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So after graduating this summer, I've been looking around for jobs in the wonderful field of economics and applying to various places as research assistant or intern statistician, but so far my effort's been pretty half-assed since SCII came out and travel came up, etc.
It seems that many of these and similar jobs require either advanced degrees or experience in the field, something I've failed to work on during my college days. Online applications that require you to list 3 previous employers (even though the position says 0-1 years of experience) and list like 5 references. What is a man to do  This is so fucking OP, Terran look like sissies compared to these online questionnaires.
I'm quickly becoming disappointed and a little bit depressed with this "welcome to the real world" thing, and beginning to doubt the value of my degree, especially considering the vast number of people in a similar position entering the employment field. The economy shows no sign of improvement and my friend's dad, an accomplished economist, outright predicts a double dip recession.
All this is further complicated by the fact that I don't have a car during the day and the majority of my friends are in similar positions or are goddamn hippies who party 6 days a week  , so there's like 0 chance of me getting a job through them. I also can't get most government jobs, since I'm not a US citizen, which is a bitch if you live around DC area. Jobs through parents are also out for other reasons.
What I've decided to do atm is go back to college's career center and see what they can do for me, as well as apply to some out of state jobs and ramp up my resume spam 100x;
In the worst case scenario I can always go back to some "I wanna kill myself" IT help-desk job (which I've done for a 2 month contract), since I'm actually qualified for that, unlike a job in economics (which is what I actually want to do/learn). Another option is being hired as an equity trader (you wouldn't believe who they hire for this, I've seen people with 0 qualifications do this), but that will require moving to NY, which is hella expensive, and is a very stressful job (on top of moving).
So after this little "life sucks" rant, I'm interested in how you guys got your first real jobs, you know full time, payroll, health benefits, etc.
What connections did you use? Did you get hired off a career fair in college? How long have you been an intern before becoming a full-time employee? Any advice?
The only thing that's kept me sane and going are DC Dinners with SC people and the upcoming DC LAN, which you should check out HERE
Over and out. 
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I work part-time at a lawyer's office as a paralegal while I'm in law school. Got the job via good connections and a bit of luck. You might want to just send out a lot of applications to all companies you would consider working for. Maybe you'll get lucky. Also, in case you find a job, be prepared to be charged with the most annoying tasks at first. Good luck for your search!
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I've just done 3 years of a Business & Accounting degree in the UK and am about to do a 4th year as a Masters, but am now having second thoughts as to whether it's worth the extra debt..
All my life i've been interested in computing, and originally wanted to do Computer Science at university until I realised how much I sucked at Maths..
This summer i've been working at my mums place of work re-vamping their online catalog, which will apparently give me great experience to add if I wanted to go into Web Design (I already have a lot of experience in the various languages, although no specific qualifications)
I, like you, am kind of stuck for what to do... I kind of want to do this extra year at University so I can bum around some more and spend most of my day playing SC2 :p but at the same time i'm sick of debt and always having no money, and having this job this summer has made me enjoy having a steady income.. Hmmm
Good luck in the search for employment; hopefully for you the employment troubles aren't half as bad as over here!! (I found myself looking at career prospects in the US myself the other day!!)
(post is a bit off-topic for your questions, apologies! :p)
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What did you do for your three summers while you were in college?
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Belgium9950 Posts
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On August 24 2010 23:32 RaGe wrote:
Check your PM.
Job hookup already? O_O
In my experience, I feel that a degree is pretty much useless, employers these days really look for past relevant work experiences. You really need to accrue such experiences through summer jobs and internships, and many of which (especially the ones you do closer to graduation) can turn into full time offers. Also, internships give you the opportunity to network with people in the industry, and provide you the chance to demonstrate your capabilities through an extended period of time instead of one-hour interviews.
I got a bunch of really good offers during my last undergrad year thanks to past internships (I had two years of working experience at the time of graduation) some formally through interviews, some through personal connections.
I'm also pretty sure I got into grad school because of my work experience.
