I have been trying to find an entry-level position for a year with no success. I have tried everything that I can think of:
-Use job boards such as LinkedIn, Indeed, SimpleyHired, WeWorkRemotely, FlexJobs, and other job boards.
-Reach out to my network on LinkedIn asking for assistance.
-Reached out to my career center at my university (they seemed more interested in working with current students).
-Worked with recruiting agencies (had some success, was able to get some interviews, but haven’t contacted me about any recent openings).
-Tried reaching out to my local community and see if they are hiring or looking for part-time workers (they either told me to apply online or they didn’t have anything at this time).
-Taken some online courses to beef up my resume
I have a BA in English and I knew it was already going to be difficult to find something, but I never thought it was going to take this long. I don’t know what to do at this point. I feel I tried everything and I have gotten nowhere. If anyone can provide me some advice, that would be greatly appreciated!
theres a reason this is colloquially referred to as toilet paper
do you have any real world skills? i know many people in professional careers that do not match their degrees, but they had to start at the literal bottom (cleaning,answering phones, etc) making minimum wage until they proved they were more competent than the people who generally take those jobs.
No one thinks like this or uses this term.
you should visit the Southern U.S., lol
I’m here dawg. No one thinks like this.
huh, I would guess that the majority of people where I live in the South think this way. It’s repeated dogma from teachers, parents, etc. - there are literally billboards along the roadways talking about how useless university degrees are and advertising for trade schools and certificate programs.
Maybe different state and different environment? I have encountered people like this but rarely. I feel they’re more a loud minority. There are plenty of dumb billboards the more south you go on the interstate but people paying for billboards doesn’t equal majority opinion.
Are you saying billboards directly saying university is pointless or just advertising trade school?
One billboard said:
or something like that. It jives with the general opinion. I do live in a very conservative place, so maybe like you’re saying it’s a matter of where in the South you are. I’m sure in a major city like Atlanta that’s not a common attitude, for example.
no thanks
those instincts will keep you alive
I’m not afraid to die.
But that kind of humidity… would make me want to.
I have over five years of writing and editing experience and three years of customer service experience. I have taken several AI courses, and I am currently taking some coding courses, mainly because I’m interested in coding, but it also looks good on a resume.
What is your BA in?
Just want to say that your degree is not toilet paper nor do you lack real world skills.
You have real skills and your degree reflects that. What is the issue is the system under which we exist not valuing certain skills and certain people. As this system, especially in the US, crumbles further everyone will struggle more and more to find work that pays decently, including those with the currently ‘valuable’ degrees.
I don’t have much advice for you other than what you’ve already done, except maybe lean on your family if you have one or can, but I hope you find a job soon, Comrade.
I second this. I can only assume that our esteemed comrade doesn’t know what a BA is but saw the word ‘Arts’ and decided to have a snipe. As if having a BSc is somehow a guarantee of employment lol.
If you’re looking to make ends meet while you look for something better, have you tried employment agencies. I know you mentioned recruitment agencies, but I graduated just after the 2008 crash, and bottom level admin work though agencies was all that was really open to me. Then I fled the country and became a TEFL teacher 🤷
I can take a look at employment agencies and see what they can offer. I was looking into a TEFL certificate as that can allow you to work abroad and make some money, but wasn’t sure about that path. I can certainly look at it again. What would you list as the pros/cons of being a TEFL teacher?
Pros:
Cons:
Thank you for the feedback! At least it will give me a whole new career option and environment to work in. Where’s the best place to get your certification? I see a lot of sites advertising and with various price points, so I know many of them are definitely trying to scam you or won’t provide the best support.
It kind of depends on where you want to go tbh. Maybe there are forums or subreddits you can ask wrt the specifics? I did a CELTA in the UK, and then moved to Spain, but different places demand different qualifications. If you just want to get some money together and don’t mind living in hell for a while, look at places like Saudi Arabia.
Thank you. I’ll take a look at Reddit and what I can find.
Thank you!! I have a degree in English and yeah, even though it’s a hard degree to market in this job environment (especially this one that is collapsing), I am proud of it. It improved my writing and editing, research, and critical thinking skills. It’s sad how these are skills that employers say they are looking for yet have zero respect for the liberal arts.
Ohhh. As someone who also went through an editing program recently, yeah, I think AI has taken a lot of those jobs. Are you a member of any editing guilds like the EFA (if in the US)? They seem to have more one-off jobs for freelancers, but there was a regional guild I was part of that posted more corporate editing jobs, which maybe sounds more like what you’re looking for. But right after AI got big it quickly became apparent that even the experienced freelancers were having a hard time getting steady work. I wish you luck. At least you have a good chunk of experience. I gave up because I didn’t have any.
I didn’t know about editing guilds. I’ll take a look at the EFA and other similar guilds and see what I can find. Even if I can’t find steady work, from what I understand, at least I connect with other editors. Thank you for sharing that information!
What utter bull 🙄