Pgh Jobs- Too may Highly Qualified,not enough jobs (Pittsburgh: rent, student loan)

[trackstar13]

Katiana

I am aware of everything you posted and I was referring to two things in my previous post:

1) I believe there will be growth in healthcare administration in the Pittsburgh area, partially due to Obamacare, but mainly due to the older population and Pittsburgh becoming a destination for those seeking top rated healthcare services.

2) PA and Pittsburgh in general have seen a recent proliferation of healthcare based majors and thus a significant number of college graduates in these fields. I mentioned most of these above and currently the Pittsburgh region is graduating huge numbers of the majors I mentioned previously. Many of these fields are "new" and necessary, but eventually the supply will outpace demand just like the teaching field.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by expdxer

A masters degree doesn't guarantee a job, either. I interviewed for more than one research assistant job in NYC just about seven years ago and I have a masters degree. Didn't get them. Ended up with a publishing job that paid even less. The competition for jobs like these has always been tough. Remember, 2006 was when the economy was supposedly good. My degree is in urban planning, btw. Not as useless as a philosophy degree but close.

I too am an untapped urban planner who lucked out and ended up in finance after a few years of suffering. Applied to jobs all across the US.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by jay5835

Let's ask Acronym Finder.

PMP - Definition by AcronymFinder

I still don't know which it is. Pesticide Management Plan maybe, since so many employees are pests?

Originally Posted by track2514

Katiana

I am aware of everything you posted and I was referring to two things in my previous post:

1) I believe there will be growth in healthcare administration in the Pittsburgh area, partially due to Obamacare, but mainly due to the older population and Pittsburgh becoming a destination for those seeking top rated healthcare services.

2) PA and Pittsburgh in general have seen a recent proliferation of healthcare based majors and thus a significant number of college graduates in these fields. I mentioned most of these above and currently the Pittsburgh region is graduating huge numbers of the majors I mentioned previously. Many of these fields are "new" and necessary, but eventually the supply will outpace demand just like the teaching field.

Points taken, but let me add:

There are places that have far more going on in health care than just providing care to the residents. Pittsburgh is one of those. It's a teaching/research center. It's possible the health care will lose that bloom at some point in time, but I don't think it's going to happen soon. The only "new" field you mentioned is physician's assistant, and even they've been around since 1965. I agree they're becoming much more prolific.

Physician Assistant Profession FAQ

[ML North]

Originally Posted by jay5835

Let's ask Acronym Finder.

PMP - Definition by AcronymFinder

The acronym finder won't tell you this, Jay and Katiana, but a PMP is someone within an engineering or construction company who calls you and yells at you for not being able to meet the schedule/budget they dreamed up when selling a job. AKA a "Project Management Professional".

A PMP will also frequently call you and ask for a "status update" and generally have no clue what you're talking about when explaining your work to them. They smile and nod their heads, but you can always tell that they want to choke you if you're more than an hour over budget . Haha.

Jokes aside, PMP is just a certification for project managers. Just as engineers can get a Professional Engineer (PE) license, project managers can get a PMP.

[sealie]

If I remember correctly, you can't sit for the PMP exam without having project management experience. Naturally most job postings for a project manager either require or strongly recommend that you have a PMP.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I still don't know which it is. Pesticide Management Plan maybe, since so many employees are pests?

Points taken, but let me add:

There are places that have far more going on in health care than just providing care to the residents. Pittsburgh is one of those. It's a teaching/research center. It's possible the health care will lose that bloom at some point in time, but I don't think it's going to happen soon. The only "new" field you mentioned is physician's assistant, and even they've been around since 1965. I agree they're becoming much more prolific.

Physician Assistant Profession FAQ

Katiana

You are not getting the point at all, there are some great things happening in Pittsburgh in terms of medical research and healthcare, but there is also a proliferation of physical therapists (with doctoral degrees), physician's assistants (with advanced education), etc. There will eventually be a point in time where in the near future that there will be more physical therapy graduates, more physician's assistants, etc. than the area can support. Also, before you try and make the argument that Pittsburgh can educate huge numbers of physical therapists and send them elsewhere, how is that working for education majors? Other cities are adding programs in physical therapy and other health related professions. My point is simple, there is a saturation point for health profession graduates in the Pittsburgh area and whether you like it or not the market will eventually be saturated.

[Katarina Witt]

Physical therapy is not a "new" profession and a doctorate is the entry into practice requirement now. There is only one MSPT program left. PTs work in hospitals, rehab centers and freestanding clinics everywhere. I don't know if there is an oversupply of PTs in Pittsburgh or anywhere else. All the PTs who graduated from PT school with my daughter who want to be employed, are, to the best of my knowledge. (She went to the U of CO.)

