Posted on 07/01/2012 3:24:51 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
“College grads learning good jobs hard to find now”
Pfffft!
I have a bucket. I shall cry all of two tears into it.
Take it to SCOTUS. They may be able to find a way to mandate you a job.
What an amazing site! Thanks for that.
Well, God Bless You!! Pretty sure you had OTHER training and Education than History to fly....right?
Yeah, we’re completely useless. Let’s see.
I’ve done advertising (since I can do public speaking, know how to write, and know how to appeal to other people).
I’ve done research (since I know my way around a library and can dig through any archive)
I’ve done freelance writing (since I can write just about anything your little heart desires from technical reports to poety).
I’ve done database work, since I’m trained in systematically organizing information so as to be accessable and understandable.
History majors have quite a few talents that are hard to find in other occupations. I can do most anything because most of all, if I don’t know how to do it, I know how to learn it.
I’d be interested in knowing how many of these are first generation university grads. On the one hand, first generation tend to be more focused on a degree as a means to a better standard of living, but on the other, they have no basis upon which to form expectations, no network of family and family contacts to help guide them. My father was the first to attend college in his family since the Civil War, and I was the first to graduate. It’s very different, knowing now what I didn’t know then. I have no children but my niece will benefit, I’ll make certain of that.
Is this before or after they passed Obamacare and asked us to read it to find out what’s in it?
More importantly, the A&M grad had a real opportunity staring her in the face for four years and she failed to acknowledge it. She could have chosen one of the ROTC programs, gotten a military commission, and now be employed to learn real skills that will have value after she leaves the military. Plenty of liberal arts majors have been down that path over the years and have gotten good jobs because of those management skills from the military experience.
At a minimum, you no longer get an employer response about lacking experience.
I came of age during Jimmy Carter’s miserable administration. I made under $100 a week for the first year and maybe $125 the second year. It built up my work skills and toughened me up (well, somewhat). So, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for kids with an English degree who want $60,000 straight out of the box.
History, psychology and electronic media? You’d have to be very creative to find a job that directly translates to the first two. Electronic media, this person needs to move to a podunk town and get a job with the TV station or become a technical writer, if they learned any writing in college.
Four jobs? Pathetic and I blame the colleges. You've got to know that all those college psychology professors and instructors have jobs!
I work at a university teaching high-level IT skills.. Just getting the know-it-all professors to understand there is a world beyond Cobol and object-oriented programming is tough enough (I had to offer them FREE classes), but to convince the psychology and various feminist/black/chicano/gay studies types that there programs are worthless is next to impossible. Why? Because they got a nice cushy teaching gig without having to break a sweat and to actually inform their students that they're on a dead-end track would mean the gravy train is over.
Believe me, the professors in these worthless programs actually go out recruiting students. Despicable!
Your post is dead accurate! So much success depends on other things than the right degree. Family and friend networks, for example. I grew up in a working class home and was the second person in my family to attain a college degree. Both my parents and I had no knowledge of how to put that degree to good use. So, in my case, it took a lot longer to get ahead - and a lot of kicks along the way!
Not everybody can do calculus and not everybody can be an engineer.
Especially with so many online job sites. She could send 50 resumes a week, per geographic area.
I have a daughter who is in the ROTC program right now. She is doing things that really boost her confidence and skills. It is a great program for a kid that wants to do it, but if your heart is not in it it won’t work.
I recently visited the West Texas town of Kermit, smack in the middle of the Permain Basin. They are drilling for oil all over the place there and are crying for people to work.
Andi Meuth should get off his resume sending ass and get out to Kermit or Monahans where there are tons of openings but no people to do the work. A warm body will earn more there than any history major starting job ever will.
She’s likely to wind up as an overly-educated pole dancer.
When I was in college, those that majored in Psych were there to party and the females were there to find a degree in Mrs. This female graduated with a degree in Psych..Even the senior level psych courses were ones that required little, if any, hard work.
“History degree???? What the HELL would they be good for in the workplace?? NOTHING but be Mr. KnowitAll.”
The value of a liberal arts education is rarely preparation for a specific job classification. Instead its value should be in improving communications skills (reading, writing, speaking), honing critical thinking skills (reason, deduction), and providing a broad perspective of history, philosophy, math, science, which provide a framework for life. Most of the founding fathers, even though most were self taught or tutored, had what today would be considered liberal arts educations. Many spoke multiple languages, were extremely well read in history, philosophy and law. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were conceived, developed, argued, and written by men with strong liberal arts backgrounds.
Liberal arts graduates can find jobs even in this economy. Many retail executives are liberal arts graduates who started on the floor as a sales associate in a store. Tellers and administrative staff members in banks often rise to senior management roles in retail banking, they all don’t have MBA’s from Harvard. Large companies in many industries have sales training programs hiring thousands of recent graduates to pitch products to customers. It is hard work and performance is measured everyday numerically. Many junior military officers and policemen are recent liberal arts graduates. Low paying jobs with temp agencies result in assignments at companies that then turn into full time employment.
The job market is tough out there for college grads without technical degrees but there are jobs out there for people who don’t mind working and who can suppress their egos. Someone who is bright, energetic, and a high performer can work their way into a management position within 2-3 years, even starting at the very bottom. What most recent grads don’t realize is how many people in organizations do only what is required to get by. Particularly at the lower levels, the stars really shine and get pulled up in the organization. The key is getting into the organization even if it means sweeping the floor or carrying boxes in the warehouse.
If I were a college grad today with an English, history, or political science degree who couldn’t get into the management training program of the corporation, I’d go to work in a really good McDonalds or Chick fil A store. A quick learner and high productive worker could reasonably expect to be a unit manager within 5 years and owner of at least one unit within 10 years. i know a guy who started cooking hamburgers in a McDonalds who today is 42 years old and a multimillionaire owning 5 restaurants as well as being involved in other business interests. Like the new CEO of McDonalds he is also an African American but that isn’t his identity. He’s an American who still believe in the dream and has worked to earn it and live it. Perhaps a history degree in some small way contributed to his success. It certainly didn’t hurt.
Having an undergrad psych degree often qualified one to be a manager somewhere. Better to major in business with a minor in psych. Better yet to get a technical degree, because the psych professors don't know what they're talking about.
I've always thought that, if you really want to get an education in how people tick, have a few beers with a successful salesman or business owner.
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