<p>I graduated last year with a BA in Econ, and couldn't find a job for about 6 months, so when I got offered my 1st job I jumped all over it. Now that I've been there for some time, I've realized I'm not really getting any relevant experience to any career or job (besides the one I'm doing), and it's more or less a dead end job. Think data entry, formatting excel files, etc. Now I have no idea where to go from here. Do I just start applying to jobs again all whilly nilly? More schooling would probably set me up for a better job, but I just can't afford it right now (35k in debt from undergrad). I'm pretty lost as of right now, I just know I don't want to be doing this job forever. I feel like the longer I stay there, the more my job prospects will worsen. I originally wanted to get into finance, but with my degree and mediocre GPA (3.5) with no relevant internships, obviously left me with no options. Although a girl at my school who just graduated from the same school as me with similar stats landed an awesome job at a BB... the INROADS program really helped her out a lot. I wish I knew about that when I was looking for internships.</p>
<p>Anyway... can anyone provide some advice? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Defintely keep your job for now while you start looking for another job that is something you want to do. Research options for graduate school, as it is not always worthwhile and you will likely have to take out more loans. Maybe you could look into getting a part time job, internship or doing some freelance work related to finance. There are many books and websites about how to get started.</p>
<p>Don’t feel hopeless. A 3.5 GPA is good and at least you have some work experience beyond part time jobs in college. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Is your company large enough so that you could look for a job to transfer into that’s more inline with your educational background? Can you look around at your local organization chart to see what your boss does, what the managers in the same level do, etc? If you do a great job at what you’re doing, it gets noticed and opportunities may pop up that are more interesting.</p>
<p>That’s the thing, the company isn’t really big enough for me to do anything else with any relevance to finance or my degree. Also, from what I hear and can tell, all the people who had my job prior to me got stuck there before going for more schooling, or moving laterally to another position in the company that would be equally as irrelevant in terms of moving up, or to a different company with more responsibility. </p>
<p>I appreciate the help so far!</p>
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<p>That’s your problem. Applying willy nilly might work in a better economy, but in this economy, willy nilly applying gets willy nilly jobs.</p>
<p>My suggestions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Make the best of what you have. Figure out what skills this job is teaching you. Even if it’s just enhancing your computer skills and learning how to operate in a regular work environment, that is still valuable. </p></li>
<li><p>Identify what you want and go after it. It will probably take you longer than if you were able to get the right job last year, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen if you persevere. It might mean figuring out what job to take as a first step in order to get your foot in the door of where you eventually want to work. For example, I work in a major corporation - there are two ways into my department -a. get hired out of B-school in the development program and b. get hired by having relevant experience at a smaller company that isn’t as demanding. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>PS I graduated from college in a bad economy in 1976 and, like you, was stuck in a dead end job in an industry I didn’t want to stay in. But I got my MBA at night and got my employer to pay for it - it took longer but I didn’t owe anything. And then I went after the next right job, and then the next one, and then the next one. I was flexible but had a goal. I have changed industries 3 times and have worked my way up to one of the largest companies in the world which is highly respected. So, it can be done, but it takes thinking about what you want and how to get it.</p>
<p>Bumping this for some more help.</p>
<p>I’ve been really looking at what it is I want to do as a career, and I’m always drawn to the same paths, but can’t figure out which one to take.</p>
<p>A) Utilizing my Economics degree. By doing this I’d keep working at my deadend job, while looking for something better/more relevant to finance/economics. Could keep chipping away at my $30k debt.</p>
<p>B) Engineering/Computer Science - This just seems to interest me the most, but would mean I would be going back to school for ~3 years. Job opportunity would be good, and I just feel that by doing computer science I’d be able to do some entrepreneurial things. More debt though most likely.</p>
<p>C) Masters in Accounting - Out of the 2 accounting classes I took, I didn’t really enjoy it, but job opportunities and money are good for coming out of one of the better programs. Would most likely have to take on more student loan debt.</p>
<p>D) Law School - I thought this was what I was going to do freshman/sophomore year of college… After reading about job prospects coming from law school right now, I was kind of turned away. Debt would most likely be high, while job opportunities would remain low.</p>
<p>So… if anyone could offer some more help I’d appreciate it.</p>
<p>And thanks again katytibbs for the help in this thread and through PMs.</p>
<p>Do what interest you the most and not to worry about the current job market. Job market runs in cycles, just a few years ago, lawyers were like hot cakes, now it is not. That is because of the law of supply and demand. You never know what will be hot in two to five years when you finish your graduate education.</p>
<p>If you listen to the speach of Steve Jobs about the connecting dots in a Stanford commencement, you will understand what interested you is more relevant than what appear to be a marketable skill. In which, Jobs dropped out Reed and then went on took a college course in Type Faces because it interested him and later on became his inspiration for Apple Mac.</p>
<p>All these great companies were founded by individuals who are dedicated to their passions, they went ahead and did it, regardless of current job market conditions and were successful by doing it.</p>
<p>You get as much from a job as you put in. For example, since you are doing excel and data entry already, why not learn VBA and advanced excel? If you have time on your hand, knowing advanced excel will prepare you for your next job as you transition.</p>
<p>You are always better off working than going back to school unless you are positive there is a job lined up for you after graduating. Otherwise you will just be incurring more debt. Just because you have a masters does not guarantee you a better job. You will still have no experience.</p>
<p>Its always easier to find a new job while you are still employed than finding a job when you are out of work. Just stay at your current job and look for something new in your spare time. At least this way the money is coming in. You can keep up with your student loan payments and you have something to put on your resume.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I agree, I should keep working, especially since I’m already $30k in the hole from undergrad. I’m just scared, and don’t want to be stuck going from dead end job to dead end job, since I more or less have a useless degree getting irrelevant, useless work experience. </p>
<p>And I agree I should do what interests me, but I really don’t know where my interests lie besides money, video games, and sex.</p>
<p>don’t blame it on the degree when you didn’t have any relevant internships and a bad gpa</p>
<p>^^^ A 3.5 is NOT a bad GPA.</p>
<p>I find it odd that you’re having trouble getting a good job with an Econ degree given things like this:</p>
<p>[Best</a> Undergrad College Degrees By Salary](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp]Best”>Common Jobs for Majors - College Salary Report)</p>
<p>The only majors that seem to reliably make more than Economics grads are those in Physics, Engineering, and Mathematics (Comp Sci too, of course). Then again, that’s not indicative of the actual employment figures, just salary.</p>
<p>Keep looking and applying for jobs in the area of your interests. I second what CC said, going back to school without relevant job experience won’t help you much once you graduate. Once you have your bachelors degree, additional degrees are secondary to job experience, especially in business.</p>