Physical Therapist (PT) Education Overview

Physician Assistant programs are hard to get into; I believe there are fewer slots than there are for med school. PAs go on to work with physicians in private practice. There is a need for these practitioners everywhere, especially in areas of physician shortage, e.g. rural areas and low-income areas.

[TechCom]

Originally Posted by MissShona

1) Did you pass the CPA exam?
2) What type of work are you looking for.

No, I don't have the money to apply for the test right now. I want to be a staff accountant, but I've applied for lots of bookkeeping and clerk jobs. I tried Accountemps, but they weren't very helpful.

Originally Posted by juliegt

Go west young man/woman(?)! A friend's daughter is graduating with a degree in accounting, not sure if she's taken the CPA exam yet, but she has a bunch of great job offers. Excellent starting pay, 5 weeks paid vacation...

I wanted to leave Pittsburgh for the longest time, but not anymore. I want to stay here.

Originally Posted by Copanut

Would that situation change if you PASSED the exam and became a CPA?

It would be helpful, but employers still want experience, beyond my 5months of bookkeeping. It takes like a year of effort to pass the CPA exam, so it doesn't much matter now.

[CortlandGirl79]

It's funny where life and work experience will take you. I went to college for two years (while I worked at Giant Eagle part-time). I was pulling mostly C's because I didn't really want to be there. Then I got hired at a local manufacturing company building battery harnesses for GM vehicles.

Starting out my pay was instantly doubled ($11/hr which, when adjusted for inflation = $14/hr today) plus I got great benefits. We got pay raises every year and profit sharing. Five years later I applied and interviewed for an internal position in engineering. By this time I was making around $18/hr. The nice thing about my company was that you could be a union hourly employee and get a non-traditional job in accounting, engineering, or other administrative positions where you could do a salary-type of job, but still be hourly and in the union. This was a bonus because they didn't treat the salary employees that great, but they had to do right by us because of our contract.

I ended up getting the position and I was trained on the job. I guess my title would have been Electrical Component Technician. These are jobs that a college grad would have had back in the 1980s. We performed electrical tests on terminal interfaces, so I prepped samples, soldered together a circuit, ran electricity through the samples for a specified amount of time and took measurements. Then the samples would go through environmental factors and measurements would be taken again. After all the testing was done we had to write technical reports. Not too bad for an unskilled, uneducated factory worker, huh?

Anyway, when the auto industry went down I took a buyout and went back to school to finish my degree in business management. When I left my "factory job" I was making around $50k/year. When I graduated from college at the end of 2008 there was nothing out there for me and I was determined to stay in the Youngstown area, even though it meant I would probably never make $50k again. So I had to start at the bottom. I ended up getting a job in the office of a nursing home 30 minutes away. I did accounts receivable, made collection calls, verified insurance and called to make sure claims were paying. The job was awful and I made $11/hr. I then got promoted to "Office Manager" at our Assisted Living facility and it was supposed to be a good pay increase. Well, I ended up getting a ton of work dumped on me and after 2 years I was making $12.50 w/no hope for anymore raises. I was exhausted and depressed. It was awful! I then made it my mission to get a new job closer to home.

After applying for several jobs online I got hired as an Accounting Assistant at a local steel mill. The HR Director and the company President were very impressed w/my work history and they thought it showed that I was flexible and could learn to do anything if trained. So now I do accounts payable and answer the phone. My workload is much lighter, stress is pretty much non-existant, and I made $34k last year (which is pretty good when you live in the cheapest location in the nation). I also have great benefits and we get monthly bonuses based on the amount of steel the company ships out. Our company has had record years the last two years and they even give me a 6.5% match on the 7% I put in my 401k.

Now I know $34k probably isn't much to a lot of people here, but that coupled w/raises and benefits is more than worth it for a single girl like me. I might not be able to go out and buy the latest fashion or eat out a lot, but I live within my means and sacrificing now will pay off for me later. I drive a 2 year old Chevy Equinox that I'll be paying off early and I was lucky enough to buy myself a beautifully updated ranch condo for $110k last summer. I live in a great community w/excellent schools. My condo is 1650 sq/ft, it has 2 bedrooms and a loft, 2.5 baths, a 2 car garage, screened in porch, patio and a big yard that I don't have to maintain. I guess Youngtown/Warren isn't all that bad. If i can do it here then surely you overqualified people in the Burgh can work it out. Think outside the box.

[MissShona]

^^^^Yes, but it took you 5 years to get to where you are now. In all honesty, I don't have that kind of time. I lost 3 years out of my working career due to health issues. I'm ready to roll. 6 months; maybe a year tops. Then I'm out!