<p>I recent graduated this past May with a BS Business - Finance with an Econ minor. 3.3 GPA, had employment during undergrad working with university funding/budgets/development, and had an internship with a non-profit but realized that it wasn't for me. I got only one offer working with the government, so I took it. Unfortunately, I have to go through the Security Clearance process which can take 6-9 months, and after further research, there's a high chance of disqualification from the clearance process. </p>
<p>Right now I'm completing an internship working as an Analyst that will end in November. I've had difficulty finding internships in my area (or even within the state) that will take interns that have already have their degree. Most companies want their interns to still be enrolled in school.</p>
<p>Once this internship ends, I'm really uneasy about having periods of unemployment. I've heard that this is really looked down upon by employers. But I've also heard that taking just "any" full time job, especially if it's not in the field you want to continue working in, can cause problems when employers are reviewing your resume. Why would they pick someone who either has a few months worth of time when they're not doing anything, or someone who is working in some retail/management/marketing type of job? Especially when applications could be coming from newer grads with better undergrad experience.</p>
<p>Sorry if this is somewhat of a rant, I just don't want to mess up my chances working at a good firm, bank, or company. I'm pretty confident that once I can get into the right place, I can work hard enough and have had good experiences that will help me work my way up. I just need to get there and don't want to mess it up somehow along the way.</p>
<p>I can’t think of any possible situation in which having a gap in your resume is better than having a job.</p>
<p>Since you’re interested in business, I’m surprised you missed out on recruitment. Banks do their full time recruitment in the fall, so if you’re looking to get in on that, talk to your school’s career services department, and get involved with on campus recruiting, which starts in early September. You’ll be competing against people from the class of 2014, but that shouldn’t matter too much. </p>
<p>As far as getting jobs goes, if there aren’t many jobs in your area, look outside your area. If you need a job, your search needs to be pretty much nationwide unless you are completely married to one area. The smaller your search area, the smaller the pool of employers and the more difficult it is to get a job. Also, don’t be afraid to lower your expectations; being underemployed beats being unemployed</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip. I’m going back to my campus for the different recruiting events and career fairs. I participated in these last year and got a lot of interviews and made it to final round for 6, only two were banks, and only ended up getting the offer from the government. Hopefully this round is better.</p>
<p>Get on LinkedIn, and connect to hundreds of headhunters for staffing agencies, and tons of recruiters that work at companies. This is the single most effective way to job search if you didn’t obtain a job directly out of college.</p>
<p>I would not say that there is a high chance of disqualification from the security clearance process. I was able to get my clearance with relative ease, mostly because I did not have very much baggage to carry in my background.</p>
<p>Some things that could prevent you from obtaining a clearance:</p>
<p> criminal conviction resulting in incarceration for a period of one year or more
current unlawful use of or addiction to a controlled substance
determined to be mentally incompetent by a mental health professional approved by DoD
discharge or dismissal from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions
unwillingness to surrender a foreign passport</p>
<p>Otherwise, the most common reasons for clearance denial are serious repeated financial problems, intentional false statements in connection with a clearance investigation, recent illegal drug involvement, repeated alcohol abuse, and a pattern of criminal conduct or rule violation.</p>
<p>I would not rule out this job offer just due to the clearance.</p>