Recommendations for Recent Graduate?

[XClown1986]

I just recently graduated with my Masters in English but am having trouble going about finding jobs. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to go about this? 

 

Any other useful tips on money management, student loans (67,000 in debt, yeesh), etc. are welcome as well. Help this naive grad plz!

[Jangler]

whatever you do...wear a panther polo to the interviews 

[pstall]

[Panthro]

We need English masters so I applaud you for that. Isn't the usual avenue teaching? Not sure the return will be there soon. That's a crazy account to owe vs earning potential

[pstall]

My wife has a Masters in English. Yeah she makes teachers pay so consider that.

 

If you are looking then try and either volunteer with a company as best you can to get in front of people there. Especially right now with every college grad in America jockeying for a gig.

 

Also. If you have any hobbies or play sports, join a league etc and network, network, network.

 

Don't expect a home run pay wise out of the gate so pay your dues, be humble and work your way up.

 

As for debt. If you have funds now, debt snowball as fast as you can. Once you start earning more money, just keep snowballing.

[h0llywood]

First off...

 

Congrats on the Masters. You are one tough mental cookie.

 

I'm guessing given you received yours Masters in English, you would probably like to be in the field (non education). Have you considered proposals?

 

http://www.apmp.org/ might be in the step in the right direction. 

 

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Proposal_Manager/Salary

[OnlyPantherFaninMaine]

I am a recent graduate with a masters degree as well. I think the key is figuring out what you want to do in life and then taking all the steps necessary to make it happen. Once I found inspiration and decided what I wanted to do in my professional life, it took a lot of effort to get into the field and I am still not all the way there but have made significant progress. I was inspired by my program director in graduate school to pursue a career in security in the sports industry. Immediately after that I sent out random letters of interest to teams and was lucky enough to land a low-paying but valuable (in terms of experience) internship with the Patriots. I worked hard for them and knew pretty quickly this was the career I wanted to pursue. My boss in New England reached out to another team in the league, and soon after I was interning with the Chargers as I finished my degree. The last few months I have been trying to find a full-time/salaried gig in this industry and it has been tough because the vast majority of those doing what I want to do are older former military men and law enforcement officers. Without much luck, I decided to write another letter of interest and sent it out with my resume to 25 different teams in the NFL as well as the major sports leagues in the United States. So far only about 5 individuals have gotten back to me, but my name is now out there and they have my resume on file. In fact, the director of security for the NHL recently invited me down to NYC to present my master's thesis on stadium security and event management to his staff of former and contracted FBI agents. I just accepted a paid internship position at the Barclays Center, and though not permanent, I figure it could have the potential to be if I play my cards right.

 

My advice, first and foremost, would be to figure out exactly what you want to do in life and then determine the steps to make it happen one step at a time. Much harder than it sounds I suppose. I got lucky and happened to figure that out at age 23. 

[Trev_GFC]

"Salary" shouldn't even be uttered at this stage. What I would do is go on an agency and find a menial temp admin job to give you an income while you decide your career path and apply for jobs. It may be a year or two before you get on that path if you ever do, so don't be unemployed and job hunting for that whole time.

[davos]

We need English masters so I applaud you for that. Isn't the usual avenue teaching? Not sure the return will be there soon. That's a crazy account to owe vs earning potential

 

I have to agree with Panthro.  Not saying you can't find something solid because that's a nice degree but he is right.  

 

2 questions:

 

Did you take any years off between undergrad and grad school? And are you looking to jump into something related off the bat?

[pstall]

The ideal job is usually not your first after college or grad. Bloom where planted as the old adage goes.

 

Get on somewhere, anywhere that offers solid money/benefits etc. That will free up your mental bandwidth to start gameplanning for bigger and better things.

 

 

I'm telling you volunteering where a company is doing a bunch of community stuff is a fantastic way to get your name and face in front of the right people.

[Night Prowler X]

I am a recent graduate with a masters degree as well. I think the key is figuring out what you want to do in life and then taking all the steps necessary to make it happen. Once I found inspiration and decided what I wanted to do in my professional life, it took a lot of effort to get into the field and I am still not all the way there but have made significant progress. I was inspired by my program director in graduate school to pursue a career in security in the sports industry. Immediately after that I sent out random letters of interest to teams and was lucky enough to land a low-paying but valuable (in terms of experience) internship with the Patriots. I worked hard for them and knew pretty quickly this was the career I wanted to pursue. My boss in New England reached out to another team in the league, and soon after I was interning with the Chargers as I finished my degree. The last few months I have been trying to find a full-time/salaried gig in this industry and it has been tough because the vast majority of those doing what I want to do are older former military men and law enforcement officers. Without much luck, I decided to write another letter of interest and sent it out with my resume to 25 different teams in the NFL as well as the major sports leagues in the United States. So far only about 5 individuals have gotten back to me, but my name is now out there and they have my resume on file. In fact, the director of security for the NHL recently invited me down to NYC to present my master's thesis on stadium security and event management to his staff of former and contracted FBI agents. I just accepted a paid internship position at the Barclays Center, and though not permanent, I figure it could have the potential to be if I play my cards right.

My advice, first and foremost, would be to figure out exactly what you want to do in life and then determine the steps to make it happen one step at a time. Much harder than it sounds I suppose. I got lucky and happened to figure that out at age 23.

If you wanted to be a security guard you should've skipped college and joined the military or went to a police academy.

[Niner National]

I just recently graduated with my Masters in English but am having trouble going about finding jobs. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to go about this? 

 

Any other useful tips on money management, student loans (67,000 in debt, yeesh), etc. are welcome as well. Help this naive grad plz!

We hire a lot of english majors for our copywriter positions. We write website content for companies and email marketing newsletters.

 

As far as I know, we're still hiring right now. If you're in Charlotte and interested, PM me and I'll give you my email address.

[Anybodyhome]

Only one recommendation: go where the jobs are. Don't be afraid and go... no matter where.

[XClown1986]

We need English masters so I applaud you for that. Isn't the usual avenue teaching? Not sure the return will be there soon. That's a crazy account to owe vs earning potential

 

Teaching seems to be the main option. I taught for a year at ECU as a part of my graduate program. It's not bad but I want to see what else I can do with my degree first before I decide whether or not to commit to teaching full-time.

 

Yeah I am trying to form a 12 month gameplan where I live with my mom (not ideal at all) for a year and live rent free so I can use my salary strictly towards my loans and maybe get that number cut down significantly. I'm trying to think long-term and I can't be underneath these loans for 10 years. 5 at most is my goal.