Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Here is something that schools don't tell you. Your degree actually become stale after some time of not working in the field after school. The time limit is right about 3 years.
3 years? More like 3 months. It may be possible to get a job that uses your degree after 1 year, but you won't be competitive for any good jobs that use your degree after that period.
Yes, sometimes if you are starting a new career you take the job anywhere it is. The OP's daughter doesn't sound incredibly proactive though so will probably continue her current job. That might be the real issue. Or maybe they finished the degree and don't like the work but don't want to confess that to mom.
Maybe so. I looked myself and saw a software support position for env sci software, in Ashville NC. So that's something that's not even "in the field" and maybe that's not her cup of tea either, but There are a lot of worse places to live than Asheville and it buys some time if she doesn't want to do fieldwork and wants to get her foot in the door.
To KonaldDuth's point, this may be true too, but I'd exhaust all the possibilities first before throwing in the towel. What's done is done.
3 years? More like 3 months. It may be possible to get a job that uses your degree after 1 year, but you won't be competitive for any good jobs that use your degree after that period.
Well, one's hirability does decrease significantly after the first 3 months, but I would argue that it's not impossible to get a job after the 3 months period. That said, after 3 years, it would take an act of god to convince an employer that your degree is still any good.
My daughter has friends with that degree or similar & they got jobs with their county's vector control...career path, good benefits. Another one is working with the government to restore polluted areas (marshlands, beaches, etc.) to their original condition & has even started his own consulting business. He is also pursuing a Master's in that field...your daughter may need to do that.
I am not sure anyone said useless, but she has no practical experience and apparently such limited knowledge about the field itself that she doesn't even know where to begin a job search. If she begins to volunteer somewhere she can get experience and see what she does and doesn't like. I would not start a masters program without experience because then all you get is more education and still no experience.
By all means, if she can find somewhere to volunteer related to her major to build experience, of course she should do it. I recommended the master's because with environmental science, you tend to gain experience through field work and there is plenty of that with this major. Even at bachelor's level, there is generally a lot of required field work. It would help make her more competitive towards jobs and if not, at least an internship.
As others have recommended, she should get in touch with her university and find out if the department has heard from any companies trying to recruit. Usually they e-mail you these things. Actually, has she contacted them to see if any professors are conducting any research she can be a part of?
3 years? More like 3 months. It may be possible to get a job that uses your degree after 1 year, but you won't be competitive for any good jobs that use your degree after that period.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroWord
Well, one's hirability does decrease significantly after the first 3 months, but I would argue that it's not impossible to get a job after the 3 months period. That said, after 3 years, it would take an act of god to convince an employer that your degree is still any good.
3 months!? Is this also true with experienced employees? 9 months seems to be the average time to get a job these days.
0 - 3 months to get a job is expected
3 - 6 months.. not ideal, but still not too shabby
6 - 12 months... it's getting there
12+ months looks more suspicious, and you should be prepared to ask why you've been out of work for so long.
I don't know much about env. sci. degrees, but at least with some tech jobs, you can always do work on your own time, even if it isn't experience from an actual degree from a job. Should be akin to volunteer work.
She could check into public sector positions in areas such as water/wastewater treatment (inspectors) and the health dept., say for restaurant inspectors. Those are 2 ideas that come to mind.
^This. My sister also graduated with an environmental science degree. It took her awhile but eventually she was able to get a job with the city (water treatment) and has moved up into management over the years. The pay was not very good at first (she had a second part-time job since she lived alone and had a lot of things to pay on) but now she has a house, travels, etc.
Her problem is she doesnt know what to do with it ,doesnt know what job categories to apply for.
Shes been out of school for 3 years now and has been working as a non emergency dispatch operator for the local city, she finds the job boring and wants to move on..
Any suggestions to help her out?
Three big companies that do environmental cleanup and compliance that she could apply to, off the top of my head. These are large nation-wide to world wide companies but there are tons of small firms, too. If she is interested in environmental cleanup, best states are NJ, CA, and MA as the state standards are very strict which means clean ups take more time and are more involved.
Tetra Tech
AECOM
AMEC Foster & Wheeler
Could also try government agencies like EPA, health department, state environmental protection agency, etc.
3 months!? Is this also true with experienced employees? 9 months seems to be the average time to get a job these days.
0 - 3 months to get a job is expected
3 - 6 months.. not ideal, but still not too shabby
6 - 12 months... it's getting there
12+ months looks more suspicious, and you should be prepared to ask why you've been out of work for so long.
No, that doesn't hold true for experienced workers. I was talking about straight out of college degree.
For experienced workers, it's a bit more complicated than that. One can be out of the loop for many years and still get hired. While the determining factor for straight out of college degrees without any experience in the said field is time, the determining factor for experienced workers that's been unemployed is what they've done during the long stretch of unemployment.
Believe it or not, employers give a lot of break to stay-at-home mom and dad professionals.
If you are a long term unemployed professional, just make sure you can answer coherently what you've been doing without sounding like you're making up excuses.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
