Life Pt. 2

[coinich]

So I believe I posted several months back that I was rather depressed with how my life after college has turned out. Honestly, things haven't improved, and I was hoping you all might have some more advice.

I graduated in the spring of 12 with a major in History, minors in Political Science, Leadership, and Music. My goal, since I was a child had been to commission into the USMC. I'm afraid now thats never going to happen; I've been medically disqualified too many times. Attempting to enlist (guaranteed music slot) didn't work either. The other services won't touch my medical records; I think my application is finally dead. What this means is that I've wasted a full year out of college, with nothing but a dead end part time job (working at home!) on my resume. I still live with my parents, and frankly that situation is becoming unbearable, as wonderful as they are.

Something needs to change, and soon. I decided to quit the part time job at home, but I still have student loans to pay. My father thinks I should look for a career, but my mother thinks I just need to move out and work at Walmart somewhere until I figure out what I want to do. The biggest problem perhaps is that I don't know what I want to do anymore, career-wise. There is almost nothing I feel really passionate about anymore. I just want something to change. Tomorrow I begin sending out my resume to all sorts of places from Disney to the US Parks service, but its hard to plan when I have no clue what I want. I feel grad school is a poor option; I can't see it setting me up for anything other than a teaching job, and I'm not a people person.

I don't know really if there's anything you all can offer me in terms of advice, but I suppose anything might be helpful.

[Lewkowski]

This might not be very helpful but try to remember that work is work. Its not about being "fulfilled" or any of that nonsense. If you can do that and work great but don't think that's a likely outcome. Find a career that can put you at the lifestyle you want and then work toward it. Think less on what you "want" to do and more on what you absolutely DONT want to do and work from there.

[Timbuk2]

Good advice from Lewk. Very few people are in vocations, something they're passionate about. The majority of people do something they are able to do, don't mind doing, and do it to pay the bills.

~

Not a people person? Don't take this the wrong way, but have you considered a career in IT? The best developers and analysts I've worked with over the years are what we in the UK call 'anoraks'; those with few people skills but are technically-minded.

Your story has parallels to mine, in that I found myself after university, having spent a good few years bumming around, travelling the world, doing casual work and generally having a 'good time', suddenly waking up one morning at the age of 22 or 23 thinking 'okay, what the fuck am I going to do with my life'?

I had a passing interest in computers and IT, so I enrolled on a couple of distance-learning courses, got a couple of minor qualifications in a few months and sent out my CV to a few local companies. I was employed after a short time, on the bottom rung of the IT ladder, and didn't look back. That really was the launch to what has been more than 16 years later a very fruitful career.

I think you are doing the right thing as it is though, coinich. Sending out your CV far and wide; you never know what opportunity may come your way, and what new passions you may develop.

Good luck with it mate.

[earthJoker]

Its not about being "fulfilled" or any of that nonsense.

It depends on what fulfilled means. If fulfilled means that you always enjoy what you do, that you never have to do things you don't like. I agree, not going to happen.

If fulfilled means that you think your skills are needed in your company, that you get a nice salary at the end of your month because you made your part for the success of the enterprise, than yes this could very well happen.

What you need to do to get this is to go through all your skills you have and pick the one that gets you the biggest salary. For me this was easy: Good math and computers -> Computer science. So first you need to think about what you are good at, not what you like. Once you earn money you can do what you like in your spare time.

[wiggin]

Just to be mildly contrarian here, but I think that finding a vocation and not merely employment is eminently doable. That doesn't mean you'll like everything you do every day - in my own current job I spend a lot of time doing tasks that are not 'fun' per se. But I wake up in the morning knowing that I'm doing work I think is important and valuable, and I get a hefty dose of intellectual stimulation in the process. Not everyone is so lucky, and you obviously shouldn't pass up a good opportunity just because you aren't sure it's 100% for you, but don't give up on finding fulfillment through your job more than just being good at it.

[Dreadnaught]

Better half sent me this earlier this week: http://www.ted.com/talks/meg_jay_why...4sMRp.facebook

It's not really applicable to you, but the stuff at the latter half may have some relevance in terms of getting out there, making loose connections and trying things out with an eye towards a long-term viability.

If you aren't a musician in the military, do you want to do something musical in general? Or do you think you could enjoy making music as a passion but something else for the career? In other words, is there anything out there besides music? Your mom may be right about one thing -- it's good to just get out and break the routine.

[GGT]

"Life Pt. 2" is a tiny part portion of your overall LIFE. How many parts of life are there? Is the number set in stone?

Demographic statistics put your life expectancy over 80 years. The modern world means there's no one education, career, or vocation that can serve you over a lifetime approaching a century. Common sense suggests that we will ALL have various educations, abilities, careers, that will take different paths over the course of a long life time.

Coinch, do some difficult soul searching. Particularly how your ego/identity and self worth are measured, and who's doing the measuring.

[coinich]

Hey, finally checking in. I didn't mean to drop off; I actually had taken most of your advice. Now I'm just looking for any job I can reasonably support myself with. At the moment, I've been getting a few calls from Geico and Aflac; here's hoping my interview tomorrow will get me a job. If that doesn't work, I guess my last option is to apply to Walmart to get some cash in, then continue hunting for a better paying job in my free time.