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On August 24 2010 23:38 Cambium wrote:Job hookup already? O_O In my experience, I feel that a degree is pretty much useless, employers these days really look for past relevant work experiences. You really need to accrue such experiences through summer jobs and internships, and many of which (especially the ones you do closer to graduation) can turn into full time offers. Also, internships give you the opportunity to network with people in the industry, and provide you the chance to demonstrate your capabilities through an extended period of time instead of one-hour interviews. I got a bunch of really good offers during my last undergrad year thanks to past internships (I had two years of working experience at the time of graduation) some formally through interviews, some through personal connections. I'm also pretty sure I got into grad school because of my work experience.
I should blog about it too.
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Agreed with Cambium.
I'm lucky that I'm in a school with co-op so I alternate between work and study every 4 months. I graduate 8 months later than normal undergrad degrees, but I feel like the work experience I've gained is beneficial. I'm a math/business major so I try to apply for Business positions. I've had the chance to work as an IT Asset Management Analyst and a Business Analyst. They were entry level jobs but I felt like I gained a lot of good office working experience - although most of my duties were kind of monotonous and boring, they were good stepping stones. Co-op isn't a placement thing everyone still has to apply and basically as students we already compete against each other for co-op jobs.
I think a professional designation is really important too - ie. CFA / CA that sort of thing.
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In my final year at uni I knew I was moving to Atlanta so I asked my boss (I was part time research student at the time) if he knew anybody in Atlanta. What ended up happening is one of his collaborator's brother in law was a prof at Emory U and he gave me his contact info. When I moved down to ATL I sat down and chatted with him for a bit and he put out the word that a recent computational biologist/bioinformaticist grad was looking for a job and that's how I am typing this at work right now. I think my contacts got me talking to the right people while my previous experience as well as my specialization got me the cred to get the job.
Moral of the story: Be qualified and use ANY contacts you have.
As an aside, I have a friend in NYC trying to look for a job in business as an econ major. No luck since graduation and he's been working really hard. I think in some fields its much much harder for a recent grad to get a job than others.
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On August 24 2010 23:11 Sadistx wrote:
So after this little "life sucks" rant, I'm interested in how you guys got your first real jobs, you know full time, payroll, health benefits, etc.
What connections did you use? Did you get hired off a career fair in college? How long have you been an intern before becoming a full-time employee? Any advice?
I got my first job by my dad coming home one day and saying, you start working tomorrow, go to bed early. I blinked and was like, ok...
Then I worked for 6 months prior to getting employed for sure, prior to that they could have terminated it with no problems.
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Most Econ Majors I know personally had problems finding jobs in the DC/MD area. The ones that did find jobs were usually double majors (i.e. Econ/CS, Econ/Engineering, etc.), where Econ is the GPA booster.
IMO, I think you may want to consider doing IT, though I would see if you can find something that gives you more experience than just help desk.
Oops didn't answer how I got my first job.
1) Career fair Jr/Sr. years.
2) Talked to guys at Career Fair senior year. Got interview. Got hired.
(This was 2006 though, which is like ancient history).
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Got my first job through a consulting agency. Lost it after two months, because that's how they roll. Second job was through a friend.
Best advice I can give is to seem like you give a shit. Be energetic and try giving the impression you really fucking love economics. If you do like it, great, but if not, you really have to make an effort to fake it.
I also think having had any job at all for 1 year+ is a great merit, shows you can pull your weight.
edit: ohrite, and don't start thinking your degree is useless. First of all, you hopefully learned shit that you'll remember as you start working with it. Second, it will most likely help your pay to increase faster. Assuming you are able to prove you didn't piss away your college years on frat parties :p
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CA10835 Posts
connections are how you get jobs.
i got a full time job offer when i still had 1.5 months left in college. they saved the spot for me lol. yeah it's not the best job (and doesn't have THAT much to do with my degree) but i was just looking for a 1 year temp job while i take a year off applying for grad school.
seriously go ask any friends/people who graduated if they know of any job openings.
