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OP: I graduated with a BA in history in 2002. It was tough finding a regular job and I realized I needed to get experience wherever I could. I started out as an editorial intern at a publishing company. I got hired in and worked in customer service and admin roles for the first few years before moving into editorial. I now have a great job in marketing.
Can you afford to do an internship? It would be a great way to get some experience and exposure to different things. Plus interns usually have a leg up in the hiring process for full time positions.
Just because you have history degrees doesn't mean your career is written for you. Once you get a few years of experience your formal education is not that relevant. My boss of 3 years didn't realize I have a BA in history until it came up in conversation a few weeks ago! In publishing, there are a LOT of people with liberal arts degrees. I would estimate that half of my marketing colleagues have lib arts degrees. Its not as uncommon as you think.
I don't think you should pursue another degree quite yet. Get some experience and find out what you want to do first. I didn't go back for my MBA until I was 31.
I think this is great advice. Aside from already having an inside connection If you can getexperience whether it be from paid or unpaid internships then the degree really does not matter. Of course the core issue then is getting experience in the first place . In general I find most paid internships and even getting temp work to be just as competitive as a really job, thus if the op can afford to go for an unpaid internship for a bit that may just be the experience he needs to catapult him over what is seen in many employers point of view as a "weak" degree.
I think this is great advice. Aside from already having an inside connection If you can getexperience whether it be from paid or unpaid internships then the degree really does not matter. Of course the core issue then is getting experience in the first place . In general I find most paid internships and even getting temp work to be just as competitive as a really job, thus if the op can afford to go for an unpaid internship for a bit that may just be the experience he needs to catapult him over what is seen in many employers point of view as a "weak" degree.
It depends on what the degree is.
If you have a Masters in History and your dad runs a Civil Engineering firm and puts you to work for 5 years, your lack of a degree in that field will still hurt you lots when you look for other jobs.
Or accounting for that matter.
But for most fields where soft skills determine the majority of your success, the major of your degree means less.
I think this is great advice. Aside from already having an inside connection If you can getexperience whether it be from paid or unpaid internships then the degree really does not matter. Of course the core issue then is getting experience in the first place . In general I find most paid internships and even getting temp work to be just as competitive as a really job, thus if the op can afford to go for an unpaid internship for a bit that may just be the experience he needs to catapult him over what is seen in many employers point of view as a "weak" degree.
Forgot about temp work. This is another great avenue to full time employment. Many companies will hire temps on if they work out after a few months.
OP: I graduated with a BA in history in 2002. It was tough finding a regular job and I realized I needed to get experience wherever I could. I started out as an editorial intern at a publishing company. I got hired in and worked in customer service and admin roles for the first few years before moving into editorial. I now have a great job in marketing.
Can you afford to do an internship? It would be a great way to get some experience and exposure to different things. Plus interns usually have a leg up in the hiring process for full time positions.
Just because you have history degrees doesn't mean your career is written for you. Once you get a few years of experience your formal education is not that relevant. My boss of 3 years didn't realize I have a BA in history until it came up in conversation a few weeks ago! In publishing, there are a LOT of people with liberal arts degrees. I would estimate that half of my marketing colleagues have lib arts degrees. Its not as uncommon as you think.
I don't think you should pursue another degree quite yet. Get some experience and find out what you want to do first. I didn't go back for my MBA until I was 31.
This is an excellent post. In my first post I mentioned publishing as a good home for him because I came from there and had a similar experience. The industry does love liberal arts degrees. Thanks to my start in publishing I have built up a great career and now am a VP of sales at a consumer products company. That said I lived in NYC where the bulk of publishing jobs are.
This is an excellent post. In my first post I mentioned publishing as a good home for him because I came from there and had a similar experience. The industry does love liberal arts degrees. Thanks to my start in publishing I have built up a great career and now am a VP of sales at a consumer products company. That said I lived in NYC where the bulk of publishing jobs are.
NYC is definitely the place to be for publishing. I was lucky to get a job at one of the few publishers in Michigan.
Aye if he lives close to NYC that will def. help if he wants to look for publishing type work. However I have friends who applied for the publishing internships, from what I have been told, the paying ones (Penguin, Norton etc...) are extremely hard to get. The same friends still got publishing internships (unpaid, smaller less well known publishing houses) and it still remains to be seen if the unpaid will lead to paid in the future but I believe they are on the right track. Similarly for the OP be it publishing or not, the paying internships are quite hard to get therefore if you can, look into the unpaid.
And yes unlike most industries, publishing is very friendly to LA grads
NYC.. Dog eat Dog work-culture. Unless, OP has connections or is extremely charismatic then we all have to pray for him.
I'm a little confused by this. Publishers in NYC are looking for the same skill sets as publishers located anywhere else.
Boston is a big hub for educational publishers (as is NYC). An MA in history with teaching experience at an educational publisher (Pearson, McGraw) might actually be an asset.
I'm a little confused by this. Publishers in NYC are looking for the same skill sets as publishers located anywhere else.
Boston is a big hub for educational publishers (as is NYC). An MA in history with teaching experience at an educational publisher (Pearson, McGraw) might actually be an asset.
They want the BEST of the BEST. They want 5+years of experience, they want experience doing this, and that, etc. You have to remember it is an EMPLOYER"S MARKET. They can hold out for the best candidate.
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