[Loki]

How are you looking for jobs?

[coinich]

Monster.com, usajobs, state jobs website, small agencies as I find them. I kinda tried the think tanks around DC, but I wasn't having much luck. Not really discriminatory at this point.

[Loki]

Online job sites are terrible for finding jobs. There's evidence that most online submissions never even get read. The government sites are different, but the problem is there's ridiculous competition for the entry-level jobs. A think tank job without a master's is pretty much impossible.

I can't really give you any shortcut to finding a job, but there a few things you can do to improve your chances. First, make sure your resume is perfect. Any red-flags will make get it thrown out, and you might not be in a position to find those red flags. Second, consider using a temping agency. You get crappy pay and the initial job might not be great, but it's a way to get your foot through the door. A decent amount of companies end up hiring their temp workers to permanent jobs at some point.

If you want a job in the policy world, strongly consider volunteering for your congressman or other elected official. It's a crappy job for no pay, but it opens up a new network to you, and it's possible you might be able to get a low-level policy job out of it at some point. On that note, you really need a master's if you want a good policy job, so think about whether that's something you want and can afford.

Lastly, depending on when you graduated, you might be able to make use of your college job services. At the very least, you might have the chance to show up to job fairs with many good employers.

[Dreadnaught]

Are the Geico and Aflac jobs call center sales jobs?

[coinich]

The Geico job was receiving calls from customers interested in home insurance. Sadly, I didn't get past the interview stage. The Aflac job seems to be selling insurance to other companies; I'll find out later at today's interview.

Thanks for the advice. I'll look into temp agencies more; the last one I worked with was a day labor place so I've stayed away from those until now. I'm afraid of volunteer work, if only because my bank account is running very low at the moment. Working for no pay and only the hope for a job seems really risky. Plus, I did try interning with my local representative once, but it didn't work. Sadly, I don't think a Masters is feasible atm, once again because of money. What I should do, but haven't done yet is contact my school's career services again. Not sure if I apply anymore because I graduated over a year ago though.

[Loki]

I used mine 2-3 years after graduation, so I don't think you'll have a problem with your situation. There are temp agencies for all kind of jobs. Many focus on entry-level office jobs; a solid knowledge of MS Word and Excel would work strongly in your favor. Considering how many companies need office workers, it's usually not that hard to get employment that way (though most jobs you get that way will only last a week or two). And I don't know about you, but I'd rather get some basic office job than work at a call center.

[Dreadnaught]

The Geico job was receiving calls from customers interested in home insurance. Sadly, I didn't get past the interview stage. The Aflac job seems to be selling insurance to other companies; I'll find out later at today's interview.

Thanks for the advice. I'll look into temp agencies more; the last one I worked with was a day labor place so I've stayed away from those until now. I'm afraid of volunteer work, if only because my bank account is running very low at the moment. Working for no pay and only the hope for a job seems really risky. Plus, I did try interning with my local representative once, but it didn't work. Sadly, I don't think a Masters is feasible atm, once again because of money. What I should do, but haven't done yet is contact my school's career services again. Not sure if I apply anymore because I graduated over a year ago though.

Anything specific you could tell about the interview that made it not work out? Any way you could call them and say, "I won't hold this against you, just curious why I didn't make the cut"? I once got that after being rejected for a job. Their feedback was quasi-bogus, but interesting and I kept it in mind when I soon-after interviewed and was hired by a better company than the one that rejected me. Though there was a decent amount of luck involved too, of course.

[GGT]

It sounds like both positions were in Sales, not Customer Service. Each is considered a type of 'Call Center' job, but they're very different.

Coinch, do you have any "connections" that could help? I don't mean your alma mater's Career Services, or what's generally called "Networking"....but someone inside an employment structure that can get your foot beyond the front door, using their own "connections". That seems to be how many people are finding jobs these days. Knowing someone, who knows someone, who knows someone higher. Cronyism or Nepotism, basically.

[Spawnie]

Cant offer too much of use but some things I have experienced are:

1) CV is very important. Get a friend who knows about this kind of thing to help. Whatever you have done before, make the most out of it. Take it from me, I have a degree in philosophy.
2) If you are going for entry level positions, look for smaller companies. If they are hiring, they are expanding. Small companies that are expanding need people to do more than just the basics, and its there that you can get quite quick promotions in wage or responsibility.
3) Ask questions in your interview. You are interviewing them as much as vice versa. Ask where the company is going. Ask the interviewer about daily work life and what they like about it.
4) Some jobs might be ok to start but will actually hurt you in future. Be careful (but not too careful) of any jobs to do with call centres, sales and customer support.

Also just remember that, despite what you see on tv, most people have quite shitty jobs in their 20s, especially if they dont have much in the way of qualifications. So dont get disheartened.

[Lebanese Dragon]

I'd recommend applying to a lot of places, there is strength in numbers. Have someone look over your resume if you feel that's holding you back. If your school does career fairs, or any nearby school, for that matter. That's a great way to find employers who are looking for raw talent, they expect you to know nothing.

Lastly, just because you take a job doesn't mean you're stuck their for life, you can always quit and find a new job, or look for a new job while working. So don't be afraid to get hired somewhere, it's easy to move if you find something better later on. Good luck.