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17070 Posts
What was your college degree in?
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Start out at the bottom and work your way up, just like how everyone else does it ... I started out as an intern at a fund of funds (read: a joke job in a dead-end industry), but made myself useful and taught myself the skills I needed to get to where I wanted to go, then got an equity research position after 2.5 yrs of experience thru a headhunter. (a couple people I know took this route)
My best friend started out in operations/back-office, rose to the top of his analyst class, and after 2 years he was able to transfer internally to another group and into the cushiest Econ/Strategy job ever. (a bunch of my friends have done this as well, I'd say transferring internally is more common)
Still, finding an Econ/Finance job in DC must be really tough...but if that's what you wanna do, then take whatever you can get. It's hard to explain, but you really just need a job at this point ... just don't take those utter, utter crap jobs (like selling insurance [a.k.a. low-end wealth management/financial advisory] or day trading your personal money) ... internships are ideal.
Most of all, be patient! Finding a job on average takes 6 months, so don't beat yourself up if you can't find one even within 3 months. Just remember, if you really want something, you'll get it. The obstacles are there just to stop other people who dont' want it as much as you do.
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On August 24 2010 23:27 goldrush wrote:
What did you do for your three summers while you were in college?
Summer 1: that IT helpdesk job
Summer 2: moving into a new house and helping parents renovate + travel
Summer 3: this summer - taking 2 college courses in june, looking for jobs and playing SC2.
I realize now that I should have done more professionally related things during summers, but hindsight is 20/20 and now that I've graduated, it'd feel a little awkward walking into professor's offices and asking them if they need a research assistant. Problem is they probably have enough willing grad students to exploit.
Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and a special thanks to Rage for a potential job hookup.
I am now renewed with enthusiasm and will update accordingly. If I do get a job relatively soon, expect a sponsored tournament ;P
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I'm currently a new grad student with no "real" work experience outside academia.
I like to think I have a job--I have health insurance, I'm on payroll, the work sure feels like full time  , and I make over $30k a year after tuition is paid in a part of the country with low cost of living--but yeah it's still not a real job in that sense. Maybe I should be networking like mad and be more proactive about finding work in the future? But my advisor's students all tend to have jobs lined up and waiting by the time they finish (which takes a while).
gl Sadistx though.
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On August 25 2010 11:15 Sadistx wrote:Show nested quote +On August 24 2010 23:27 goldrush wrote:
What did you do for your three summers while you were in college? I realize now that I should have done more professionally related things during summers, but hindsight is 20/20 and now that I've graduated, it'd feel a little awkward walking into professor's offices and asking them if they need a research assistant. Problem is they probably have enough willing grad students to exploit.
If you don't have connections and handing out resumes is really your best bet, then you can't be afraid to send out a whole crapton of those resumes. It's a numbers game, and the more resumes you send out, the better your chances of getting a job. Stop thinking about reasons why you aren't the best choice and start thinking about how you can present yourself to give yourself the best shot.
People also say that if you're serious about getting a job and are unemployed, you need to start considering finding a job as your fulltime job and devote that much time and effort to it. Polish your 'standard' resume, get as many eyes as possible on it to make sure that it's as good as you can possibly make it, and make sure that your cover letter and resume are tailored to the position that you're applying for.
I know that it's mentally draining to be searching for a job and never finding something, but hang in there! You only need to get lucky once. Best of luck.
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If you apply for an internship, just lie and say you are still in school and about to graduate. If you don't, the HR department will disqualify you.
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I'm scared that this will happen to me when I graduate.... I've been researching on and off and reading the future of broadcast journalism degrees and it's not looking bright at all.... despite my internship I recently started at ABC news, it doesn't look like I'll have a future there since I don't really have opportunities to talk to others...
So yea, I know the answer to most of this is "connections" but where the heck am I suppose to find that if a. aren't rich, b. don't have friends who are on top, c. don't know people in the field...
I wish you luck as I have a year and half left before I meet the same fate as you.... sighs...
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EPT
