<p>My friend is graduating this semester from a pretty well-regarded LAC with a double major in French and English. She spent a year abroad in France and currently has an internship working at a French immersion school; her only other work experience is a partial summer working at an amusement park and a summer of working at a grocery store. She doesn't want to go to grad school until she really figures out what she wants to do and was considering the Peace Corps for a while but decided against it (didn't say why). She's quite smart and a good writer, but it's not her passion. I could see her as a very good teacher (she has that type of personality and way dealing with people, and she's seemed to gravitate toward that when picking her senior year internship), but she doesn't have any teaching certification or experience other than her current internship.</p>
<p>Any ideas on what she could do while she gets a better idea of what she wants to do? Teach for America comes to mind, but I think those deadlines have already passed. Would Americorps be an option, perhaps, or has the deadline for those passed as well? </p>
<p>Private schools often don’t require teacher certifications required by public school. Perhaps she could find a private school that needs a dynamic French teacher/English teacher until she can figure out the next step.</p>
<p>I have a 2008 graduate who doesn’t really know what direction she wants her life to take just yet. Luckily, she took enough computer science courses so that she could work as a software design engineer and live independently until her epiphany comes. </p>
<p>Does your senior have any skills that could be tapped to make enough money to live on until she figures out what’s next?</p>
<p>^
I know she took a website design course and has been maintaining a personal website throughout college, though I’m not sure if that “counts” as enough experience to be “marketable” in the area.</p>
<p>This may be a bit out in left field, but…
The government of South Korea is hiring 500 native English speakers to teach English in their public schools. It pays about $24,000 for a year, with medical insurance and housing provided. they will reimburse your one way ticket to S. Korea, and provide some settling in $. If you fulfill the 1 year contract, they pay for a return ticket home, as well. If you are interested, check this link.
[ESL</a> Jobs: Korea - Public School Jobs - TESOL Jobs](<a href=“http://www.esljobfeed.com/ESLfeed-JobPostingPage.php?read=10033]ESL”>http://www.esljobfeed.com/ESLfeed-JobPostingPage.php?read=10033)</p>
<p>It’s very hard to find a teaching job these days, even in a private school, even as a French teacher…so it will take persistence. She might also explore working for a French translating company or a language-specific school that offer after school language courses. There’s also a French school, K-8, near me. Short of that, go for a job that isn’t specific to the major: real estate? or advertising? Event planner?</p>
<p>Teach English in France. There are various program to do that, and I know of a recent graduate who’s reasonably fluent in French who’s doing just that (in Alsace).</p>
<p>One of my friends spent a year in France teaching, she had a great time. I have another friend who is currently teaching in South Korea, but I don’t know if it is the same program that was linked in this thread.</p>
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<p>AmeriCorps deadlines come and go constantly. It is not specific like Teach for America. With AmeriCorps, you apply to a specific program in a specific place and whoever is in charge at that location can see all the resumes on the computer and decide who to contact for interviews.</p>
<p>Liberal arts majors often don’t translate directly into jobs that make use of the courses taken in college. That is the downfall of liberal arts - you often learn what interests you but not necessarily what people will hire you for.</p>
<p>Your friend can do anything she wants. She could get a job as a secretary/office manager/general manager of an office. (I knew an fine art major that did that.) She could get a job selling products for a company. (I knew a biology major that did that.) She could get a job as an analyst at a company doing business analysis. (I knew a lot of majors who have done that.) She could get a job doing clinical research. (I knew a history education major who did that.) In other words, there are a lot of jobs that she could do out there.</p>
<p>Are these ones that will directly use her courses as an undergrad? Probably not. Are they ones that will pay the bills, put food on the table, and make the person happy? Yes.</p>
<p>Has she thought about applying for the French teaching fellowship (it might be too late to do it for this coming fall, but she could find a job temporarily in the meantime)? It’s one year teaching English to French students either in France or in one of the French territories. I"ve had friends who did it in Paris, and other friends who did it on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean (think year in tropical heaven). You have to be fluent in French in order to apply, but it sounds like her skills there would be pretty useful. </p>
<p>Otherwise, she should just think about where she wants to live and then start looking for jobs there. Nannying, even in the United States, can be a decently lucrative temporary position, especially for someone who speaks French fluently (a lot of affluent families want their kids raised in a bi-lingual environment). She could work for a tutoring service or even just try to find any job that utilizes her writing skills. Even if writing is not her “passion” one of the main ways to get by in this economy is realize that the job you take for now does not have to be your forever job, it just has to pay the bills and provide security while you figure the rest out. </p>
<p>She could still do Americorps if she wanted, but she should just be aware that that can involve a lot of outdoorsy type work as much as work with kids and you have to be prepared to do whatever they throw at you so if she’s not very adaptable, she might want to think that one over.</p>