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I'd love to do something with history. The dream was to work as a historian with the National Parks Department. I've applied to a few entry-level historian positions, but I guess competition is fierce, since I never heard anything back.
I'll stick with temp agencies for now.
That's not a bad plan. You'll have some income, gain experience and meet people. Treat every temp assignment like a long-term job interview. Show up on time, dress appropriately, treat everyone well and stay late if necessary. They might end up hiring you, or might refer you to someone else.
Is there a national park close to where you live? Could you volunteer there doing history tours? Is there a local historical society you could join or volunteer with?
How are your grammar, spelling and punctuation skills? They look fine on here, but if you have doubts, work on that. A typo or misspelling on a job application, resume, or cover letter can be all it takes to not be considered.
Where were these MBA students enrolled at? I'd hazard to guess that most of these "MBAs" went to outstanding universities like: Devry, University of Phoenix, University of Maryland University College, American University, etc.
I wouldn't expect an imbecile incapable of getting into at least a top 25 business school to be able to write beyond the third grade level. It's really hilarious that people cry about having no jobs when they get crappy MBAs from schools that are below target. I wouldn't consider an MBA below the Emory/Northwestern/GT level.
Academia is a tough but different cookie to crack. I am glad that I no longer have to crank out 20 page research papers. Kudos to those that do it on a consistent basis and get published.
However, rant aside, I love reading/writing. Many business majors cannot write proficiently or even understand how to formulate a basic argument (or even a report for that matter) and back it up with facts. Hence why quantitatively strong degrees like Finance/Accounting strongly surpass those like Management/General Business. I'd rather work with an English major in that aspect.
Well I don't know if it's that bad. I think that some of this can generally be filtered by asking for a writing assignment. I'd also say that having other things like volunteering, interning and publishing/researching can help. I personally know someone in IT that's been at the same place for practically 13 years now and it is where he went to school and he interned there. Unless he diversifies it would be impossible to find something else. I'm thinking of recommending to him outreaching to small businesses to build websites and mobile apps.
unless you go to law school, get a teaching certificate (even this is a long shot), or your just connected then your history degree is worth no more than the frame you put it in to hang over the toilet. In fact all liberal arts degrees are the same, as is general business degrees, marketing degrees etc. So many people go into these fields, but so few jobs. The millennial generation bought into the college nonsense whole heartedly and not they are having to face the reality that they were lied too. All of us will pay for these lies, when the millenials default in mass they will trigger an economic crises like the housing bubble. How can we blame them for this, they were lied to at 18, listen to "responsible adults" took out this debt and went to school as they were told to do. Our middle class jobs are gone, they are in China and little will change that now. The future of this nation is very bleak, when the credit runs out and the world wakes up to our money printing scam our standard of living will be wiped out overnight. Americans are not the kind of people to just accept this, so I truly fear what will come at that point. Needless to say however, the millenials are NOT at fault for their job predicament, they are victims of their parents and grandparents foolishness and greed.
took me all but 1 minute to look up a random job and qualifications:
"High school diploma/GED and three years related required. Bachelor’s Degree in archaeology, art, art history, museum studies or a related field strongly preferred. Additional education can be substituted for experience to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula. "
yeah...impossible
They are harder than they seem. Even though the qualifications are straightforward, most are filled via connections because plenty of people, want to work in museums. They usually hire their interns and get a ton of resumes.
I have one of those "liberal arts degrees" as well.
My first job post college was as a PR intern. PR agencies are always hiring. They typically want good writers with good GPAs from decent to good schools.
Things that are always hiring: management training for insurance companies (like Farmers) and Enterprise Rent A Car. These jobs are training to be a franchisee if you will. They start with low pay and offer rapid advancement.
If you have a good relationship with your old boss at the library, see if s/he can help get you into an admin job at your former college. They usually pay decent and have good benefits.
I finished school right when the dot com bust was gearing up. So I went from having a pretty good job, to a few dead-end jobs. The best tip I can give you is to make yourself more useful, even in crappy roles. I ended up in sales, then marketing, and now I am working in marketing, in an in-demand segment.
