I also find it funny that the guys my friends and I laughed at out of high school that went off to do construction or electrical shit, and built their own house, are now the ones who've literally built themselves a real estate empire. I know 4 guys who have built their own house, then sold it for crazy profit. Then they built another one, and flipped it. Then they had cash to build two more at once, and hired a crew. And so on. I've tried to do the same thing with software, but it's so much more of a crap shoot. Having a tangible (never mind appreciating) asset at the end of a project is huge. I have no doubt I was a moron when I was younger, and now wish I had a trade, like welding, etc,. to fall back on. I also have huge props to those guys that did that. Originally, I was a condescending dick to them because "I had a degree and you don't". Not any more, by a long shot. Huge respect.
I think those of you talking about nursing, given the content of bewildered post, are thinking about it in a strange way. It sounds like she absolutely hates the experience of nursing. If she found it so revolting when merely doing basic practicum stuff...how she going to feel on the end of a 12 hour shift? It doesn't sound like she merely thinks the job isn't all that. I more got the impression that she truly hates it. I think you're basically suggesting a career path that requires her to spend more time and money for education for a job where she has seemed poorly suited in the past, is likely to burn out, and will feel like shit every day. "Hate your work on a daily basis, because hey, it's a paycheck" seems like odd advice from a place that is usually extolling "finding your passion" with a fervor typically reserved for deadbeat hippies
I was saying it more in a there are plenty of other things you can do with a nursing degree after you put in a year or two of work and end up with something that you may enjoy, especially if she enjoyed her biology and pathophysiology classes, but hated the practical portions. It is a very good stepping stone.
IMO, this generation is better off picking up a trade just due to the sheer number of people graduating college looking for the white collar job that thousands of the same people, with the same qualifications are looking for. In a trade, your name is all the resume you need, and with a shortage of skilled tradesmen worth a fuck these days, you'll always be working and you WILL make more then the poeple that just got out of college, and even when you each have 20 years of experience.[/quote] I don't know what the Canadian equivalent is, or if there is even one, but there's no such thing as a recession proof job description that describes thousands of people. I went to college in Florida, and I can tell you how many electrical contractors were hurting real bad in Orlando, Tampa and Miami. See also, Las Vegas. You're absolutely right on networking, and NettData is right about the trades providing a lot of income and finished products. But bubbles hurt everyone, no matter how nice things seem in your neck of the woods.
I think people are forgetting the fact that there are many different paths in healthcare that can stem from a bachelors in biology. Think of all the grad programs. There are so many job positions that you don't really know exist until you start researching. I'm in physical therapy school and I am the last person cut out to be a nurse. I would suck and be miserable as a nurse, but PT is one of my passions that I was fortunate enough to discover. I'm excited to finally graduate someday and practice. Maybe nursing school isn't the answer for bewildered; maybe there's something else like being a respiratory therapist, OT, or dental hygienist (they make bank with awesome hours), etc that she just hasn't found yet. Being a nurse or physician aren't the only options in healthcare. Honestly, from what I've gathered from talking to PTs and nurse practitioners, we are all in demand and if we don't have at least 3 or 4 job offers by the time we graduate something is wrong with us and we need to kill ourselves/work for an insurance company. Plus, there are employers willing to pay your tuition if you commit to working for them for X amount of time. Having a degree in biology could lead to several different career paths.
A lot of people think that healthcare is a hugely growing field, but I would stay away from it. I was in law school back in 2006 and promptly left. I chose radiology because I thought it was cool and that it was a growing field. It is and its not. With huge changes in healthcare, there are a lot more patients, but they aren't building more hospitals and people are living till 90+ now. What is growing tremendously is the mobile medical field, which is what I do. Hospitals can only staff so many people and hold so many patients. The problem with massive amounts of people being covered with health insurance changes means that salaries of health care employees are being cut as well. The markets are being flooded with people who also think that working in health care is the way to go. Competition is fierce and demand is low. Hence, people are willing to take less money. Good people aren't willing to take less so now you have fuck-faced morons filling the slots getting paid horrible salaries. The name of the game is specialization. Don't just be a nurse or an x-ray tech(like me). I am going to ultrasound school which will effectively double my salary when I am done. Become a nurse practioner or a nurse anesthetist.(huge $$) Get your BSN and then become a PA. All those mid-level practioner jobs are becoming hugely in demand because doctors' salaries are also dropping and but PA and NP's are not. You can make $100k a year as a PA while some physicians are making $130k and had to spend 2 extra years in school and at least 4-5 more in residency. Its not worth it in my opinion. Specialize or stay out of medicine. Leave the $8.00/hr jobs to the retards and the ass-wipers.
