]

A large amount of planning. Many of the things I read online and heard elsewhere were incorrect. No offense taken, but I am not going to go into a long discussion about what I should or should not have done previously since that is not relevant to what I can do now. I will say that I worked very hard and took advantage of the opportunities I could. Unfortunately, due to many circumstances beyond my control, I could not pursue several potential opportunities that might have further improved my future employability. I made a few of my own mistakes too, but I can guarantee they were fewer than most (including those that have jobs), and I did not even realize them at the time, or else I would not have made them.

1. Information Technology and/or other business-related jobs, though I was not expecting to be considered for anything other than IT.
2. My final semester.
3. Limited student/campus work experience.
4. Everything except physically going into businesses and/or moving to a major city. The second one I am going to do later this year (have not had the opportunity to do so earlier), and the first I will try if necessary after I move.

[MattNguyen]

Join a Toastmasters club to improve your impromptu speech and social skills. Once your confidence is up, your social skills will improve. Right now don't worry about things like work-life balance, you are thinking too far ahead. Get your foot in the door now, get two to three years of experience and then worry about work-life balance. Join Linkedin, get connected to your classmates, see where they are working, ask if they know of any opening. From Linkedin, join job groups. Go to job fairs. Work on your interview skills with a video camera. See how you response to typical questions and try to improve. Do research on topics relating to the field that you want to work in. I don't know much about information technology but you could do research on topics such as data security. Write a 20 page research on this topic and try to know everything about it. How networks get attacked, what are ways to prevent attacks, know about software, hardware, ....Do research on at least three to five topics so during the interview, you sound like you are knowledgeable and you will impress the interviewers because how many entry level candidates have done research like you have.

[unspeakable]

It is not just for profit employers that are discriminating. I have found that many service programs specifically AmeriCorps too give a upper hand to rich kids. Your best bet is to keep applying to jobs that will give you just the right experience to get you to where you want.

I also have heard good stories about using linkedin