Dear OP, most people on this thread don't know what they are talking about...the best advice I've read so far if you don't like job hunting is to go to law school...if the person who posted that were right here I would shake his/her hand and pat them on the back
Right now, there are way to many law school graduates and not enough jobs. The OP will go into major debt with no guarantee of a job. When I graduated from law school, jobs with decent firms were few and far between even then. What saved me was having an undergraduate degree in engineering and science as I now work as Patent Agent for a law firm but I don't practice as a lawyer.
Here is a list of the best 129 degrees to be able to put them to work. The ones like Petroleum Engineers, are in such demand they can write their own ticket, and about $100,000 or more to start with a BS degree.
On the other hand as you move down the chart, you find more competition, and less demand, which means you may get a job at about $30,000 or even less at the bottom.
As you look down the chart, History majors don't really make the list, as there are many with the degrees and almost no jobs.
When you look at the jobs you are applying for, you are in competition with people that have something to offer, and they get the jobs. Lets look at the jobs you applied for.
I've APPLIED TO JOBS like administrative assistant. You have no training or experience to fill such a job. The one that is hired, is going to have experience in doing this job.
human resources assistant, Again, they are going to hire someone that has experience and understands what the job entails.
secretary, Again, this is a position, that needs someone that is experienced, or has taken some training in a business school.
assistant librarian, library tech, There are a lot more people with a degree in library science than there are jobs, and they fight over those that come open.
circulation manager, This is a job, for someone with experience. Not for someone that walked in off of the street with a History degree.
Again, each of those, has a lot of unemployed people with degrees in those fields, or lots of experience.
investigator with the ccrb, Of course they hire people with criminal justice degrees for this type of position.
technical writer, junior underwriter, paralegal and admissions counselor/adviser. I'm not picky. =/ My wife was a certified paralegal. She went to a university program to get her education. It is not a job, that anyone can just come in off of the street and do.
You say you are not picky, but you want a job that needs training and/or experience. You want a nice clean quality job. But the jobs don't want you as you are finding out. The majoprioty of the time, you will be eliminated by a computer, and your application will not even be read by a human. You are going to have to start at the bottom, just like a high school graduate. You took a degree, that has no demand for employees, and is worthless in the business world you are trying to enter. If you want a better job, you can take classes to prepare for a better job. The don't have to be a 4 year program. But they need to be relevant to the job you want.
Oldtrader may have been a bit harsh but I believe that he is correct.
The bottom line is you graduated with a degree that rightly or wrongly is seen as "useless" in the eye of many an employer. Thus the history degree alone with no outside experience will probably not get you much bites when it comes to job hunting, now we can say that for any degree ("the accounting grad with no experience, the engineering grad with no experience etc...") but it really hits home for the liberal arts grads.
And yes while there are other jobs out there aside from "history" related jobs i.e... jobs directly tied to your major- they are no sure thing as well. I have looked up/ applied to many Administrative Assistant, Communications Assistant, Marketing Assistant, mail clerk, copy writer's assistant etc... really any type of entry level office job and nearly all of them want prior experience along with a college degree ,college degree in really anything, but the experience requirement is paramount.
Now while there are still jobs out there that are actually entry level, willing to take on someone with little to no experience and not "2-3 years experience needed but lets call it entry level anyway" , they are the exception rather than the rule.
At this point if you cannot find a job directly related to your degree I would recommend volunteering, interning, taking an opportunity even if it has nothing to do with History. Right now your goal is to make yourself valuable to future employers and in spite of what the career advisor may have said in college, a History degree by itself does not really impress. Right now your goal is to gain experience, to gain references on that resume, to build up a work history.
Actually, minimum requirements are not reflective of actual hiring trends. You really can't get a job in a museum these days unless you've got a Master's degree and at least one internship, because competition is fierce.
I didn't really have much of a game plan, but I was always told that liberal arts majors could go into any field after graduation.