The "recession" was only really an American problem. Up here we had a downturn. Alot of the old crusty fucks I work with say the early 2000's were worse for our industry then the shit that happened in 2008-2010. During that time our industry had more work then workers, to the point where the Contractors had to hire on people from out of town/provence. And it can only go up from here. We have the Tar Sands in Alberta, oil in Saskatchewan as well as the Territories (they also have diamond mines too), Western Manitoba is being more industrialized, here in Ontario we have Bruce Nuclear, the Diamond Mines up north, then we have the Churchill Falls Hydro Plant going in in Newfoundland. What I just listed are jobs that will employ thousands of electricians as well as other related trades for 20 years or more. After that we have all the 2-5 year construcion jobs to build more schools/hospitals/malls because the population rate is exploding too fast. After that we have all the 1-3 year remodel jobs to add on or remodel said schools/hospitals/malls because the population rate is exploding too fast. After that we have all the 1 day- 1 month jobs repairing all the shit that went wrong or broke or wore out in schools/hospitals/malls/houses because shit gets old. After all that we have all the 10 minute jobs we bill an hour out for to the office yuppie that can't change out a light fixture or add a 3-way switch in their living room. Now that we have our new/remodeled buildings in, we need to get the hydro there. Now we need to put in pole lines and create more power generatin stations to make sure the lights stay on. We also have to up date all our existing pole lines and generation stations. On top of all that, alternative means of power generation are becoming more redially available to the average consumer, ie: solar/ wind power so there's that too. Top that with the fact that were going to loose 40% of the skilled tradesmen that we have now because they are set to retire within the next 15 years and there's not enough people to fill their places. So ya, it's safe tp say were in a recession proof operation, because no matter what you office jockeys will always need the lights to work and the water to come out of the tap. Essentially all of us "dumb fuck blue collar folks" are on the verge of a fucking modern day gold rush. A smart person could clean up and create an empire in the next 10 years with such oppurtunities. It's just too bad you so-called "smart people" went to University to make $40 000 a year.
What sort of attitude are you looking for when a candidate walks into the room and starts talking? Suppose I'm looking for a marketing or sales job, especially for smaller businesses. Anything specific to that? Any board members willing to look over resumes and check them for soundness?
I find it hard to believe that someone initially had the dream of being a nurse, one of the most transparent jobs around, didn't like it because of the actual work. I'd more likely blame it on a shitty teacher, I wasn't under the impression she interned before finding out she hated it. But you may be right. She's going to be a military wife, her career dreams are largely irrelevant and she needs to be practical. Either be a stay at home wife or pick a career that is flexible location wise. I wonder why so many young military couples end up divorcing, weird.
Everyone's going to be different, so that's a hard one to definitively answer. Plus, for all the similarities, the business culture where I am is going to be different to yours. So, this is my way of saying I could be way off the money here... But, I'd say there's some solid basics that would be universal: - Be yourself. Don't fake anything, it's just going to make things difficult, and everyone's going to get pissed off eventually. - Be confident in your abilities and well presented, physically and mentally. Do not go overboard. This is especially the case with smaller business. If you look too high maintenance/expensive/overbearing, you'll probably not get the job. - No matter how you might want to sell yourself, listen to what the interviewer is telling you. Whatever you do, don't talk over them or interrupt them. - Learn about what they do and how they do it (if you can). This doesn't mean to check out the company brochure while waiting in reception; it could be as simple as going to their website. Actually knowing what your prospective employer does is a major plus. I know we ask every applicant what they know about us. This is a good time to ask questions. Do this is a way that highlights that you've done some research and are interested to know more (such as, "I notice it says on your website that you...... Why did you specifically decide to do that?"). Businesses often pay tons for their advertising. They like to know it works.
Well, isn't this kind of timely. For some, anyway. PayPal Co-Founder Hands Out $100,000 Fellowships To Not Go To College
I've been saying this is a problem for a while now, especially among liberal arts majors. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of their lives working towards a degree that doesn't really provide them with any job skills they couldn't have learned outside the classroom, yet because so many are willing to do it they still need the degree to get a job. Basically all it does is ensure that the average skilled poor kid will never be able to compete with the average skilled well to do kid. But then again, it's working well for my lazy English major friends, so why stop the gravy train now?
