I have been scared of job hunting since, well, forever, which may have subconsciously contributed to my decision to enter graduate school in the first place. But hey, self, it’s put on your big girl panties and get shit done!
And here, I am, getting shit done. Step 1: Consult all the resources available through Graduate Career Services:
Job preparation preliminaries
The career counselor–in addition to commenting on my high degree of anxiety–suggested that I read So what are you going to do with that?, a book about finding careers outside of academia (or “academe” as the authors call it). Since I already made the decision to leave the Ivory Tower long ago, it is a great confirmation of what I’ve already been thinking: grad school is terrific…if you have the drive and passion for it. (I do not.) It also offers some good advice on how to look for jobs, the job search process, and building networks through connections. I highly recommend it to doubting grad students, especially since there is not very much support for grad students who want to leave academia.
One reason that graduate school appealed to me so much was the need to have my work vetted and validated by experts. I love getting back my work with a big shiny A or A+ on it! This is partially why the job hunt is scary. There really is no grading of one’s cover letter and resume, other than if it gets you the job. This is intimidating, but again, not something that I can let deter me.
I also have a strong inclination towards procedure and rule-following. In my mind, there should be a one-to-one correlation between what you study and what you end up doing. For examples, 100% of accredited doctors graduated from medical school, and that is fine and dandy with me! However, my dad likes to remind me often that he knows hardly anyone who ended up in a job that was related to his/her major. And I’m sure you, dearest gainfully employed readers, can confirm this, right?
So one of my biggest hurdles now is figuring out what skills and interests I have developed in the past four and a half years and how they will transfer to careers outside of my majors. As the book repeats again and again, my major will actually have little bearing on my job prospects; my skillset and interests will.
Many people have told me that finding a job is all about who you know, not what you know. This is a delightful glimmer of hope because if I am good at one thing, it is getting to know people and making them my friends. It is time for me to meet some people and ask lots of questions.
So here, I go. I can’t put this job search off any longer (and I made Fiancé-friend promise to keep me from enrolling in any more school). I am excited, so let’s see how it goes.
P.S. Thanks for all of your support on my last post. I’m really glad to hear that many of you can identify with my vain-but-not-disordered worries, though I am sad that so many women are plagued by weight and food issues.
Especially since MATESL is a quasi-professional degree (or IS a professional degree according to Dickerson), I figured it’d be obvious that I’d be a teacher after getting my MATESL. 8 months and 4 jobs later, I was clearly wrong.
One bit of advice from my short experience at job hunting is that even if you don’t get a job at a place, if you really like then, let them know that you’re interested in working for them and would like to be considered for future positions (and keep applying for positions there). I was rejected for an academic advisor position at the place where I work now (they hired one person internally, and another person who was more qualified than I was), but they remembered me, and 3 months later I was at the on their list for a different position. And make sure people you know in your target area know you’re looking for a job and what you’re interested in, so that if they see something interesting, they can forward it to you. I didn’t realize that networking can be as simple about talking about how much the job search sucks while eating dinner at a friend’s house.
At my first job out of undergrad I lamented to the woman who hired me (after I was hired, of course) that I felt like my degree didn’t mean anything since I wasn’t doing anything related to it. “But,” she said, “it opened doors for you that wouldn’t have been opened otherwise.” Very wise words, indeed. Yes, I have currently have a Master’s in Library Science. No, I am not working in a library. But my degree got me my job so I can’t say it was wasted time or money.
I’m working on my Ph.D in astronomy with the hope of being a… stay at home mom for a couple years. *ahem* My husband is using his physics degree to do something that’s decidedly engineering-based, but I think that networking is probably one of the best skills to have.
Yay! Let the job search begin! I am excited to see what you find. It seems to me like a lot of getting hired is based on personality and fit, with having most of the job skills, so I do wonder in the future if that will ever affect the way our college system is set up with very specifics types of degrees. I think it is cool that you can degree in one thing and not be stuck with it for life. I think it really bugs certain people that I do not have a more traditional architecture job, but I did that for awhile… and didn’t love it.
Well… I’m an auditor, and all auditors have masters of accounting degrees, kinda like doctors. However, nobody wants to be an auditor so dno’t worry about my input
Can’t wait to see what you end up with, and I’m echoing others on here with NETWORKING IS KEY!
I read that book! And I went to a workshop at the career center based on the book. It was pretty helpful, and the woman who ran it has a PhD in Chemistry, but now works at the UIUC career center! The big take-home point I got from the workshop was definitely transferable skills: what do you do as a TA or grad student that are the same skills and processes necessary in the workplace? We read, research, and synthesize information to create arguments and to persuade. We communicate with our students on a daily basis, we have incredible time-management skills, or we wouldn’t be where we are today! You got the chops girl, you go get em! And lets keep in touch, as we are both in the same boat…GULP.
…and one more thing! INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWS: You get to network, find out about a career you are interested, and maybe, just maybe you will make an impression on that person that might lead to a job!!
Ha, they gave me that book too when I visited them in August.
So I don’t have my Masters or anything, but I’ve found that the job search is all about using your resources. You don’t always need to know people to get the job, but it is helpful and it’s really important to use what resources are out there. I applied online to over 40 jobs in the nonprofit world after having a year of experience with a nonprofit. Tailored resume and cover letter for each! The only ones I even got interviews with were through the W&M job board or people who knew someone. I started using LinkedIn A LOT to connect with people that could pass my resume along – I’m still doing that. Think UVA alumni network, PBK networks on LinkedIn, Illinois alumni networks. Randomly reaching out to people shows initiative – I met a lady who is a Delta Gamma who works for a nonprofit in DC and is actively forwarding me job opportunities and passing my resume along to her friends. And all I did was send her a random message on LinkedIn.
If all else fails, try looking at staffing agencies! That’s how I got the job I have now. And I probably have that because I “knew someone” in the staffing agency that ended up being my recruiter, so she looked out for me. Plus my new recruiter (my friend left) takes me out to lunch each month – free food is always great! Yes, many of the positions might be administrative, but it’s a good way to get your foot in the door and add work experience to your resume. And they can at least afford you a paycheck while you’re still looking for something.
Good luck! It’s stressful, especially when you aren’t %100 sure what kind of job you want. It is good you’re starting early.
Job hunting suuuuuucks. But the informational interview tip is a good one. Also, if there’s a particular place or type of job you think you might like, see if you can do an internship there. You might have said that and I just missed it. But it’s a great way to get actual job experience in that field/at that place, and people there know you and your work ethic. Even if you don’t get to work there, they might be able to help you find a similar job elsewhere.