Okaaaaaaaaaay... I didn't read past this point, so maybe this has already been covered. But seriously? You need to GROW UP. You, and you alone, chose your major and completed the necessary coursework and chose not to do internships or narrow your focus towards an a particular career or field. Put on your big person pants, show some initiative, and stop blaming others for what you, as an adult of sound mind, chose to do.
No one's going to hire you because you are immature. You don't even take responsibility for your own actions, how can any company expect you to work responsibly for them? News flash: You are not entitled to any job simply because you went to school and got a degree. Stop thinking that you are.
As for most of the jobs you've applied to...no. They want people who have degrees specific to those fields, have work experience or relevant intern experiences, and can show initiative and desire to actually work. Not people who sit around expecting their amazing "state school" degree to pull in piles of job offers.
Maybe this has already been said, but regardless, you really need to hear this.
ETA: I went through and scanned the rest of the thread. Temp agencies will probably be your best bet. They are basically "entry level" nowadays. You can't expect to be coddled. The jobs that you are after, many, many others are after too. You currently have no competitive edge since you never bothered to formulate a plan. Just get your foot in the door somewhere, hopefully you like it, and move in/up from there. Be realistic about the types of jobs you stand a chance getting...
I know I sound harsh, but I absolutely can not stand when I hear/see things like, "I was told to do this.." past the age of 18. At some point you need to hold yourself accountable.
Last edited by nostoneunturned; 08-08-2014 at 06:12 PM..
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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In my experience employers want certain skills. My bachelors degree would have been worthless without 6 hours of GIS, even though I only use Microstation at work. A two year degree with skill classes can often be as good as a bachelors degree that required no skill classes
Put on your big person pants, show some initiative, and stop blaming others for what you, as an adult of sound mind, chose to do.
No one's going to hire you because you are immature. You don't even take responsibility for your own actions, how can any company expect you to work responsibly for them? News flash: You are not entitled to any job simply because you went to school and got a degree. Stop thinking that you are.
As for most of the jobs you've applied to...no. They want people who have degrees specific to those fields, have work experience or relevant intern experiences, and can show initiative and desire to actually work. Not people who sit around expecting their amazing "state school" degree to pull in piles of job offers.
That statement was never intended to place blame on others. I was merely expressing my general understanding of the state of liberal arts majors as I had come to know it from the various articles and sources that I have sought out. And I did hear this expressed from several adult authority figures as well - that nobody cares what your major is after college. Can you honestly tell me you have not repeatedly heard this refrain? Because it was all I heard my senior year of high school and freshman year of college from adults who supposedly knew better.
I didn't just "sit around," I worked all through college, summers included. My parents could not afford to support me, and it was very important that I dedicate my time to earning good money rather than taking on unpaid internships (that's not even mentioning how unpaid internships are an inherently classist system that lock out people who simply cannot afford to work for free - but that's another can of worms I won't open right now).
I never said I went to an amazing state school. I said I went to a decent state school. I guess this needs repeating; I don't think I made it clear enough before. My school is very average, with an average reputation and an average career services office. I chose this school over the more selective ones I was admitted to because I could afford it (and thankfully, mercifully, I graduated completely debt-free, and I am so immensely grateful for that). It's true, I did hold the belief that a BA was still the ticket to the middle-class, but I realized too late that the BA is the new high school diploma in this job market. I guess I also thought on-the-job training was still a thing that existed.
Most of the information I'm getting on this thread about liberal arts degrees being unwanted or totally useless seems either really outdated or incredibly recent, because I've never heard nor read much of it (and I read a lot on this issue, though perhaps I'm reading the wrong sources?). I think I phrased the question to this thread incorrectly, because I never meant to ask if my history degree is useless, but whether the fact that I have no internships will hurt me in a significant way. The question was meant to provoke a discussion on internships, not liberal arts degrees, but now that I'm re-reading my original post, I can see that I phrased the question terribly.
In any case just today I was asked to come in to an interview for a pretty great position totally unrelated to history, so now I just have to ensure I am a good interviewee. I'll update this thread with more details for the curious once I find out if I'm accepted or rejected from the position.
Last edited by midnight_firefly; 08-08-2014 at 11:41 PM..
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