Who said anything about my dreams of a profession? Growing up, I was never sure about what I wanted to be or do. And when I got to high school graduation, I had to pick something. I thought long and hard about it and settled on nursing because I thought that it would fit with my strengths and I would be relatively happy doing it. Nursing school was hell and I hated the other students with a passion. The thought of doing things I disliked, surrounded by people I disliked, was very depressing. And actually, I DID do an internship: I participated in the nursing Co-op during sophomore year of college. I liked it for the most part. Another assumption that I would be careful about. The large divorce rate in the military is not due to career compromises. That may contribute to a small percentage of the divorces but not any more than the general population's rates. There are a shitton of quick, spur of the moment marriages. Oh, you're cute, let's get married. Oh, we're dating and want to get stationed in the same place so we can continue this. Let's get married. Oh, we're dating and you're about to be deployed. I want to get information quick, so let's get married. My fiance knows people personally who have met, gotten married within a month, and then divorced within the next 6 months. Military marriages are almost like Vegas weddings. I agree with you saying that I need to be reasonable and flexible. I am trying my best to think outside the box, and a lot of you have given great advice.
I have talked with my family about my situation and my dad and sister's advice was to substitute teach until I can find a "real" job. They say that you don't really have to have a teaching degree to sub, and if I got really desperate, private (specifically, Catholic) schools don't always require that you have a teaching degree to be a regular full time teacher. They say (not sure how true this is) that if you substitute, you won't know until the last minute if you'll be working, but despite that you are working nearly full time. I am thinking that subbing for awhile would be very practical. Thoughts?
Yeah, you don't need a teaching degree to sub. I subbed right out of college for a bit and despite only applying to one district subbed nearly every day, my GF (who just finished her masters in teaching) on the other hand was lucky to get two to three days a week despite applying to five districts, so you can't really guarantee it'll be like working full time. She did get a full time subbing gig though for the rest of the year, you may need a degree for that. The good thing though was that whenever I had job interviews lined up I didn't have to finagle my schedule to go, I would just turn down any subbing opportunities that day, this made things much easier. The bad thing about subbing is that it pays shit, I was getting $60 a day and the GF was getting $65-$75 depending on school district, you also don't get benefits. All in all I'd do it again and recommend it to people in your situation, you can walk away from it any time no strings attached if you find something better, and it's a really low commitment process to get started. One thing to do though, make sure you know what hoops you're going to have to jump through to get the gig ahead of time so you can start right away.
I had to get fingerprinted and get a background check, that was pretty much it, but I could have lost a few days of subbing if I waited to do that stuff.
Timely thread, on top of the depressing implications. After reading Frylock's post on the first page my eyes began glancing over the room for a length of rope. I'm now a (rising? I fucking hate that term) senior in college studying biomedical engineering with a minor in physics. My GPA is mediocre (just a 2.95). But I have a research position with one of the highest regarded research Professors on campus, who sits on two companies boards and has gotten everyone I've spoken who has graduated from the lab a job straight out of college. If I work hard this summer (and you best believe I'm working like a mother fucker) and get a paper or two published I could put myself into a very good position for future employment after I graduate. How did I find this god send of a PI and employer? I walked into his office, was personable, and within 30 minutes of meeting me he decided to offer me a summer job with his research group. This was over the 10+ resumes sitting on his desk, most likely all with higher GPA's and extracurriculars than yours truly. I asked him later why he hired me, and he said I was the only one who bothered coming in to talk to him about the research he was doing, clearly showing more interest. Moral of this story is, don't just apply, try to talk to the people in charge. Unless you are a social pariah... then do well in school. EDIT: This isn't assuring a job for myself by any means, and I have no delusions about that. I am just attempting to give an example for others.
I wrote a couple big long winded posts out about how I got where I am, but I'm sure no one really gives a shit, so here is the quick version. When I graduated high school I was poised to do whatever I fucking wanted. I pissed all of that away and ended up graduating with an English degree in December of 2009. I had already decided against law school, so I moved back in with mom and started working on getting my alternative teacher certification. I backed out of that after I started substitute teaching and decided it wasn't for me (kids suck, who knew?). I sat on my couch for three months before lucking into this job as a site manger for a property management company. One of my mom's employee's ex-sister in-law works for this company and one thing after another I was hired. Total luck My saving grace is I have no student loans. Having a very generous First Financial Bank of Mom and a state that will pay your for your college tuition is awesome. As far as advice goes I suggest watching Charlie Hoehn's (he helped with the Beer in Hell movie tour) TedX talk titled The New Way to Work. You might also check out his free e-book Recession-Proof Graduate. I can't vouch for his method personally, but it makes sense in my humble opinion. My problem is that I still can't figure out what I want to do with my life in general.
For at least half of the video I was thinking: Hoehn's guide to success: 1.) Aimlessly lose self in college 2.) find passion 3.) contact people who may benefit from the skills you have to offer related to your passion, offer to work for free. 4.) ?????? 5.) Profit Not to dig on the guy, but I found it funny that he said he 'worked on a Hollywood movie.' Also, has he actually parlayed his skills into profit yet? I'm not asking this to be an ass, more so that I'd give a lot more weight to his words if I knew he was able to monetize on what he's preaching.