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"I recently spoke with a Fish + Wildlife Ranger with a degree in biology who has been there for seven years and is only making $9/hour. Another 12-year F&W veteran just received a $.50-cent raise, to earn $11.50/hour."
Ouch. College degrees aren't worth what they are used to... I have 18 years experience in industrial manufacturing and don't have a degree. Don't regret it either. Tech school training is all I've ever needed to advance... that and a good work ethic.
There are few real entry level jobs left in America in any field. I graduated college two years ago with a degree in graphic design. After going to 7+ plus interviews, I soon found out that employers were going with seasoned career veterans with years of work experience. I had a good internship under my belt prior to graduation. As a result of my tough job search, I got creative. I started putting up ad's on craigslist for cheap or even free web design/development services. In effect, I have had a handful of steady web design clients for the past year or so. The downfall is that I have been paid little to nothing for my countless hours of work. I had a job interview for a job in my field for the first time in a year last week. The job was at an IT talent placement agency where IT people are hooked up with multiple different companies in the area. They told me to wait a few weeks while they try to find a good fit for me. I really hope that this job opportunity works out. I have had my hopes crushed in every other job interview/opportunity in my field.
I am lucky that I have zero student loan debt because my childless aunt, who is a doctor, paid for my education in full. I am also lucky that I also am able to live with my mother, although finances are running low. But how is a fresh grad expected to survive these days? Not everyone can afford to work for free for a year or two simply to gain work experience. It also doesn't help that many recent college grads who do end up getting work in their field end up only making $10 an hour. And this is a common wage for majors all across the board. This is a nightmare when compounded with student loan debt and a rising cost of living. Also, you will be competing with dozens to hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of other people when trying to land any job let alone a college degree job these days.
I am not lazy. I applied to jobs everywhere. I am used to working crap low-status jobs my whole life and was not adverse to working those types of jobs. Even a job as a janitor requires at least one year previous work experience. Millions of college grads are being set up to fail these days.
Now that you have a few clients, create a website with samples of your work. You can create free websites on places like Weebly.
Also, order the book The Wealthy Freelancer. It's a really good book! You should get paid what you are worth! About 40% of all jobs will be freelance jobs in the near future.
Well, I have to say to you that it does seem "unfair" but I see jobs asking for 3-5 years experience or more or supervisory work paying 10 dollars an hour. Easily these jobs "SHOULD PAY" 15 or 20 but they don't...
If employers are paying that low for supervisory positions it means one of three things:
- They don't really need a supervisor that badly.
- They cannot afford to pay more.
- There are people willing to do that job for $10/hr thus the position is only valued at $10/hr.
This cult of HR has ruined the process applying for job. That and and the internet.
I'm not a techno-fossil. I just think it's too easy to hide behind computers now. I remember how they used to do it, and no it was not ideal, but at least HR "professionals" knew their places--filing papers, taking care of insurance, and other paperwork. They didn't act like they were bestowing favors as they dangled the possibilty of work over your head in interviews.
I don't feel the internet has much of an impact on job searching today except for the fact that it speeds up communication. I suppose if you expect to get a job by cold application, it could be problematic. But most jobs are attained via traditional methods.
I agree that interview skills are pretty important. It doesn't always mean that's why someone didn't get the job, especially these days where numbers of people are applying and interviewing for one job.
In my career thus far I've had more coworkers that made me go "who was smoking what when they hired this person???" Quite a bit actually. Hiring smooth talkers is a bad idea but I can understand why employers do. However that doesn't mean a candidate can do the job; it just means they talk the good talk, and therefore can BS their way out of doing their job before they get caught.
I'm a really good worker, I have a steady work history and the references to prove it. I spent a year and a half at one point looking for a job and I couldn't get hired to save my life. I don't know if even now I could handle the self-mutilation of an interview. It's not that I have nothing to say, it's that I always get caught up in how to word things. I've tried memorizing things, and it helped a little but yes I definitely need to go on some practice interviews.
I agree that interview skills are pretty important. It doesn't always mean that's why someone didn't get the job, especially these days where numbers of people are applying and interviewing for one job.
In my career thus far I've had more coworkers that made me go "who was smoking what when they hired this person???" Quite a bit actually. Hiring smooth talkers is a bad idea but I can understand why employers do. However that doesn't mean a candidate can do the job; it just means they talk the good talk, and therefore can BS their way out of doing their job before they get caught.
I'm a really good worker, I have a steady work history and the references to prove it. I spent a year and a half at one point looking for a job and I couldn't get hired to save my life. I don't know if even now I could handle the self-mutilation of an interview. It's not that I have nothing to say, it's that I always get caught up in how to word things. I've tried memorizing things, and it helped a little but yes I definitely need to go on some practice interviews.
I actually broke down the whole interview process to step by step so that you don't feel like it's self-mutilation. :-) It also helps when you go on practice interviews, you know what to practice on.
I have been to many practice interviews myself. :-) What I find is that if I don't go to practice interviews for a while, I get rusty.
- There are people willing to do that job for $10/hr thus the position is only valued at $10/hr.
This one seems to be affecting folks the most. The problem is, the people willing to work for less are often illegal, H1B visa holders, or some other form of cheap labor. I really think temp agencies are bring wages down in many areas as well.
This one seems to be affecting folks the most. The problem is, the people willing to work for less are often illegal, H1B visa holders, or some other form of cheap labor. I really think temp agencies are bring wages down in many areas as well.
You are incorrect, sir. Illegals probably but not H1B visa holders. Please don't lump them together.
For H1B visa, there's strict restriction as what kind of job the person can take and what kind of wage the employer must pay. This is set up so that H1B holders don't compete with American citizens. It is mostly granted to people who have bachelor's degrees or higher. For $10-15/hour, it is very unlikely you will get a H1B visa.
Generally speaking, H1B visa is very well regulated. The impact on economy is mostly positive than negative.
On the other hand, illegal immigrants drain our system.
I did an internship in the office at a school district working under the direction of a CPA.
Then an internship in an accounting department of a corporation under an MBA.
Both were tremendous expirences, and both women let me use them as references.
Now I'm doing an internship at a CPA firm that is much higher paying and has much more responsibility.
All told, when I finish the 5 year program to sit for the CPA exam, I should have 1-2 years of accounting expirence. At each of these positions I grew professionally and personally...it was all a progression. The CPA firms are all after me and aggressively recruiting for full-time.
I don't think it's correct that students are "set up to fail" nor do I think it's asking for too much to have other expirences. When you apply for a job, everyone applying has a degree. You always have to be able to answer the question: What else have you done?
Now that you have a few clients, create a website with samples of your work. You can create free websites on places like Weebly.
Also, order the book The Wealthy Freelancer. It's a really good book! You should get paid what you are worth! About 40% of all jobs will be freelance jobs in the near future.
In addition, if you have any web designing abilities in Wordpress or Blogger, you can design blogs for people. I've seen some web designers who have a waiting list of several months for clients.
Also, start your own blog! It's free.
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